27. Brogan
My nerves were completely frayed. I had no idea how his team of investigators had been able to get this sort of lead when none of mine had.
Of course, my team had also uncovered a large sum of cash being deposited, then withdrawn, from a secret account I didn’t even know she’d had.
Layla had to have planned this escape because it’d gone off so effortlessly for her.
“This is how you betray me after all I’ve fucking done for you,” I muttered under my breath as I stared down at a photograph of her from one of today’s bullshit headlines.
“I’ve been saying the same thing for years when it comes to you.”
My spine stiffened, and I straightened immediately in my chair. Other than him catching me off guard initially, I stared impassively at him. “What the hell do you want, Father?”
“Is that any way to talk to the Sinclair on—”
“Brogan Sinclair is the Sinclair on this office building. Your name has long since been removed,” I reminded him, and inwardly felt a small amount of satisfaction at his scowl and the way he narrowed his eyes. He might still have loyalty with the board, but I was at the helm.
“You can try to erase me from your world, but it’ll never happen.”
“Much like you’d tried to erase me from yours, and others from mine?”
Ever since that nightmare on the last night I’d been with both Declan and Enslee, I’d been having more of them.
Overnight, I’d woken up twice unable to breathe as memories of my face being plunged into a tub of ice-cold water and held down had come rushing back, making me heave in deep breaths when I’d opened my eyes.
The torture inflicted on me over the course of those several weeks had alternated between physical and mental, and it’d all been designed to punish me for my impure thoughts and shameful actions, as my father had so delicately put it.
I stared up at him, and his mouth was now a thin line.
Those evil eyes of his were merely slits, and his hands were balled up into fists.
The silence in the room stretched on for several more seconds, although it felt longer.
Any amount of time in Stanley Sinclair’s presence was more than I could stomach most days.
Finally, he huffed. “We both know that the facility turned out to be second-rate. If they’d done everything right, you wouldn’t have—”
“Been gay, Father?” I said, this time smirking at the growl he let out as well as the flare of anger in his own black orbs. “Sorry to break it to you, but it’s not something that could be tortured out of me.”
“Shhh, before someone hears you, Son.”
“I don’t care if they hear me. You and your fucking goons couldn’t make me stop loving Declan, and neither can Layla.”
“For fuck’s sake. The only reason I’m even here subjecting myself to you and this disgusting vitriol is because of her,” he said.
“The one suffering is subjective,” I muttered.
“You fucking ingrate,” my father said, and I stared up at him blankly.
“What about Layla?”
“I can make this all go away for you,” he said quietly.
I chuckled at his words. “And I’m the son you’ve always wanted and loved.” The smile died on my face when I saw the truth in his eyes. “Wait? Even if it is possible, what do you expect in return? And do you know where she is?”
My father closed the door behind him, then moved to sit down in the chair opposite me. “Stop bombarding me with questions so we can start negotiations.”
I narrowed my eyes. Our entire relationship had been like this, but the stakes were so much higher now.
I wasn’t trying to negotiate a summer trip to backpack Asia instead of Europe, or to play football over soccer.
This was a life-or-death situation, but my father, of course, was treating it as he’d done everything else in life thus far.
My freedom was nothing more than some poker chip in his sick, twisted game.
“Obviously, I don’t know where she is. If I did, would I have allowed you to sully the good Sinclair name for all these months?
” I shrugged, although he had a point. My father had done a lot of dirt over the years, but he’d never allowed it to tarnish our family name and reputation.
I made a circular motion with my hand as if to tell him to continue.
“I know a lot of people in power, and ones that owe me a favor. I could have the investigation stopped with a single phone call.”
“But Detective Graves—”
“John is merely a puppet, and I’m owed by those pulling his strings.”
“Then why haven’t you made that call yet?”
He grinned, and if there was truly a face of evil, it’d be this man’s smiling one.
“You didn’t care about the loss of your wealth and privilege, but I suspect you feel differently when it comes to your freedom.
Years ago, I’d spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to get you back right.
Other than you screaming like a bitch, not even physical pain had been enough to change your mind. ”
“You allowed them to beat me within an inch of my goddamn life, then waterboard and electrocute me. You wouldn’t have been able to survive nearly half of what I have, and at your hands no less.”
“I’ve survived your fucking attitude and ungratefulness your entire life. You’ve disgraced the Sinclair name and continue to do so every single day you remain with him.”
His complete disdain and disgust for the man I loved, the man who completed me in ways that no one else ever had, and the man who owned my heart and soul.
He could say and think whatever he wanted about me.
I’d realized even before everything with Declan that my father would never respect or love me.
“That’s just how Stanley is, Brogan,” my mother would say. “The best thing to do is to just endure it, and him.”
That’d been easier said than done, especially when she’d proven herself to be a hypocritical bitch who’d dropped me off at school one day, then drove out of our lives without ever looking back.
She hadn’t endured anything, not even for me.
I, however, had endured this man’s wrath for the decade and a half since she’d been gone. And I still was.
“He has a name, and if you’ve only come here to insult him, then—”
“Will you think about your goddamn self for once? You’re facing serious charges, Brogan.
If you go down for murder, not only do you go to prison for the rest of your miserable life, but you drag this company down into the muck with you.
And for what? Hollywood will just find another loose hole to fuck, and you’ll be a fucking afterthought.
A damn Sinclair as an afterthought. I didn’t think I’d ever live to see the day. ”
I rose to my feet, and to my father’s credit, he did the same.
Stanley Sinclair would back down to me no more than I’d ever back down to him.
We stood there nose-to-nose before he finally reached out and grabbed me by the neck.
His hand tightened painfully down on my throat, but I didn’t cower, beg him to stop, or shed a fucking tear.
Instead, I smirked even as I felt my lungs pulling tight in my chest.
“You’d literally let me strangle you to death without a fucking fight, and smile as I do so?
You’re a goddamn psychopath,” he seethed before releasing me from his grip.
“Sit your ass down, Brogan. I’ll make this all go away, but you’ll give me something in return.
” I arched a brow, but he pointed at the chair and didn’t speak until I flopped back down onto it.
“You’ll end this relationship with Declan and find a woman who’ll help you produce an heir.
She’ll be one of proper upbringing whose familial ties will align well with the Sinclair ones. ”
“And if I refuse?” I asked, knowing fully well that I intended to do exactly that.
“We’ll let the chips fall where they may.
Think long and hard on this because they’ve compiled quite the case against you, and our kind isn’t regarded well in the public eye.
The odds of finding a sympathetic jury are slim to none.
And your boy toy will watch the rapid decline of his career as he, too, is implicated in your crime.
From in-demand actor to murder accomplice. What a fucking fall from grace!”
I growled at the mention of Declan being dragged down simply for the act of loving and supporting me all these years.
It’d been something I’d been worried about for nearly a week, and hearing my father gloat over the possibility made me realize how probable it really was.
I knew Declan would tell me to tell him to fuck off, but I had to think of him.
I dropped my hands to my lap to hide the fact that they were visibly shaking.
That would only be a sign of weakness to my father, and he was always willing and able to remind me that I was a failure in his eyes.
While Declan’s father loved, supported, and stood up for him and his rights, my own wanted to control every aspect of me until there was nothing left.
“What’s it going to be?” my father asked impatiently.
I thought about Declan and if the situation was reversed. What did I think he’d do? Would he choose me, or an easier life? I knew my answer, so I raised my gaze to his, not even blinking once. “Fuck off! Take your deal and shove it up your ass.”
“You’ll be sorry about this, Brogan. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” And on that warning, he exited my office and slammed the door behind him.
I flinched slightly at the sound, especially when it didn’t actually close but bounced off its frame.
A lump formed in my throat that I quickly swallowed down.
I had no idea if this was the right decision or not, but it was the one I’d made.
I was innocent, so I refused to cower down as if I was anything but that.