65. Brogan #2
“I thought he was still in a hosp—”
“That's what you’ve wished for, is it not?”
“Of course not, Son.”
“My bad. You would’ve preferred the morgue,” I spat out bitterly.
“What the hell is this visit about?”
“I know what you did.”
“What I did?” His innocent act was grating on my last nerve.
“I know you were the one responsible for having Declan run off the road.”
“That's preposterous.”
“Is it really?” I pulled out my cell phone, then opened up the video of the driver and pressed play.
My father’s face paled as the man detailed being hired by my father, and how he’d been told to lie in wait for him. My father had told the man no one would ever suspect him, as it’d look like a paparazzi ambush. When it stopped playing, I looked at him.
“Don’t worry, because this video is not the only evidence I have against you. I have a written statement as well. He’s also being taken into custody as I speak so he can give his formal statement at the station.”
My father looked fearful for the first time in his life.
I guess he didn't expect me to be able to find out this information. It’d been such a perfect plan on his part, and he’d been able to keep his hands clean of it for the most part.
His mistake had been not anticipating that I’d look into it all.
“Can’t we work something out?”
I looked over my shoulder at Declan. “Will you leave the two of us alone?”
“I don't think that's a good idea, Brogan.”
“It’ll be fine. Just stand outside the door and let me have a few moments alone.” Turning my back on my father to face the man I love, I grabbed his head between my hands. “It's going to be okay.”
Declan looked ready to protest, but he finally gave a nod and exited the office. As soon as he did, I turned back to my father. Perhaps I should’ve expected it, but I was still surprised when I suddenly found a gun pointed at me.
“You’ll call this off, then lose the boy.”
“He’s a man, and he has a name,” I reminded my father. “And I’ll not lose him. The only one that’ll lose something here is you.”
“I should blow your ungrateful head off right now.”
“There's nothing stopping you. I mean, Declan’s out there.
You could even blow his head off too, but there are others that know I'm here.
You'll never get away with it. It's one thing to fight attempted murder charges, but it's another altogether to actually murder someone. You’ll be labeled a serial killer. I'm not sure your friends in high places would want to associate themselves with that. After all, you have no power in your world anymore. It all belongs to me. What’s even better is that you're nowhere to be found in my will. If something happens to me, Sinclair Pharmaceuticals will be sold off, and all proceeds will be donated to an LGBTQ+ charity along with Declan’s foundation.”
“Your mother should’ve aborted you when she had the opportunity.”
“Probably, since it’s not like she’d ever wanted me, but that makes no difference.
I'm here now, and even if you took me out, it's still going to accomplish nothing. You're going to go to prison, so life as you know it is over. Your freedom’s gone, and I’m finally going to be rid of you for the first time in my goddamn life.” I leaned in and pressed my chest against the gun before I grabbed him by the throat.
“Go ahead and shoot me, but just know you'll see me in hell eventually, and when you do, I’ll fucking destroy you.”
I loosened my grip then stood up before taking a few steps back. He quickly pulled the gun to his side and dropped his arm down.
“What is it that you want? What will it take to make you and this bullshit go away?”
I had to laugh at that. “You think I'm willing to let you escape accountability after you’d had me fucking tortured for weeks. Since then, you'd controlled every aspect of my goddamn life. You’d raped underage girls, then tried to force me to marry one of them. When I wouldn't, you set me up for her murder and had me thrown into jail. For weeks, I lay in a damn cell reliving the first time you’d thrown me into one. And as if that wasn't enough, you’d hired somebody to kill the one I love, and now you think I’ll just let you walk away.
The biggest mistake in my life was letting you walk away after that summer we’d returned home from Europe.
I should’ve fucking killed you myself back then.
That was my first miss. The second had been after everything with Layla. Now, the third time’s the charm.”
My father raised his hand, then placed the gun on his desk. “If you want to take me out so badly, do it. Don’t take the coward's way out. If you really want me gone, pull the goddamn trigger.”
A large part of me wanted to, but I could hear Declan’s voice in my head begging me not to do anything foolish.
My own voice was growing louder, and it threatened to drown out Declan’s completely, but I needed his voice.
His was that of reason… of compassion, and as his words grew fainter and fainter, my own inner voice roared for me to pick up the gun and blow my father's fucking brains all over the goddamn wall.
I refused to erase Declan completely, though.
I couldn't hear him, but I could see his face as he lay in that hospital bed hooked up to all of those machines.
And I remembered the way my heart twisted in my chest as my lungs struggled to fill with enough air to breathe.
Mostly, I remembered the hopelessness and desperation that had nearly done me in over that time as I couldn't stop my legs and palms from twitching so much.
I closed my eyes briefly before reopening them, now imagining how devastated Declan had been when I’d been in jail.
Enslee had made sure to tell me every chance that she’d gotten that he’d been beside himself when he couldn't free me. My lover had been through enough. It wasn’t lost on me that his life had changed for the worse when we became involved romantically.
I couldn't put him through any more pain, so silencing the part of me that wanted to end my father’s life, I took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
“You dying would be letting you take the easy way out.
I won't do it. What's done is done, and you can't stop what’s already been put into motion.” And as if on cue, the wail of sirens screaming down the driveway filled the room, and I smirked.
“It looks like it's time for you to pay the piper, old man.”
“I’m your father. Would you really do this to me?”
“You're not my father. You're a fucking monster. One of these days, you're going straight to hell where you’ll burn for all eternity, but until then, you’ll pay for what you’ve done here. Maybe not all of it, but some. Most importantly, you’ll pay for ever trying to hurt the man I love.
No one, and I mean no one, will ever take what’s mine and get away with it.
Just know while you're lying in that dark, dank cell that I’ll be out here living my absolute best life with Declan.
We’re going to have the life we should’ve always had.
We're going to be happy, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
” At the sound of the doorbell, I grinned.
“Time to face the consequences of your actions,” I said before exiting the office without saying another word.
Declan followed me down the hallway to let the police in, and I had no sooner stepped aside so they could enter when a gunshot rang out.
Two officers ran toward the sound of it, while Declan and I more slowly followed them.
When they reached the office and flung the door open, I saw my father slumped over his desk with a bloody hole in his head.
The motherfucker had taken his own life.
And I hadn't been the one to have to do it.
“Do you need anything else from me?” I asked one of the officers.
“No. If we do have any other questions, we'll reach out to you.”
And as I was walking away, I heard another radio say that the suspect was found deceased with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Declan and I left the house, and after getting in the car and heading down the driveway, he put his hand on my knee.
“Are you okay?”
“Never better.”
Nothing else was said as we returned to my penthouse. Once inside, I sensed Declan staring as if he was waiting for some signs of a mental collapse. When he found none, he came over and wrapped his arms around me.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“I know you despise and hate him, but he was still your father.”
“My father ceased to exist the night he’d walked in and caught us making out in my childhood bedroom.
Or at least I used to think he’d ceased to exist that night, but the truth is that it had been much longer than that.
I’d just been too na?ve to notice it. After all that he’d done to me, I'd still given him the benefit of the doubt time after time. I've actually fantasized about the day that he’d die. While I wish it would’ve come sooner, I'm not going to be upset that it came now.”
“Brogan—”
“No, Declan. I'm free of it all. I now have almost everything I’ve ever wanted in this world.
My career, my company, you… and soon we'll both have Enslee again too.
Once we do, everything I care about in this world will be mine.
Years ago, I'd bought this place wanting to feel like a king looking out the window of my castle, and when we get the final piece in place, I'm finally going to rule here with my king and my queen at my side.”
“I love you,” Declan said to me.
“I love you more.” And with those words, I fused my mouth to his, sealing it with a kiss.