Chapter 36
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
LUKE
Nav snarled as I walked down the stairs, “You aim a gun at my baby sister’s head, you won’t shake my hand, and now you’re slamming doors in my house like you pay the fucking bills…”
I stopped at the bottom of the steps to look at him. He leaned against an arched column a couple of feet away from me.
Consequences.
I dealt with them every day.
Positive.
Negative.
I couldn’t tell them apart anymore.
My life.
My world.
The one I wanted, and the one I had. Both defined who I was as a man. Violence became the answer to everything and for everyone.
What started with Duchess…
Ended with her as well.
I couldn’t do anything to change the past. The only thing I could do was try to change the future.
For everyone.
Including me.
“You have some brass balls on you, Jameson. What exactly do you think you’re doing with Sloan?”
“Says the man who let me leave with her.”
“I had no other choice.”
“We have that in common.”
“You think you’re good enough for her?”
“That’s not up for discussion.”
“You fucking my sister isn’t up for discussion?” he mocked. “Last time I checked, you’re the one who started a war over her.”
“Was that your plan all along? Let me leave with her to cause a shitstorm?”
“What kind of loyalty do you think I have with my only sister?”
“The same kind you have with your only father.”
He abruptly stood, getting in my face. “Is this where you tell me if I take allegiance with you, you’ll be my fairy godmother?”
“This is where I tell you if you take allegiance with me”—I cocked my head to the side, looking him up and down with a serious expression—“I won’t fuckin’ kill you.”
“Hmm…” He stepped back with his hands out at his side. “How about I tell you a story instead?”
Zeroing in on him, I was curious where he was going with this.
“Let’s see… it probably goes something like this. You grew up in your mommy and daddy’s house with money and protection. Respect. Love. Devotion from two loving parents.” He lifted two fingers in the air, pointing them at me. “You lived a life of fucking fairy tales and happily ever afters where Mom tucks you in at night and reads you a bedtime story. You wanted for nothing and asked for everything. You’re a cocky, arrogant, fucking prick, and you kill in five-thousand-dollar Armani suits while wearing a fucking Rolex and Italian leather shoes.”
I eyed him up and down. “Is there a point to this, or are you just wastin’ my fuckin’ time?”
“Patience is a virtue that shouldn’t be ignored.”
My fists tightened at my sides.
“Temper, temper, Luke Jameson. Have you met my sister?”
“Yeah and you’re proving to be just as big of a pain in the ass as she is.”
“You know…” He pointed at me again. “You really do think you’re a legacy or some shit.” He shook his head, disgusted. “No one wiped my ass, motherfucker. But fuck you very much for the offer.”
I resisted the urge to knock him the hell out. Instead, I glanced around the room, taking stock of what was around me and controlling my instincts to put him in his place.
If anything, I wanted to prove him wrong. Show him what happened to the men who lived in glass houses and threw stones.
They fall.
Hard.
Fast.
Into nothing but debris birds shit on.
“Was that speech supposed to intimidate me?”
“More like a wake-up call.”
“You’re suddenly the voice of reason?”
“No, I’m just your conscience.”
I scoffed out, “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”
“I know enough to know you don’t belong here.”
“I’m only here ’cause of Sloan.”
“So, what? You guys a couple now? You love her?”
“It’s none of your fuckin’ business.”
He inched closer to me. “I beg to fucking differ. You don’t deserve her.”
“And your old man does?”
He shoved me. “Fuck him and fuck you too.”
I nodded. “Glad we see eye to eye. All I want is to put an end to all this.”
He stepped back, shaking his head. “What else did you think would happen when you turn down his drugs for your territories and then you kill his best guard? Huh? You think you were going to be best friends?”
My eyebrows pinched together. “Is that what this is about?”
“More than anyone, you know how the game is played.”
“Maybe I’m just tired of playin’ the game, then.”
“If that were true you should have taken his offer.”
“I don’t work with men I don’t trust.”
“Yet you’re fucking his daughter?”
“I didn’t find out about that until tonight.”
“No shit.”
My eyes went wide. “So, what?” I motioned to him. “How long have you been followin’ me around?”
“It was never you.”
“Sloan, then?”
He shrugged.
“She know you tail her? She’d be pissed.”
“Sloan doesn’t know what’s good for her. She never has.”
“Probably has somethin’ to do with the fact that she’s been passed around like a fuck-me toy for the past seventeen years.”
He narrowed his gaze at me. I think he was more blown away by how much Sloan had shared with me.
“Yeah, I know everythin’. Your old man is a sick fuck.”
He cocked his head to lean against the column again. “Huh, imagine that… you know she’s never told anyone that, right?”
“Like I said, I know everythin’.”
“That’s quite the privilege, considering she doesn’t talk to anyone.”
“Does that mean you don’t know where her fail-safe is? She said it was with a friend.”
He didn’t answer my question. “What exactly do you think is going to happen here, Jameson? You’re going to be able to walk off into the sunset together?”
“Right now, all I want is to kill your father, so you know how I can make that happen?”
“And then what?” His expression shifted to genuine curiosity. “You kill him and steal his territories? You think Sloan wants to live that life?”
“I know she wants to be free of him.”
“And you’re the man who will make that happen?”
“Well,” I chimed in, mocking, “I wouldn’t have to do it if you would have already.”
I blinked, and his gun was now aimed at my head. “There are only two ways to end this—either you die, or he does.” He scoffed out a chuckle. “Because trust me, if it were that easy to take him down, he’d already be dead.”
Despite wanting to rip him to shreds, I was able to govern the stability I needed. Allowing him to think he had the power over me in this situation.
He obviously had no idea who he was fucking with.
And I had no problem showing him a side of me I didn’t know existed. Until her.