Chapter 52
NOVA
My eyes flew open. Wes yanked the iron back and dropped it to the floor.
Another man burst into the room, tall, bald and hazel-eyed, his face contorted into shock and rage.
“What the hell is going on here?” he shouted at Roman, who, for the first time, did not look entirely in control.
Roman didn’t lower his gun. He straightened and took a step forward, his eyes darting from us to the man rapidly. “How are you here?”
“What the fuck does that matter! Answer my questions, now.” His gaze swept from Roman to Wes. His eyes widened. “Wesley. Why on earth would you do that to yourself? You look like a criminal.”
I panted, my heart in my throat.
Wes snorted, his eyes wide, as if aghast. “There is only one criminal in this room right now.” He paused. “Besides you, probably.”
Max Graves narrowed his gaze briefly before moving to me. I tried to look down at my stomach with my limited mobility. The skin there was pink and felt hot, but it didn’t look like the brand had made full contact. I choked on a breath of relief, a sob finally escaping me.
Wes immediately tugged my slip back down and then reached for my hand tied above me. He stared at the gun still pointed at my head and stopped moving.
“Explain yourselves!” Max yelled.
That was when I noticed Max also had a gun, though it was currently pointed at the ground. Great. Just what this waking nightmare needed: another billionaire with a gun.
“Go ahead, Roman,” Wes snarled. “Tell our father about your little side project.”
“You think he doesn’t know?” Roman spat, spit flying from his snarling lips. “I told you, not everything is about you.”
Max stepped forward, which made me the bound centerpiece between all three Graves men—Wes to my right, Roman to my left, and Max at my feet.
And Wes was the only man without a gun.
“Wesley was not part of the plan I approved,” Max shouted.
“Father, he still wants to destroy us. He’s only biding his time. Just look at the companies he’s involved with, who would cut into our users’ targeting potential by—”
“You think I give a single fuck about his inconsequential little privacy startups?” Max spat. He rested his hands, and the gun, on the table as he spoke, as if to ground himself.
I swallowed. Now two guns were pointed at me.
“It’s like a toddler kicking at your shins,” Max continued.
“Wes’s moves are adolescent, idealist, and unable to cause any meaningful harm.
It is my job to protect this company, and Wesley was not to be involved in The Circle.
” Max’s voice rose. “Do you hear me, Roman? We own the world. No one could destroy us if they spent their whole lives trying. But we could destroy ourselves if we act foolishly. I’m putting an end to your program, effective immediately. ”
Roman swallowed, his face still red and his lips in a deep frown.
“Put that fucking gun down. Now,” Max commanded.
Roman didn’t move the gun. I held my breath.
Wes’s gaze was sharp as he tracked both men, making quick calculations. “Let me get this straight. The Circle was a joint venture, and you were under the impression Roman was using it to…” Wes paused. “Gather collateral on other powerful marks.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Obviously. And the program must continue.” He smiled, a crazed look in his eyes that matched the deranged quality of his voice. “What we have on Elliot Sulton would end him. And it’s nothing compared to what we have on—”
“Silence,” Max hissed. “This was supposed to benefit me, not cause me a huge fucking headache and mess to clean up.” He looked at me for only the second time since he entered the room.
Wes’s eyes darted from his father to Roman before he took the smallest step toward his father.
“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you to handle something like this. Your obsession with Wesley has always been unhealthy, and it ends now.” He took a deep breath and assessed his sons. “Here’s what’s going to happen.”
Max focused on me again. Wes’s hand slipped from mine.
“I’m going to make sure you’re set for life,” Max said to me, a subtle edge to his tone that made it obvious the conditions of this arrangement.
I scoffed, choking on strangled laughter.
“Wesley,” he said with a deep sigh, his eyes softening a touch. “You will go back to your life, and you will forget this ever happened.”
Wes’s smile lacked even a drop of warmth. He nodded. “And let me guess, Roman will face zero consequences for branding trafficked women with the family crest?”
Max’s eyes flashed, slowly moving to his psychopathic son.
Roman took a step forward. He shook with fury, veins in his face and neck pulsing.
“And you are going to put the gun down,” Max barked. “Like I already told you to do. Unless you want to be removed from your position at Wave entirely.”
“The way you look at him,” Roman said to his father, bitterness coating his every word. His chin trembled, his eyes nearly black. “When I’m the one who has dedicated himself to preserving our legacy. All he’s ever done is hate you.”
Max remained calm, angling himself entirely toward Roman. “Son, you need to listen to me.”
It was as if something had snapped irreparably, deep inside Roman, that drove him past the point of reason or self-preservation. He said he’d foreseen every possible path, and he’d won in all of them.
Roman wasn’t going to walk out of this room without a win.
He took another step. Max slammed his right hand down on the table and yelled again.
All I could do now was stare down the barrel of the gun pointed at my head, the gun Roman refused to lower. My vision tunneled; it was the only thing I could see.
Time slowed, voices barely perceivable outside the blood rushing to my head.
“I told you what would happen if you disobeyed my orders,” Roman said to Wes with an eerie calmness.
My breathing was shallow. I started writhing again, trying to break free from my bindings. The rope wasn’t incredibly tight, but I couldn’t slip my wrists through.
Roman focused back on me. “My angel has lost all value.”
I made a desperate, frustrated sound as I tried in vain to yank myself out of the rope. I whipped my head to the side.
Roman pulled the trigger.
The sound of my own scream melded with the shouts from all three men.
In quick succession, two shots rang through the wine cellar.
My eyelids fluttered. My ears rang. Red hot pain exploded in my nerves. Darkness pulled me under.