Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
Brooks
“Ifigured if anyone else wanted him dead, it was you,” Cory said.
Blood coated his hands, drenched his torn shirt, and speckled his face, looking almost like freckles.
We stood shoulder to shoulder over his father’s dead body.
He’d sent me the address to meet him at a hotel a few miles from the White House, but nothing could’ve prepared me for this.
The room looked like a slaughterhouse.
Blood soaked into the carpet, splattered into violent waves across the walls, and stained the floral couch.
Bellamonte stared at the ceiling with lifeless, glassy eyes. That smug smile he’d worn while in the Red Room earlier was gone. A gun was loosely gripped in his limp hand.
Good. Rot in hell, you bastard.
Cory let out an agonizing laugh and dragged a bloody hand down his face, smearing a fresh streak across his cheek.
“I didn’t come to his room planning to kill him.” He winced, as if suddenly remembering every detail, and pressed a palm against his stomach.
I stayed quiet, taking in the scene.
It was hard to tell, but there were at least four stab wounds and one long slash across his throat.
“We argued over what he did tonight at the White House.” Cory’s stare fixed on his father’s body.
“We argued over how he thought Peter was a better son than me. He said Peter would’ve sealed the deal and not let you steal Daphne.
” His voice was almost monotone now. “He said I owed it to him to become king. If I didn’t, I was a sickening disappointment. ”
I winced. “Damn, and I thought my dad was an asshole.”
Cory wiped his bloody palm down the back of his neck, leaving another red smear on his skin.
“He told me that he’d leaked information to Sterling to give to the journalist to make it look like you’d done it.
He and I both swore an oath to the Sons.
I don’t go back on my word and have no respect for those who do. ”
I’d wondered how Sterling knew about that, given he was never a Son. I’d blamed it on rumors he’d possibly overheard.
“He also admitted to ordering the hit on you since I was too pussy to do it myself,” Cory went on. “The men who shot at you and Daphne while driving back to SVU?” He nodded toward his father. “His.”
“All this to make you king?” I asked.
“He couldn’t get Princess Marjorie to fall in love with him to become king. He put that failure on my brother and me. That was all we ever heard, growing up.”
“I understand that pressure.”
“Look, I care about Daphne.”
I turned so fast my shoulders knocked into his.
“Not like that,” he hurried out, rubbing at his red eyes, painting even more blood on his face. “As a friend. I respect her being your Fawn.”
I kept my glare on him. “How did an argument about being king end up like this?” I motioned toward Bellamonte’s body.
He glanced down at his hands, as if no longer recognizing them as his own. “He told me what a failure I was … said the wrong twin died. I punched him. We started fighting. He pulled out the gun. I grabbed the knife off the minibar. I knew it was either him or me. I chose me.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
We turned back as Enzo entered the room.
I’d called him and the other Sons for backup before coming here. After what Bellamonte had pulled earlier, I hadn’t trusted Cory to meet him alone. I hadn’t known where his loyalty was. Now I knew exactly where his loyalty didn’t lie.
Enzo walked between Cory and me to get a better look at the carnage. “I thought I loved violence, but can’t I get one fucking day without having to deal with a bloody fucking body?”
Emeri came in next. “It’s an easy cleanup.”
Nico stepped to Emeri’s side. “I fucking hate cleanup.”
Cory reached into his pocket and held out a blood-smeared phone. “My dad’s.”
I took it with my gloved hand. Everyone except Cory also wore gloves.
“Passcode is 0-0-0-0,” Cory said. “I went through all his texts. Everything you need is in there. Idiot didn’t try to hide anything. He even talked about having me killed because maybe it’d give him sympathy votes to make sure he stayed PM.”
I wiped blood from the screen and unlocked the phone, and Enzo leaned over my shoulder as we read the texts. They confirmed everything Cory had said.
Bellamonte hadn’t just wanted Cory on Calira’s throne. He’d wanted to control Calira through his son and had spent his life trying to make it happen. He had known that if I had Daphne, that dream was over.
I handed the phone back to Cory before leaning toward Enzo. “Did you take care of it?”
I shut my eyes, knowing I’d never forget the pain of leaving Daphne in that motel room.
Enzo nodded. “She’s on a plane back to Calira. I told her to never come back.”
I nodded back in thanks as relief settled inside me.
I might’ve hated Daphne again, but I wanted her safe.
No, I was forcing myself to hate her again.
My father had agreed to leave Daphne alone on one condition: she had to leave the country.
“Are you guys talking about Daphne?” Cory asked, apparently having the ears of a damn dog.
He’d been in that room. He knew what she’d done.
From the shock on his face in the Red Room, I could tell he’d been left in the dark too.
“She’s back in Calira,” I told him flatly. “Where she’ll stay … and also where you’ll leave her alone.”
Cory looked down at the blood-smeared phone in his hand and gave a slow nod.
Whether it was in relief or disappointment, I wasn’t sure.
He’d still be part of Daphne’s life in Calira, but I wanted him to know there were boundaries he’d better not fucking cross.
I hated that he cared about her, but I also knew he’d protect her now that I couldn’t myself.
Fuck, it was torture, hating the person you loved.
“Whatever happened in the Red Room and in here never leaves this room,” I told everyone, but I stared straight at Cory.
He held up his bloody hands. “You guys keep acting like I haven’t earned your trust.”
I kicked at Bellamonte’s head. “You kept trying to steal my Fawn.”
“And you fucking killed my brother.” He smirked tiredly at me while I tried to hide my shock.
“Damn,” Nico said.
Enzo and Emeri didn’t say a word.
Didn’t even flinch.
You’d think Cory had just said something as simple as he’d eaten a Big Mac for lunch.
“I’ve known for months, and I didn’t say a fucking word. All I did was fuck with you about your Fawn.” He was emotionless while giving us each a nod. “I’m a Son. I’ve got your backs.”
“Man, that’s your fucking blood,” Nico said. “If someone killed my brother, their head wouldn’t be connected to their body anymore.”
“My brother was never loyal to me the way Cedric is to you,” Cory replied.
“I’m not interested in hearing family therapy,” Enzo said, kneeling beside Bellamonte’s body to take a better look. “We need to get rid of this fucker before he starts smelling.”
“I’m interested,” I said to Cory. “He was your twin, and when Enzo and I went to your dorm, you said you wanted to find out who was responsible.”
“What did you expect me to say? That I was fucking happy?” Cory threw back.
“My brother and I hated each other. For years, he held that I’m older than you bullshit over my head.
He and my father treated me like complete shit.
My father even had a running bet that eventually, one of us would kill the other.
He bet that I’d die first.” He smirked down at his dad. “I like that he was wrong.”
“Man, you political families are fucked up,” Enzo said before shooting me a look. “No offense, man, but I could never kill my father.”
“It was either kill him or be killed,” Cory said while nudging the gun in his father’s hand. “I still have a long life to live. He’d lived plenty of years.”
“Damn.” Nico whistled. “Welcome to the Sons, you crazy motherfucker.”
Daphne’s dorm smelled like lavender, sea salt, and burned sage.
The scent hit me before I even shut the door.
I looked around the room. Books were stacked on top of her MacBook, and her blazer still hung over the back of the vanity chair.
It looked like she’d be back any minute.
She wouldn’t.
I ran my fingers over her pillow, remembering resting my head there, before reaching beneath the bed for the bottle of vodka she kept in her stash. I cracked it open, took a few harsh swigs, then returned it before grabbing the bundle of sage from the shelf above her bed.
Smoke curled toward the ceiling when I lit it. I walked in slow circles through the dorm, wafting the smoke into every corner, every crack, every inch that still held pieces of her. By the time the bundle burned to ash, her room was suffocating with smoke.
I dropped to the edge of Daphne’s bed and pulled out my phone.
Me: You okay?
Adelina: No.
Knowing my sister was hurting stung.
Me: You want me to bring you Taco Bell?
Adelina: Not even a quesadilla will help at the moment.
That was another reason to hate Daphne. She’d broken my sister. Someone who didn’t have one malicious bone in her body.
I pulled up my Contacts, fired off a message to the head of Adelina’s Secret Service, and told them to bring her everything on Taco Bell’s menu.
My phone vibrated with another text.
This one was from my mom.
Mom: Be easy on her.
I didn’t have to ask who her was.
Me: Did you know?
Mom: I talked to Marjorie. Believe Daphne.
Me: I believe her.
Me: Doesn’t mean I’ll ever forgive her.
I went to the bathroom and stripped out of my clothes. The Caliran pin went straight into the trash.
The scalding hot water streamed down my skin as I used her shampoo and conditioner, breathing in the last trace of her scent I’d ever get.
When I was done, I wiped the steam from the mirror, seeing the faint bruises and cuts from my fight with Cory.
Then I remembered her cleaning me up in here after it.
Before I could stop myself, I drove my fist into the mirror.
Shards of glass rained into the sink, followed by drops of blood from my knuckles.
This time, I hadn’t just put my heart on the line.
I’d risked it all.
My heart, my future, my fucking reputation by taking her public.
She’d had a thousand chances to come clean, but she chose to keep lying.
Now, Daphne was out of the country.
Out of my life.
And I’d make damn sure she never found a way back in.