Chapter 9 #2
“It will be easy to put doubts in the judge’s head.
The lawsuit might take years to settle, and that’s what Alan’s firm would want because they will still get money for managing it per your father’s will.
Either way, it will be a huge loss to us all, and I’m not one to lose, Orion.
So get your shit together, or I’ll drop you as a client, family or not.
” A beat passes. “And think about Diana. She didn’t sign up to stay your wife indefinitely.
” My hold on the towel tightens, wrapping it so hard around my hand that more blood seeps onto the cloth, which doesn’t escape his notice.
“So she’s the reason for your shitty mood. ”
“Don’t talk about my wife, Rafael. I don’t like it.” In fact, hearing another man utter her name makes me see red. Maybe it’s because I still haven’t claimed her as mine, which makes her fair game to everyone else.
And even I recognize how insane this sounds, but do I give a fuck?
No.
He chuckles, though his eyes stay hollow, and I see simmering anger underneath his amusement.
“Whatever is going on between you two, fix it, and fast. I want to close this case and focus on my own marriage. My wife wishes to explore the world with me, and her wish is my command.” My brow rises at his tone, but I get him.
If Diana asks me for something, I’ll give it to her in a heartbeat.
She’s a beauty who deserves better than the beast from hell hiding a terrible secret that would make her run for the hills. That’s why I’m avoiding her.
“If you expect me to parade my wife around a bunch of fools just to prove a point, then you’re out of your fucking mind.” I don’t care if that was the original deal. Diana won’t be going around men trying to act like a doting wife so they'll be satisfied.
My wife satisfies only my needs and no one else’s.
Rafael takes out a golden envelope from the pocket of his suit jacket and places it on the desk above the blue folder.
I see my name written on it. “Rush and Aileen are having an engagement party in two days at our family’s island.
You’re invited, and while the ceremony will be mostly private, we’ll still have trusted reporters taking a few pictures.
Seeing you there would calm the rumors and present a united front.
The judge is a traditional man who values family above everything else, which would have been a pain in the ass in any other case, but in this one, it gives us the means to sway him to our side. ”
Picking up the invitation, I flip it open and ignore the bloodstains smearing it as I read the words. The first sentence makes me halt.
Orion and Diana Wright…
Possessiveness washes over me when I see her sharing my name, because it’s another way to show everyone she’s mine.
Besides the ring that no one fucking sees, as she doesn’t go out.
“If you want my advice…”
“I don’t.”
“Your ego might stand in the way of your happiness, Orion. I’d appreciate my efforts and listen, if I were you.”
“Your ego might be bigger than mine, and the only reason you put so much effort into this conversation is because you don’t like to lose. You’re a married man, Rafael, not a saint.” He barks a laugh at this one. “Either way, I’ll handle my temper and fix things in the company.”
“The company doesn’t interest me. If your top executives can’t take the heat, then fire them.
They won’t be resilient under pressure.” Can’t argue there, and if grown adults have to run to Elizabeth to handle their troubles instead of facing me directly, they aren’t worthy of my time and resources.
“However, the marriage business concerns me. So, my advice…”
“Keep it to yourself.”
He and Rush, his twin brother, could shove their advices down their throats.
Rafael blackmailed his wife into marriage. Rush kidnapped his enemy’s daughter and took her to his private island, where he intended to use her as bait. But he ended up wanting the girl, who was almost half his age, and he fell head over heels in love with her.
Only to discover her powerful family had nothing to do with what happened to their family all these years ago.
My cousins are no experts when it comes to marriages.
“Avoiding your wife won’t make these new, unfamiliar feelings go away. They will just intensify, then blow up in your face when you least expect it. Your possessive instincts will win over your mind that kept you afloat on a tight leash for so long. That’s nature. We can’t fight it.”
Hating how close he comes to the truth, I perch on my desk and ask, sarcasm dripping from my every word, “And one month of marriage makes you an expert on the subject, I guess?”
“You guessed right.” He points at the invitation. “Use what I gave you wisely, and you might get what you so desire.”
Impossible.
If I set my desires free, they would put golden chains on Diana and place her in a prison of my creation. A prison she will never escape.
The life sentence is a high price to pay for my obsession that grows every single day, piece by piece, destroying my calm nature.
“I’ll attend the engagement. I do business with the Scotts and Kings, so I wouldn’t disrespect them.
” Hilarious since my cousins almost ruined their daughters.
Never affected our business relationships, though, which shows how Lachlan Scott and Zachary King never mix personal and business matters.
Unless you directly try to harm their families.
The patriarchs have zero patience for that.
“I don’t mind introducing Diana to the family. ”
Better my family than the bunch of fools I previously mentioned. Besides, my wife has been sitting in her wing for days, refusing to even venture downstairs to eat breakfast and dinner with me. So getting her outside would be a nice change of scenery.
“Great.” He gets up and puts his splayed palm on the folder.
“I made some calls regarding the Jones case that you requested. Her mother’s death was a tragic accident, but I think she had some help from her lover.
” I still at this. “The autopsy showed that she died ten minutes after he arrived on the scene, per my estimate. So while he didn’t kill her with his bare hands, he might as well have because he watched her bleed to death. ”
“He hated her that much.”
Rafael hisses through his teeth. “I’d have to use our underworld connection to confirm some details. There is a possibility she knew too much, and he wanted her out of the picture once he broke it off with her. Her love for him was very unhealthy, and she wouldn’t have stopped otherwise.”
“Lachlan?”
He nods. “The Dark Protégés have some information about what happened seventeen years ago. It’s the reason I never wanted Jones in the room during the marriage ceremony and why he has no idea about the contract and prenup details.
We don’t want him throwing a fit and feeding the tabloids, which are hungry for gossip.
As long as he has no evidence to support his claims, it’s his word against ours, and right now, his word doesn’t mean much. ”
I add all the pieces in my head and reveal my own theory. “Diana’s mother wasn’t just an escort.”
When she got with Jones, he was on top of his game, and for him to still visit the woman who brought so much trouble to him… there had to be a reason behind it.
“No. They met during a party hosted by your father.”
Throwing away the invitation, I snatch the folder and look through it, my insides growing cold at the information greeting me there. “He did business with my father?”
“Not the kind that you think. He partied with the willing participants and was never allowed into the real hideous stuff.” His words just add to the fury brewing in me. “Either way, I’d keep him as far away from Diana as possible. This family cannot be trusted.”
We both know about my father and what some of his business dealings entailed. For Jones to be allowed in any close vicinity to my father, he must have known other things about him.
And that alone makes him guilty by association, and he deserves to be locked up.
The water drips in the distance as coldness greets me when I open the basement door, turning on the flashlight and slowly going down the stairs.
To my knowledge, our family never used the basement, built like a tunnel by my great-great-grandfather, since you had to walk at least 15 minutes to reach it, then take around 100 stairs down.
The man wanted protection from any natural forces or wars, although one might die before he goes through all that.
After my mother’s death, staying home made no sense to me, so I mostly lived in my penthouse, but Matilda calling me about strange things occurring in the house raised my hackles. It was combined with the huge tax write-offs and my father’s newfound love for travel.
His strange behavior could mean various things, and I still felt obligated to my staff, who got their salaries from me.
Rafael’s father protected all my assets and trust funds in his will.
I don’t have to rely on my father to get access to my finances, as Conrad would have given me nothing and stripped me of my legacy otherwise.
Adjusting the flashlight better in my grip, I frown at the sight of the keypad lock on the basement door, showing it has been used recently.
Why else would a basement require such savvy technology to enter?
And the password has to be correct, or the alarm will go off. I have a similar lock in my apartment, so after pondering on it for a few moments, I punch in my mother’s date of death. The lock clicks and opens up.
Conrad always said it was his favorite date.
Fucker.
Try as I might, I would never understand how my mother could have loved this piece of shit so much that she signed off all her inheritance to him.
The bitter, rotten smells reach my nostrils as I step down farther, triggering a gagging reflex, but I push it back and freeze when whimpers fill the space, barely audible, yet desperation reeks from them.
Speeding up my pace, I quickly run down and swallow hard at the countless cages spread all along the basement with young girls locked inside them.
All of different ages.
The gagging comes back in full force when I realize one of them must be around seven years old.
Beaten, bruised, their clothes dirty and torn, while they grip the bars tight and press their bodies against them, staring at me.
“Oh no,” one of them whispers, and I stumble back in shock, recognizing her at once. She shakes her head at me.
She’d been missing for almost a year. Her father used all his connections to find her and kept the world in an uproar, and all along she has been…here?
Raped by my father?
She rushes to the far corner and wraps her arms around her knees, hiding her face between them while rocking back and forth. “Not you too. Please don’t. Please.” And that’s when she shifts, and I see the remainder of her clothes stretching over her stomach.
A very pregnant stomach.
“I’ll use my own connections to verify this information. Keep an eye on Jones and his son until then. Either way, I’ll deal with them.” We share a long look, then Rafael puts his hands inside his pants pockets and rolls his shoulders back, nodding. “And when I do, you’ll need to cover my tracks.”
“Trust me. You won’t be the only one who deals with them.
” A beat passes as I squeeze the folder filled with a past that I wish to forget and can’t atone for, no matter what I do.
“I’ll see you at the party. Make sure to smile for the reporters and don’t do anything to upset my sister-in-law.
Rush is feral when it comes to her. Any sadness will result in your jaw being broken. ”
Despite the situation, I crack a smile. While the temptation to ruffle my cousin’s feathers is strong, I won’t do it. If he feels this way about his future wife, he will indeed break my jaw, and then I will have to break his, therefore causing drama.
We have no time for that, and besides, close bonds or not, we still have the Scotts and Kings watching us. Our family is all shades of fucked up. However, we have a reputation to uphold, and fighting in front of witnesses is something we wouldn’t ever do.
We owe it to our parents.
And as I said, Wrights don’t have patience for the stupidity.
Rafael taps me on the back and heads toward the exit, throwing over his shoulder right before leaving, “Remember what they say. Happy wife, happy life. Keep that in mind, Orion.”
That’s the thing, though.
As long as she stays with me…my wife could never be happy.
Because the hands that wish to hold her tight and chain her to me?
They are smeared in blood.
Her husband is a murderer.
And as such, I should stay away.
Because what woman would excuse such a past?