Chapter 100 #4
Joseph’s gaze shifted back to me, and after a moment he leaned back, his features relaxing, and he snorted before raising his eyebrows.
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“The fact that you haven’t thrown yourself at me like a madman yet should give me hope. Have you finally come to your senses?”
There was so much I wanted to say to him without holding back. So much resentment. So much loathing. So much destruction that was trying to take hold of me.
But the first thing that slipped past my lips was that question that had been lurking there for months.
“Why? Why couldn’t you just let her be happy?”
We were both fathers. I would never understand how he could have ever treated that person who had been helplessly dependent on him for eighteen years that way. That person who couldn't help the fact that they weren't enough in the eyes of this system.
Disappointment settled on his face, allowing my inner frustration to take hold.
“You think it’s my fault. But she rammed that razor blade into her wrists, like a toddler screaming for attention. She was beyond repair, Davian.”
“She was not beyond repair! She was desperate because you put her in this situation!”
I slammed my fist on the table and Joseph’s expression darkened.
“She put herself in this situation!”
I clenched my teeth until it hurt and tears threatened to blur my vision.
“Why? You want to know why, Davian?” He leaned forward and clawed at the metal of his handcuffs. “Because she wasn’t my daughter.”
“She was your biological child!” I blurted out, feeling myself edging closer and closer to my breaking point.
“A child who should never have existed!”
Sighing, he leaned back again.
“Instead of wasting your time, you should leave this state and start a new life. She ruined your old one. Thanks to me, it didn’t end in total disaster.”
My right eyebrow twitched.
How could he?!
I raised my finger, pointing toward the wall.
“I’ve never lived more than when she was in my life!”
He raised both eyebrows, snorted morosely, then shook his head.
“Look at yourself, boy. What she’s done to your head. And speaking of your head. Since when do you get into fights? Was that Anthony?”
I didn’t respond.
He knew me well enough.
“Look at yourself. So bitter and out of control. And yet I am the one who was betrayed. And you know what’s ironic? As soon as I’m out of here, I’ll give you one last chance to clean up the mess you’ve caused under her influence.”
This had to be a bad joke.
Was I a damn joke to him?!
Did he think, after everything that had happened, that I would forgive him, let alone ever work for him again?!
“You’re not getting out of here.”
A glance over my shoulder told me that Mr. Bellrose was still standing in the corner, staring at Joseph, but Joseph skillfully ignored him.
“My innocence in Arnold’s murders is as good as proven. He forced me to do his dirty work, put me under pressure.”
“You’ll rot in here just like him,” I made clear. “Not for back then. But for what you did to Quill.”
The disappointment in Joseph’s eyes was impossible to miss. Added to that was an expression that told me my words left him cold.
To him, I was still the helpless boy he had taken under his wing. The one he had manipulated and exploited to secure a good reputation and dump everything Arnold had dumped on him onto me.
He would never see me as an equal. He would never take my feelings seriously. Because he had never known them.
To him, there was only one Davian. One I had never truly been.
The man who had fallen in love with his daughter was a stranger to him. Another shadow he was running from.
But soon, all of this would come to an end.
One couldn't run from a tsunami forever. Eventually, it would come and sweep away whatever hadn't found shelter in time.
It was time for him to get to know Davian. Not the calm sea, but the tidal wave that had been building up over him all these years while he’d been too busy applying a fresh veneer of gold over his crumbling facade.
“I’m going to tell you right now how this is going to play out.
In three weeks, Arnold’s trial will take place.
You will show up there and testify on my behalf.
You will confirm that I have not killed anyone, let alone ever spread antisemitic ideas.
You will write a letter to the Ethics Committee correcting your nomination of Monica and retracting all the misinformation you spread about me at my gala.
Should you fail to do all of this, you will hear from my lawyer, who already has my lawsuit against you on his desk, along with a mountain of incriminating evidence that will cost you more than just your law license.
I will be acquitted, and I will pay the fine that my lawyer has already negotiated with the judge in a deal.
And then I will smooth over your missteps for you, return to Maplecrest, and take over as director of Maplecrest Law, where in twenty years you will follow in my footsteps as a thank you for everything I sacrificed for you. ”
I stared at Joseph. Three seconds. Seven. Then an amused chuckle escaped me.
People like Joseph and Arnold would always find loopholes in the law. Because the law wasn’t sophisticated enough and allowed corruption to take root within it. Deliberately.
A shadow fell over Joseph’s gaze.
I had no choice but to do what I was about to do.
Anthony would hate me for all eternity. But this wasn’t about my ruined friendship. This was about ensuring that Quill’s sacrifices hadn’t been in vain.
My expression went blank, and I let my hand slip into my coat pocket.
“None of that will happen.”
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