Heath leans back in his chair, beckoning me to come closer behind Noah’s chair. He leans over as I do, and whispers, “She thinks you’re fucking our uncle.” I freeze, my eyes wide.
“What?” I hiss.
Heath shrugs, leaning back on his chair to continue talking out loud, as if he never said a word. “I think everyone has a hard shell, you just have to be willing to break it to see their true colors.” Heath’s eyes flash to mine. “Wouldn’t you say the same?”
My eyes stupidly wander over to Lincoln, who is talking to his mom. “Yeah,” I whisper, knowing exactly what he means.
Derek asks all the boys questions, bypassing me as if I’m invisible. “You know, Derek,” Lincoln’s starts. “You could get to know the new additions to our family, instead of pretending they’re not here.”
Derek looks over, eyes narrowing on Lincoln. “They’re not my family. And until they earn my respect, I’ll treat them as I see fit.”
“Father,” Richard snaps.
I rise. “I, uh, excuse me.”
“Callum,” Richard says as my brothers stare down their grandfather as if preparing for war.
I exit the room, but not before I hear Lincoln say, “You’re such an ignorant man.”
It gets pretty loud after that, and I find myself in a small glass room. The clouded sky enveloping me through all the windows. I press my fingertips to the cold windows, peering at the rich neighborhood around. I hear the door click. I feel his hands gripping me around my waist.
“I kind of want to fuck you in here.”
I turn around, my hands folding behind his neck. I lean in, my burgundy-orange lips kissing his neck, leaving a slight print on his cream shirt. It’s reckless and stupid, but I don’t care. “We really shouldn’t add attention to ourselves.”
“Fuck them,” he whispers into my neck, biting down.
I laugh a little. “We need to get back.
He squeezes my waist, a frown marring his lips, jaw set. His signature grumpy look. “Fine. You go first.”
I do, leaving him in the glass room. I make my way back to the table. Derek’s eyes narrow on me until they jerk to Lincoln, his eyes hitting right on my small mark on his shirt. And I know, we’re fucked.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I’ve waitedfor this moment for so long, I feel high. I hit Play on the voice recording, getting excited as Derek’s face turns pale. The blood draining so quickly as he listens; the recognition in his eyes when he realizes I’ve finally won. I click Pause. “Should I continue?”
He looks up from the phone, defeated eyes meeting mine. “What do you want?”
I lean back in the chair across from his desk, folding my ankles over one another. “Personally? I wish you’d disappear, have an unfortunate car crash where your brakes are cut, and you smash into a brick wall. Sounds poetic, doesn’t it? You know how much I love poems.” I flash my teeth at him. “But since I’m not a sadistic prick like you, I’ll be taking the company back that my father built.” I reach down, grabbing the contract I had a lawyer draw up for me. I slide it over his desk, finding satisfaction in watching his life crumble right before his eyes.
“If I do this, I will get revenge. I won’t stop until everything you love and cherish is ripped away from you, just like your father.” He grins, grabbing a pen.
“You can try, but you will fail, because I don’t have anything that weakens me, anything I have of value I can replace.”
He laughs. “You stupid fool, you’ve already shown me your weakness.”
Callum flashes in my mind, but he couldn’t know. He barely pays attention to her, let alone knows I have any ties to her, and by the time he does, he’ll be rotting in jail for murder. “Good luck, old man.”
He signs his name, tossing the papers in my lap. “You just want the company and nothing else?”
I shake my head. “Just the company. I don’t care enough about you to do much more.” A lie.
“You are a fool,” he spits. “I would have taken everything you had.”
I smile. “Well, thank fuck you never rubbed off on me, huh?” I stand, stuffing the papers into my bag.
“What about your mother? Are you going to tell her?” he asks from behind me.