I shrug.
“I’m confident she can make her own decisions whether or not you like them.”
Lion snorts and I smile. The Omen clears his throat.
“Lion, can Liam and I have the room please?”
Lion nods, then leaves the office, shutting the door behind him and leaving me alone with his uncle without argument.
“Drink?” The Omen asks.
I stay silent, staring at him expectantly. He blows out a breath and swipes a hand down his face.
“You know of Malia’s past? With men I mean.”
“If you’re about to talk to me about your daughter’s sex life, I’d rather fucking not,” I state.
The Omen huffs a laugh and fidgets with his sleeves before crossing his arms over his chest.
“I am afraid I know more about that than any father should, and not by choice. Malia is very open with her promiscuity, but that is not a conversation I want to have with anyone. Let alone the man who wants to marry her.”
I step away from the chair and level The Omen with a look. He’s a few inches shorter than I am, and looking down on the man who wreaked so much havoc in my life gives me a sense of dominance.
“When she was a teenager she was hurt by someone she loved. Someone who was not her mother.”
He smiles without mirth, then looks into his glass.
“Malia has never been one to trust to anyone who has not earned it. It is not my story to tell, but the betrayal switched something in her. She has always been dedicated to this life, to my business. Proving with everything she has that she is to become the next heir to my empire. But, when she found him in bed with someone else, that dedication became an almost desperate determination to achieve her goal. One of the only constants in her life has been my arms business, something that could not hurt her.”
Malia’s hesitation to start something with me made me think someone had broken her heart. A woman like Malia doesn’t dwell, but tunnels her focus into something consistent. I can imagine the grudges she might hold close to her chest, using the pain and rage to fuel her ambition. She and I have never been much different in that sense.
“Get to your point,” I say.
The Omen purses his lips at my tone, then nods.
“While I give you my permission to marry my daughter, you must ask yourself if this is the life you want to lead, Liam. Malia is not just a scorned woman with the career of a criminal.”
I frown at him not understanding.
He sighs. “Malia is the heir to my business. If you wed her, you will not only be sharing your life with the daughter of the man you convinced you hated, but also with the leader of his empire.”
My brows furrow as I take in his confession. From my understanding, there was some misogynistic bullshit with the family and their code. Donovan was set to be initiated as the next leader, even though he is younger than Malia is and, according to her, can’t do the job.
“Donovan is the chosen heir,” I say.
The Omen smiles.
“Donnie doesn’t know what I’ve been doing all these years, but I imagine he’s figuring it out. It’s obvious I’ve shaped and molded Malia as my heir more than my son, only denying her the knowledge that she was always meant to take over,” he says with a shrug. “Donovan was never built to be a leader, so I never pushed it. But Malia needed to be conditioned for her future position.”
“Why would you allow your daughter to believe she is lesser because she was born a woman?” I ask. “Why lie to her for her entire life?”
The Omen gives me a tight smile and it makes me want to punch him in his fucking face. He dangled this position in front of his daughter’s face as she fought to prove herself the better leader. He made his own flesh and blood feel like she would never be good enough while her own mother tormented her in completely different ways.
He clears his throat.
“I don’t expect you to understand why I have done things the way I have, but my empire was always hers, and her knowing that would not have made her the woman she is today.”
I glare at him, his half-assed answers giving me nothing more than proving he’s a liar and an asshole.