I’m tempted to lift the sheet to see why his lower half is covered, but I know it’ll only infuriate me more. There’s a good chance he’s pantless, which means he had intentions that I can’t fathom at this moment.
“You’ve done a lot of things to piss me off,” I begin, slouching down and putting my knee to his chest. He blows out a heavy breath as I deflate his lungs. “You tried to steal my empire, stabbed me in the back, and took the life of my good friend, Peter.” I press harder as I try to pull out the words while leaving my emotions behind. “But nothing you’ve done has pissed me off more than you hurting my girl.” I cock my fist and release it right on his nose.
“She’s mine,” I scream. “She will never be yours. Yet, you tried to force her to marry you and…”
Fuck! I can’t even say the words, but it’s necessary to get this out before I kill him. “You fucking touched her. What gives you the right?” It’s a closed question and I want no response. No bullshit excuses or creative lies.
Now that I got that out, it’s time to ask the questions I do want answers to. “Why the fuck did you do it? I know damn well it’s not because you caught feelings for her?”
A smirk tugs at the corner of his lip, and my blood hits a boiling point. “You think this is fucking funny?” I punch him again, this time, hard enough to crack his nose. He shrills as blood spills down the side of his face. His legs begin kicking, trying to free himself from whatever the hell he’s tied up with.
“You son of a bitch!” Byron shouts. “If you don’t kill me, I will kill you. So you might as well end this shit right now.”
“No! Not until you answer the damn question.”
“And why the hell should I answer questions that will give you peace of mind? If you must live, I want you to live a miserable life, wondering why I tried to destroy your life.”
I scream so loudly that my words echo off the walls surrounding us. “Whyyyy?”
It’s obvious that there is nothing but hatred between this asshole and me. It wasn’t always like this, though. It’s like one day, something snapped inside of him and he thought it would be fun to try and wreck my life.
“You were my fucking friend, Byron. My attorney. My business partner. What the fuck happened to make you do a complete one-eighty. To go as far as kidnapping me, killing Peter, and trying to take over my men, my money, and my company. Not to mention, the woman I love. It’s like you wanted to be me.”
Byron pushes his hands against my leg, trying to get me off him, but it only makes me push down more. Putting my full weight on him, I guarantee he’s not going anywhere. “Answer me, dammit!”
He inhales a deep breath, as deep as he can with the little air that can get through, and he stares back at me. “Because it should have been me.” His voice is tranquil with little to no fight in him.
“It should have all been mine.”
“You really are a delusional motherfucker.” I’m not sure why my father’s attorney—one who helped change his will, stating that I was the sole beneficiary—thinks he should have gotten everything I have.
Byron groans, squirms, and finally gives up again. “You call it delusional and I call it the truth.”
Getting bored with this conversation, I’m ready to get it over with. “All right. I’ll bite. Why should it all have been yours?”
“Lift your fucking leg off my chest, so I can breathe, and maybe I’ll tell you.”
“Ah. There it is. You just want me to move, so you can try and overpower me. Not happening. Now, if you’ve got nothing left to say…” I pull my knife out of the holder clipped to my pocket and flip the blade open. “Let's get this over with.”
Byron’s eyes shoot wide open. It seems I’ve got his attention now. He had to know how this would end. Bella and I will never be free until he’s done. He’ll never stop.
I press the tip of the blade to his throat, and he sucks in a breath, trying to escape what’s inevitably coming. “Wai…wait. Okay. I’ll tell ya.”
“You’ve got ten seconds. Nine…eight…seven…”
“Because I’m Vincent’s son!”
This time, I laugh. He’s really pulling out all the stops. I press the knife deeper, piercing his skin and drawing blood that trickles down his neck.
“It’s true. That love child I told you about, it was me. He wasn’t planning to leave everything to a son he’d had out of wedlock. His beneficiary on the will was some distant cousin of Delilah’s, before we changed it. He barely even knew the kid. He just wanted to be a dick and leave us nothing.”
I don’t believe a word he says. Why the hell should I? Byron has proven to be a loose cannon. “So that’s your lie. That’s the story you’re going to tell me to try and escape death.” I breathe out a laugh, though it’s empty of humor. “You’re gonna have to try harder.”
“I swear to you, Callum. It’s the truth. Believe me or not, but I am Vincent’s son.” My leg lifts a tad, giving him a little more breathing room. He takes advantage of the extra breath in his lungs and keeps on with his story. “Vincent had an affair with my mom. It wasn’t until I was going through some of my mom’s things, when she passed away, that I found out who my dad was. A DNA test confirmed it. I was only eighteen years old, never had much of anything, not to mention a backbone. I cowered to the man. He asked me to keep his secret and promised to be part of my life, while helping me financially. He put me through law school and eventually hired me. It was all for show, though. He didn’t give a damn about me. He just didn’t want his wife to know, so I went along with it and milked him for everything he’d give me.”
I’m trying really hard not to buy into this story, but his details are astounding. Even if it were true, there are still some things that don’t add up. “Why not just change his entire will over to you. Why use me as a middleman and allow me to have all the control?”
“Undue influence. As the attorney in charge of his estate, it was impossible.”
“Impossible and illegal are two different things, and I don’t think you care much about the latter. Besides, you were the executor of my will and you were fully prepared to have me killed so you could take it all.”
“I knew you’d be a pain in the ass. Eventually, you would have looked into it all and I’d be investigated. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. You were the last person alive who had any interest in his money. So, the easiest thing for me to do was get rid of the one thing standing in my way. It was a solid plan—until she fucked it up.”
There’s a good possibility he’s telling me the truth, but it doesn’t change anything. “Well, old friend, I guess we’ll never know how things could have panned out, had you told me the truth from the start. Instead, the empire is mine, the kingdom is still standing,” I lean forward and whisper into his ear, hoping to hit a nerve, “and I got the girl.”
When he begins trying to fight me off again, the blade returns to his throat, and he settles back down.
“I didn’t want that washed-up bitch anyways. She’s a headache and a pain in the ass.”