103.1
My instinct tells me to pull Lucian back before he does something he might regret, but the moment Vincent laughs, I resist.
No one is more deserving of Lucian’s wrath.
A second punch collides with Vincent’s jaw. Teeth and blood spray to the side and still, he laughs like a maniac. It’s not until Lucian’s punches him three more times that the laughter stops. Lucian dumps him back in his wheelchair, panting heavily.
“Tell me the truth, right now, or I swear to God I will just kill you here and now.”
Vincent wheezes like the last puffs of an old air bag and grins a bloody smile.
“Fine,” he croaks, air whistling out of him with each word. “If you insist—yes, Imro has been making moves for months, soaking up power wherever he can reach it. The countless smaller families he’s absorbed should have caught your attention, my boy, but you were too blind.”
“I’m not your boy.” Lucian seethes.
“Until…you.” He points one haggard finger at Cassian. “Your little family remained so stubborn even after you killed your own father.”
Wait … Cassian killed his own Pakhan?
Lucian and I turn to him, wearing our surprise openly. Cassian merely looks tired.
“You killed your father?” I ask. “Oleg Chernykh, Pakhan. You killed him?”
“Yes,” Cassian answers honestly and a flicker of pain ignites in his eyes like a candle. “He was abusing my mother in secret. When I finally witnessed it, I took it into my own hands and killed him.”
Understandable.
Lucian and I nod.
“And yet your own mother could not forgive you, could she?” Vincent wheezes. “She took her own life to get away from you.”
“You don’t know anything about her,” Cassian spits.
My God. Suddenly I’m seeing Cassian in a new light. Before, he was the irritating son taking over from his father and a thorn in our side as he tried to make a name for himself. Now I see that he was simply trying to keep his family together.
“You should have given up,” Vincent continues. Then he pauses and coughs violently into his palm. Blood spots his skin, but there’s no sympathy for him—not from me.
“You should have let Imro absorb your family, but no, you had to be all noble and try to keep your family name afloat. So yes, Imro decided to kill you. He wanted to make you an example to any other smaller family that tried to stand in his way. We set up a deal to trick you and then, once we had your men, I was to take care of you.”
His beady eyes snap to Lucian. His face is swelling from the blows to the point that his left eye is almost closed over, but the hatred shines through as clear as day.
“You. My useless son with no ambition or sense. Once you were dead, Imro would marry Selene and join both families. You may think us old but even now you all follow older traditions like that and no one would question. It was the perfect plan until that rat escaped. We had no idea where you crawled off to.”
Cassian lets out an unamused snort. “How did you find out?”
“A woman. A Yenin.” Vincent coughs again, and this time blood stains his lips. “She crept out of the woodwork with a deal for Imro. She would give us your location in exchange for wiping out the Hawthornes. Little did she know she was making a deal where she had nothing to gain. As soon as we agreed, she gave Cassian up.”
A woman. From Vincent’s earlier story by the pool, there’s only one person that could be. My heart sinks like a rock and the pistol grip becomes engraved on my palm.
“Aurora’s mother,” I grind out.
“Yes,” Vincent wheezes. “She gave up her daughter too. Told Imro everything about the plan.”
“And all along,” I spit. “She had no idea she was dealing with you, a Hawthorne.”
“Nope—”
Suddenly, Lucian starts to laugh. It’s a humorless sound, but it’s a laugh nonetheless. He tosses the pin onto the desk and takes a step back from his father, laughing continuously.
Cassian and I share a look of confusion. Has he finally snapped?
He laughs that dry, hollow noise for a few minutes, then wipes at his eyes. “You did all that work, made all these plans and hold so much stake in the old laws, but you’re missing one very fucking funny detail.”
All attention is on Lucian and Vincent no longer holds the confident look he once had.
“Selene isn’t even my daughter.”
Cassian and Vincent’s mouths fall open in shock.
“What?!” Vincent screeches.
“She isn’t my daughter. Biologically. And in the event that I died, my most trusted guard has strict instructions to get her as far away from this estate as possible.”
Lucian’s heavy, sad eyes lock onto me for a few seconds, then he looks at his father.
“My will states the truth for everyone, so if anyone did try to marry her then they would not gain control of this family. I saved her from the last family you ordered me to murder.” Lucian laughs loudly, a chilling sound with the hollowness attached. “You would do all of this, and then have my will read, and everyone would have learned that she isn’t even mine. Imro would have no one to marry for control.”
His laughter turns a touch maniacal and I worry he’s lost the last tether holding him to sanity. I can’t blame him. Selene lies in critical condition at the hospital, likely due to his father who has been scheming with his enemy to kill him. On top of that, he’s lost Aurora.
“Lucian—” I start to speak as Vincent seethes by the desk, but his phone buzzes to life in my hand. Glancing down, one message blinks onto the screen.
“Got her,” I read out. “Got who?”
Vincent winces and coughs, and as a pink sunrise stretches across the sky behind him, he looks deathly pale.
“I knew you wouldn’t kill her,” he gasps haggardly.
Oh no.
“Aurora?” Lucian’s head snaps up and his voice is strong. “She’s still…?”
“I couldn’t,” I reply, glancing at him.
“I knew you couldn’t,” Vincent hisses. “You claim you love her. And I know you, Lucian. Your rat daughter might now be yours but you love her all the same. Just like you love that whore. Now, Imro has both.”
My blood runs cold. Crimson leaks steadily from the corner of Vincent’s mouth as he leans back in his chair.
“This, my boy, is where you lose. There’s always a backup plan because I know you. Your weaknesses are always on display.”
Lucian lashes out hard and fast, slamming his fist into the side of his father’s face. Vincent sags to the side, draping over his wheelchair as he falls unconscious.
“I…I don’t give a fuck about Aurora right now,” Lucian seethes. “But I am not letting them get their hands on my daughter.” He surges to life and strides around the desk, I catch his elbow and lower my gun.
“Lucian.”
“What?” he snaps, his face an inch from mine. “What could possibly be more important?!”
With a gentle touch, I press the pregnancy test into Lucian’s hand.
His face falls.
“No … no way.”
