Seduce & Destroy - Page 92

Bullshit. I saw the way he dismissed Laney, silenced her, took her for granted. He shouldn’t even get this right to defend himself. “She said you trapped her into marriage.” Her eyes reddened with unshed tears. “With me.”

“Don’t pretend to know, Sunshine. She wanted to marry me. She loved me.”

“I wasn’t a product of love.” Her cheeks blazed. In shame, I realised.

“Of course, you were, Sunshine. Til death do us part, she promised.”

“You forced her. She told me.”

“I did no such thing,” Spit collected around the seam of his mouth, the white foam slowly dripping down his chin. “She never listened to me. Always feeling sorry for herself with something. You made her happy.”

Laney flipped out an army knife, and I swore I fell in love again. “Do you even miss her?”

“Don’t ask me silly questions, girl.”

A tear slipped down Laney’s cheek, her hands shaking. I had to look away.

Then, his glaring eyes found mine. “Aren’t you going to apologise? You made her into a bumbling mess!”

I rolled my eyes at the accusation. “Me? You did this.”

“I certainly did not.”

Laney groaned loudly. “Stop it, Father!” She said, swinging the knife without care. “Tell me why you really did it. And don’t talk around it.”

“Styria and I met in college.” He smiled. “Galen and I were both the oldest children of our bridged family. Destined to be friends, but in practice we were constantly competing. First it was just banter, jabs and light punches, but soon enough the punches rolled into full-on fist fights. He’d had a girlfriend before, he went out drinking in the park with the older kids, he had it all. He threw it in my face and isolated me. Until your mother came along, she struggled with battles of the mind, while I threw the punches, we understood each other.

“Then one day, I was walking to her house after college. Smug and holding flowers. I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend. But when I turned the corner on her street, a car idled in front of her house. I recognised the number plate immediately. The driver door opened, and Galen walked to open the passenger door. Out walks, Styria, blushing.

“He didn’t look but he knew I was watching. I came to her house everyday like clockwork. I was running late because I stopped to buy flowers from the village shop. Then, he kissed her. Styria’s mother, Mrs Braxton, stood at the door, admiring. It wasn’t fair.”

“Father,” Laney sighed softly. “The fire?”

He ignored her. “I stabbed him. As he fell, I stepped on his knee, I heard the crack of joints. He didn’t fight me, just laughed on the ground. Styria said it was a mistake, she kept saying she was sorry. There was a glint in her eyes, though. Fear. I ran home.”

“Due to his injury, Galen had to sleep in the library downstairs. I heard my mother say that to my father. I was grounded. When night fell, I stole some petrol and matches and marched to the Karstein mansion. Books are great fuel. She promised to keep the secret. I had to marry her.”

“All of this for petty drama. You’re unbelievable”

“I did this for you!” He yelled.

“You did this for yourself!” She sighed, and produced a hair pin from her pocket, the tip of it lethal. “I was just too dumb to realise. All this time you only wanted to protect yourself.”

“I won, Laney. I got her, and I got you. I won’t apologise for that. I won!”

But she wasn’t listening. “You weren’t building an army to defend the Ravencroft Estate, you were building an entourage, a buffer to protect your own back. Cannon fodder. You weren’t worried Grandfather’s death was a targeted attack, you were worried you were next.”

Richard’s face was unreadable, his smug expression masking his true feelings.

“Grandfather moved away because he was ashamed of you! He was murdered because of you!” His face fell as Laney lifted the hair pin and held it just over his open wound. “He was murdered Father, and all you cared about was yourself!” She shook her head, taking out a blade from her ankle and turning it sideways. “You didn’t win. No, you failed. I’m ashamed to be related to you.”

“You were made in the image of me!”

“Well, I prefer the image of my mother.” In one fell swoop, she used the side of her blade like a hammer and banged the hairpin into his wound. The scream he let out rumbled through the cold walls. “A Braxton. Not a Ravencroft.”

“Stab me, Laney.” Blood poured from the wound anew. “Don’t make me hear those words.”

She raised the knife to his chest, wavering. “You disgust me.”