Page 2 of The Enemy

I was seventeen when she had wormed her way into our lives. I did not need a mother, especially when my heart still ached for the one I had lost.

“Lou, are you with us?”

My cheeks instantly flamed as my father called for my attention.

“I'm sorry, sir. I was just thinking about some paperwork I needed to complete,” I lied with a smile.

My dad gritted his teeth, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he was mad this time. Sure, I wasn’t paying attention, but did it even matter at this point? I had already made a disaster of this whole thing.

“We should wrap this up since we are boring Her Majesty.”

The snide comment came from the other end of the table. His voice was smooth like fine whiskey, but it fucked you up even worse.

I bit my tongue before I started an all-out war. I was still too raw from our last encounter. In refusing to look at him, my eyes caught Pricilla’s again, and this time, I could see her gloating.

Don’t slap the bitch. Don’t slap the bitch. Don’t slap the bitch.

God would grant me that wish one day, but it wouldn’t be today. Instead, I let my hands touch my Kirigami Pochette pouch. As my fingers glided through the buttery leather, I instantly felt calmer. Inside the leather envelope was everything I needed to make myself feel better.

“Oh, honey, don’t be rude to your little sister.”

At her words, I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander to the other end of the table. At this point, it was unavoidable. It had been that way since I was fourteen.

My stepbrother sat directly across from my father, in a spot where had I had a dick I would be sitting there today. He was tall and lean but with strong shoulders and a square jaw covered in a neatly groomed beard. His eyes were dark and intense. He always wore dark suits tailored to perfection. And though he looked like the asshole that he was, his brown set of curls made him look softer.

Neo took my father away from me—or whatever pieces were left of him after my mother passed away.

It took everything in me not to react to the intensity of his gaze. To say we had a tumultuous relationship was putting it mildly. I remember being in awe of him my freshman year of high school, when he was a senior who I stupidly thought wasn’t like the other boys. He was popular, but he didn’t seem to care about that—for a second, I wondered if he felt like an outcast the way I did.

I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Neo was lying low because everyone knew that although he came from money, his mother was a social-climbing whore.

My father welcomed Pricilla and Neo with open arms, and, for the first time, Neo had a father who didn’t have a foot in the grave. Since he was four years older than me, he started working at the company before I did. When my father finally let me have a seat at the table, the asshole was already taking the seat that should have been mine.

Anyone else could sit there, and I wouldn’t care. Hell, I would celebrate Marie if she had his spot. If nepotism didn’t work for me, I would rather it didn’t do shit for him.

“I would never. I adore her.” He smirked at me.

That rage I felt earlier came back tenfold.

How could he sit there and act like everything was okay? How could he come back from his last business trip and act like nothing had changed? For the last decade, I had been playing catch-up to him, and when I finally felt on even ground, the bastard went and tore me down.

“That makes one of us.” My voice was low and steady because any louder, everyone would hear just how much it wavered.

Neo’s eyes flashed with regret, but he quickly masked it.

“Lou,” my father warned.

I allowed myself one last glance at him before I dismissed him and turned to look at my father.

“My apologies, sir,” I said. “I agree with the board; decisions must be made. This is a family company, and at the end of the day, Riviere Conglomerate will be in Riviere hands.”

Surprisingly, I didn’t bite my tongue when I got that last part out.

Neo not only took the pieces of my father that belonged to me, but he also took his last name.

“Then it’s settled,” Pricilla rushed out. You had to give it to the woman, her pussy not only got her money, but it put her son in charge of a Fortune 500 company. She knew she had this in the bag.

I reached for the leather envelope and leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. Twelve people were in this board room, and everyone but my father noticed my legs.

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