Page 19 of Midnight Revelations

His top lip lifted in a sneer. “No man owns me.”

I leaned forward, my right index finger pulling the page back toward me. “Have fun in prison. I hear they like posh guys like you with soft skin and a virgin ass.”

His hand slammed down on the page. “You’ll not get away with this,” he snapped.

“Why? What are you going to do? Men like me don’t love, we have our assets hidden far from where anyone can find them, and we make sure that no one gets close enough to take what is ours.” I bit out a dark laugh. “Yeah, you must be really proud of what you created.”

I sat in the chair opposite him and returned his stare until he slowly lifted the fountain pen he always used to sign it. “I prefer biro, since it can’t be erased.”

My time with Jordan had taught me to trust no one, and the first man I refused to ever believe had been my father. His jaw tightened as he lifted the pen I had used and signed the bottom of the document.

I nodded to the stack of blank pages. I need a list of all the assets and their locations. I also need the names and details of the accounts that all the payments were made from. It would fuck him off to have to give me his hidden account information. Technically, I didn’t need it but I preferred to watch him squirm and have to reveal all his nasty little secrets.

“I’ll need the passcodes to the accounts as well, and any relevant information.” His shoulders stiffened with every word.

His furious gaze lifted to mine.

“You could always fix this mess yourself,” I offered, knowing that he’d already tried and I was the last resort. Desperate men tended to act irrationally and that’s what he was doing right now. He was giving me more information than I needed and allowed me to create back doors into all his affairs.

I moved my attention to my youngest brother who was still sitting against the wall, staring daggers at me. “Did you use your accounts or did Daddy pay for your toys?”

His eyes narrowed at my tone and the use of the word “daddy.” “They were gifts,” he said, his tone low and angry.

Dad had never even bought me an easter egg, never mind a woman with pre-ordered specifications. I fucking hated my family.

“And, Oliver? Was yours to be a gift as well?” Dad had been tying them to him with these secrets so that they would obey his every command.

He glanced away and Aaron and I shared a look. We were the oldest sons, and our mum’s influence ran deepest with us. By the time the others arrived, she had been beaten into a shadow of herself with Dad’s emotional outbursts and his wicked tongue. She was only now starting to rebuild her life without him in it.

“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked, already starting to type on my phone. I hated bringing Xavier and Jordan into this, but we operated best when we had all the information. Jordan had access to facilities that I didn’t and right now speed was my greatest weapon. I didn’t want these women dead, and that was the solution that Dad was hoping for. If I had any chance of rescuing them and rehabilitating them, then we needed to move fast.

“I invested some money in schemes Malcolm set up,” Dad admitted after several seconds.

I scowled at him, my disgust starting to show. “Do I not make you enough money? Why the fuck would you let an outsider influence your financial portfolio?”

The worst part was I knew the answer before I asked the question. Power and money. The only two factors that really mattered to the sick fuck sitting looking at me as if he hated me. The feeling was mutual. If I could drag the genes he contributed to me out of my body, I would.

Power was something men like him craved. It didn’t just apply to business, no they had to exert power in all aspects of their lives. I imagined as his reign of terror ended and Mum found independence, he needed to wield his power over another unfortunate female, and to do that without recrimination he needed to buy himself a victim. Or several by the sounds of it.

My phone vibrated in my hand and I swiped it open.

Xavier:Are you fucking serious?

Me:Deadly. Now you know what I’ve been trying to deal with.

Xavier:Where are you?

Me:Dad’s personal hellhole in London.

Xavier:I’ll grab J and meet you at work in half an hour.

Xavier was the first person I trusted. Jordan the second. The years elapsed and I finally found my third person in Lucrezia. Those people were my family, not the ones sitting in this room.

I lifted the pages from the desk and folded them before putting them in the inside pocket of my suit with my pen. “You’re sure this is everything?” I asked, and Dad gave me one curt nod.

“How the fuck are you going to sort this when Dad and I have been trying for days?” Michael asked.

I slid my hands into the pockets of my trousers. “The same way that I deal with everything,” I replied. “With discretion and no witnesses. Let me give you a piece of advice, Michael.”

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