Page 76 of Poison Aches

“Yes, sir. I’ll prove it to you,” Vaughn says, bows his head, and leaves.

I can tell he’s already got a plan, likely on how to deliver what he thinks Grandfather wants.

I’ll just have to wait and see if we have the same target.

Instead of leaving, I just stand where I am, staring into the distance, the words ringing between my ears.

“Did you not hear me?”

“What changed?” I ask him straight up.

He’s silent but then he answers.

“I know what you’ve been up to tonight,” he says stiffly. “You’ve been going after every fool under your idiot father, wiping them out. Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

“It wasn’t a secret.” But it’s also notallI’ve been up to.

“Finding your father is not important right now. The Family is. And so far, I think you’ve forgotten that.” He punches his armrest, but the sound is weak due to the rain.

The family is important, huh? What about my mother?

“But then again, if you know that you can’t handle it, if you think that this is tooexertingfor you, just give up and go be obscure somewhere.”

Exerting?

He suspects something. It’s clear with his choice of words…

“What exactly are you trying to say?” I mutter. “It’s just us here, don’t beat around the fucking bush.”

When it comes to the old man, I never filter myself when we’re alone, and I know he knows I resent him.

If I was someone else, I would’ve been dealt with already.

Grandfather doesn’t suffer insubordination, and respect is everything in the mafia, but I’m not just anyone.

He knows that the only reason he’s still alive is because of me.

I’ve fielded many of the close calls he’s received.

I’ve kept his sinister secrets, his most lucrative and high-risk deals under wraps.

I’ve kept his own sons from killing him off for his throne and because of all that, he knows he can’t just dismiss me.

He needs me, and while I fucking hate to admit it, I need him too.

If he doesn’t legitimately and directly make me boss, it’ll be harder to do what needs to be done.

“You know exactly what I mean,” he snaps. “You had a chance, but you failed! You could’ve married Eli Beaumont’s daughter. That was the damn plan since you were fourteen, but you fucked it up and gave a golden opportunity to that King family!”

I keep my face impassive, not showing a damn emotion or thought.

Grandfather’s ambitions are very clear to me. They might be smoke and mirrors to others, but I know what he wants more than anything.

“I’ll deliver what you want,” I announce.

He eyes me then, looking at me through sharp, green eyes identical to my mother’s, identical to mine. It’s almost like looking in the mirror.

He’s a man dying, but afraid of dying.

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