Page 24 of Always A Villain
Fury lashing through me, I whirl on him. Isaac, siding with Conrad? He actually thinks breaking the Bond is the answer? “I said no,” I bite out.
“She’ll get hurt, Axe,” Conrad warns arrogantly, playing up his ‘I know best’ bullshit. I turn to leave, but hekeeps pushing.
“Axe! Please!” Desperation cracks in his voice. “I don’t think someone like you is even capable of feeling anything besides hate and rage, but if you have any shred of humanity, you’ll sign this. Don’t let Rory die for our sins.”
I stop. My blood roars in my ears, fists clenching until my knuckles burn. Rage erupts in my veins, colliding with that goddamn fear I can’t shake: the fear of losing her. The attack proved I can’t protect her from everything. If they come for her, what if this time I fail?
I’ve never feared a fight, never walked away from violence. But losing her? That’s a terror I don’t know how to kill.
“She’s my baby girl, Axe. Please, if you feel anything for her, let her go.” His voice trembles. It claws at something inside me—something I’ve buried so deep, I’m not sure it still exists.
My gaze narrows on him. “Answer this question. After Rory’s mother was killed, did you point a gun at her while she slept and pull the trigger?” I saw Rory’s trembling hands, heard the crack in her voice as she confessed this nightmare. It doesn’t match the begging father in front of me now.
Conrad’s face shifts, eyes widening before guilt takes over. “I wasn’t the best father.”
“That’s not a fucking answer.”
He hesitates, then meets my eyes briefly. “Yes,” he whispers. “Yes, I did.”
Isaac’s eyebrows lift, mouth parting, stunned.
“After her mother’s murder...I was a broken man. A broken Sovereign. My rage... I lost myself.” He hesitates, swallowingroughly. “I’ve done terrible things. I’m not a good man. But Rory…” His eyes glisten. “Rory is innocent. She doesn’t deserve this. Please, Axe, I am begging you.”
I sneer, hatred burning under my skin. Easy to beg now—where was this concern when he aimed that gun at her?
He chokes out, “You’ve never experienced love. I don’t expect you to understand. But if there’s any humanity left in you, please…let her go.”
A muscle in my jaw tics.
“You don’t know a goddamn thing about me,” I snarl. Even as the words leave my mouth, I feel the war raging inside—anger and fear, hatred and something else.
It’s tearing me in two.
Conrad holds my gaze. “I know enough. I know she deserves better than me as a father and better than you as a husband. And if you feel anything for her…anything at all…you’ll set her free.”
I want to tell him to fuck off, but Rory’s voice, her memories, slip into my mind—her bitterness, her pain, the years of rejection and guilt she’s carried. The man in front of me, broken and pleading, doesn’t match the monster she described.
I want to rip him apart for what he did to her, but his plea sinks in, fucking digging.
“If I do this… If I give you a divorce…you can’t tell her.” Servants don’t get a say. She’d just be free.
Free of me.
Conrad doesn’t hesitate. “Okay.”
Isaac stands off to the side, observing like a bystander at a crash site, his face unreadable as his gaze flicks between us.
“Fine,” I grind out. The word feels like it’s choking me. “But she stays with me until the threat is imminent. Don’t mistake this for mercy, Conrad,” I add, my tone darkening. “She’s mine. If anything happens to her, I’ll gut anyone responsible.”
He flinches, just for a split second. Good. He needs to remember exactly what I’m capable of.
The divorce papers in front of me don’t mean shit. She’s still mine. She always will be.
“Thank you.” His eyes glisten with tears, like a man dragged through hell but still breathing.
I sneer, rage and pain flaring. “This isn’t for you. It’s for her.”
He slides the dissolution papers toward me. My gaze locks on the blank space where my blood mark goes, and I hesitate.
