Page 44 of Culmination
But I can’t. I’m his employee. His enforcer. His investigator. I shouldn’t have any clue why he’d have me taken and beaten.
“Why the hell am I here, Morningstar?” I seethe through gritted teeth. “What the fuck is this about?”
Lying through my teeth to this man was so much easier before he wanted to kill my girlfriend. But I’m good at what I do, so I try to maintain my composure as much as possible.
Theo raises an eyebrow. “I was under the impression that you knew everything. This subterfuge of you working for me is no longer necessary.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What do you want from me?” I ask, the taste of copper on the tip of my tongue. “Why the fuck are you doing this? I’ve done everything you asked.”
“Matthews, drop the act. You’re not fooling anyone. Certainly not me.”
I spit out blood onto the white carpet, not giving a single shit when Morningstar looks down at me with disgust.
“You have betrayed me for the last time. Bring in the woman,” he says to the guard by the door.
My chest constricts, all breath leaving my body, my heart nearly stopping at his words. I wait for moments to pass before I hear a knock on the door. No. She can’t be here. He can’t have gotten to her, too.
I’ll never forgive myself if Theo Morningstar has her in his clutches.
“Enter.”
When the door opens, my stomach tightens at the sight of Helene’s limp body, pale and cold. It’s only the trickle of blood streaming down the side of her cheek that lets me know she’s even still alive. Desperation claws me at with the need to go to her. To ensure she’s okay. To rip the throat out of the motherfucker who dared to lay a harmful hand on her.
But I can’t. I’m not supposed to care about her in a way that means I can’t do my job. So, with indifference I sure as hell don’t feel, I shrug.
“Another one of your whores, Morningstar? You know, if you’d stop beating them, they might not cost you so much.”
The guard sets her on the bed and then resumes his place at the door, ever the dutiful sentry.
“Matthews, when are you going to realize that I know everything?”
“Yet here we are. If you knew everything, why involve Brie? Why involve me?”
He waves me off. “Do you forget that I found your little hotel hideaway? That my physician came to that room to tend your lovely, little Gabriella? Do you honestly believe I wasn’t having the room watched the entire time you were there?”
My blood runs cold, but my face gives nothing away. “Like I’d ever put that past you. I was aware you knew we were in Chicago. It was Adrian I didn’t want to find out.”
Theo’s eyes turn downward for the slightest of seconds. “Adrian’s dead,” he clips, and I wonder if he actually believes that.
Sure, that’s what the news reported, but Theo’s been in the business long enough to know the nature of the game.
He waves a hand in the air. “No matter about that. He outlived his usefulness to me anyways. As for this one, I saw her come to your hotel room. I know she spent time inside. There’s only one reason why she’d have been there. I’m just wondering how long you’ve known.”
I shift, feigning boredom. “Known what? Is there a point you’re getting at?”
It’s as if he doesn’t hear me.
“She thought she could hide you all this time. A fool, Helene thought of me. And for two decades, she might’ve been right. It wasn’t worth going after her. After all, I had my firstborn son. What did I need with a temperamental wife and a bastard second-born?”
“Are you going to start making sense anytime soon, old man? I don’t give a damn about your family history or your romantic entanglements that went south.”
“Raphael, you can pretend all you want, but I know you know the truth and it’s time you face it. It’s time you face me.”
I’m done. It’s obvious there’s no point in continuing the charade, and I have no desire to prolong this. “Fine. After nearly thirty years, I not only found out I was adopted, but that not only is my sperm donor a psychotic, murderous bastard, but my girlfriend used to sleep with the crazy brother I never knew I had. Forgive me,Father, for not embracing the delightful news all that well.”
His head falls back as he roars with laughter. “Ah, yes. Gabriella. Imagine my surprise when she fell right into your bed. And so quickly after leaving Adrian’s. It causes one to wonder what else you could’ve stolen from him if you’d only grown up together. It appears I may have raised the wrong son all along.”
I raise an eyebrow.
