Page 30 of Coup De Grâce
But they had.
What used to be a point of contention between us was now the one thing I wished I had more than anything. All those ways we were different had separated us through the years. They’d molded and shaped us into who we were. A part of me always hated Rafe for being so much like our father. I wanted him tobe like me. But I always knew he would end up like Michael, strong and capable in ways I never would be.
That was how he ended up at that fucking stake, burning alive. He knew he was going on a suicide mission, and he did it anyway. His drive to get Izzy out was why she was alive right now.
And why I was in eternal hell.
I’d lost my brother. My twin. My constant competitor. He was dead, but I was still here. It wasn’t right. Nothing about that fucking job was right. I should have tried harder to get him out. I should have found a fucking way to reach him.
Stumbling back, I slammed my fist into the wall, then flung everything off my desk in anger. I had failed in every way that he succeeded. That pain digging into my gut would never go away.
“I see you’re doing a great job at tearing your life apart.”
I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Michael. Standing in the doorway, it pissed me off that he didn’t look a single ounce like a grieving father. Somehow, he just pushed past everything and moved on. I wasn’t capable of doing that.
“What the fuck do you want?” I muttered.
“Just came to see how you were doing.”
I spread my arms wide, laughing at him. “How the fuck does it look like I’m doing?”
“By the state of your office, it looks like you’re handling things about like I expected.”
“And you’re fucking fine, right?” I grinned at him, baring my teeth. Fuck, I was pissed.
A sliver of doubt snaked through me as the facade on his face broke. “He was my son. Do you really think I wanted this for him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t fucking know anything. There are so many fucking questions. Why the hell didn’t you find a way toget her off that island sooner? Why did you let Rafe go to that island? Why the fuck did you ask me to pull the trigger?” I shouted. “Why would you do that to me?”
“Why wouldn’t you do it for your brother?” he countered, getting in my face. “Do you think I wanted that for you? Do you think I like the idea that you have to live with that?”
“I don’t know! I don’t fucking know anything! You haven’t been part of my life in years, and now here you are, always around. Pretty fucking convenient timing, Dad,” I said sarcastically.
“Pretty un-fucking-convenient,” he scowled. “This was not the way I wanted things to go. If I could have stopped him from going to that island, I would have. But your brother always did things his own way. There was no stopping him when he got an idea in his head.”
“Right,” I scoffed, falling down into my chair. I bowed my head, scrubbing my hands through my hair in frustration. I just wanted it all to end. I wanted the pain and the misery to go away. But deep down, I knew it never would. “Why are you here?”
“Because it’s not over.”
I laughed at that. “It’s never over,” I reminded him. “Who’s after him this time?”
“Not after him. After you and your family.”
I looked up sharply, sure I had heard him wrong.
“There’s so much you don’t know. So much Rafe never knew. If he had, I’m sure he would have done the same fucking thing, though.”
I shoved out of my seat and charged him, grabbing him by the collar as I shoved him up against the wall. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about who’s really behind all this.”
“And who’s that?”
He shook his head slightly, refusing to tell me. “You need to do a few things before you can have all the intel required.”
“Yeah?” I bit out. “And why’s that?”
“Because they’re watching. Do you really fucking think that Rafe ended all this? That he blew up the organization and ended it all? If anything, he started a fucking war. Your brother, for all his good intentions, started something that will fuck over anyone he knew. They will tear down anyone that might have had anything to do with him, and that fucking starts with you.”
