Page 45 of When the Last One Falls
Appreciating his show of vulnerability, I said, “You’ll never have to.”
His arms tightened around me. “I love you, baby. I love you, and I’m so fucking sorry for everything.”
I fell asleep crying in his arms after all.
Chapter 30
Brantley~
Ididn’t care that we were at work. I didn’t care that there might be witnesses. I didn’t even care if someone recorded the damn thing and it went viral. After all, that stupid video of me and Ares fighting was still out there, so no one could accuse me of giving a fuck what the public thought of me or how I conducted myself.
When I stormed past my father’s secretary, the look on my face must have been enough to warn her to stand down. While this wouldn’t be the first time that she’d ever seen this look on my face, it was the first time that I didn’t care about the consequences.
Throwing the doors opened to my father’s office, I immediately saw my brother jump up out of his seat, and all the more better for me.
“Brantley, what-”
My fist to Beau’s face shut him the fuck up.
“Brantley!” my father roared.
Grabbing a falling Beau by his shirt, I hauled him back up, wanting to kill the fucker. “If you ever-and I do meanever-go near my wife again, I will fucking kill you,” I swore. “If you think that us being blood will stop me, you’re wrong, Beau. I will fucking kill you if you ever go near Keris again.”
“Brantley, what is this?” my father shouted, clearly losing it because I hadn’t bothered to shut his office doors. “Have you gone crazy?”
Letting my fumbling brother drop on the floor, I turned to face the man that might have given me the greatest miracle in my life but was still a piece of shit. “I don’t know if your ego’s just gotten so big that you’ve forgotten just who the hell I am and what I do for this company, but you’re about to learn really quick-”
“Now, son…” he uttered, his hands up, trying to talk me down, but it was no use. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard-”
“I heard that you were going to try to marry my wife off to my brother,” I snapped. “I heard that you were going to keep those mines, no matter what it cost.” I leaned further across my father’s desk. “And do you want to know how I know that? Because your son couldn’t keep his mouth shut about your plans for him and my wife.”
Darius paled a bit, but I was past giving a fuck. “Brantley, it was just a misunder-”
“I told you that I was fucking in love with her!” I roared. “I told you that I was in love with her, but all you care about is goddamn money!”
“Money that has given you your life,” he snapped back. “Don’t forget that it’s my money and success that has made all of this possible for you.”
I straightened to my full height. “Not anymore,” I announced, and his face really did pale this time. “You crossed a line that you can’t uncross when you plotted against my wife.”
“Now, Brantley-”
“I’ll give you all my shares back, but I’m walking,” I went on. “I’m also taking Onyx and Magnus with me, and if you think that I’ve worked my ass off to make Kingston Industries the best in the country, just wait until you see what I’ll do to destroy it all.”
I could hear Beau actually sobbing like a disappointment on the floor, and it was no less than he and my father deserved. Even though Keris had begged me not to do this, it hadn’t been up for debate. If I was ever placed on life support, Keris would be the one to determine if I lived or died, not my parents, not my brother, not my friends, not even my children. My life was literally in my wife’s hands, and that made her the most important person on the planet to me. So, I needed to show people that I wasn’t fucking around when it came to my wife.
“I’m sorry,” my father finally said, desperation clouding his face. “It…I was wrong. I see that now. I just…I guess I didn’t believe you when you said that you loved her. I…” I watched him let out a deep breath. “You can’t quit, Brantley.”
“Watch me,” I hissed.
“This is your legacy,” he said, frantically trying to change my mind. “It’s your life’s work. It’s your family’s future. You can’t just abandon…what about all the people that work for Kingston? Do you really not care about their liv-”
“I only care about mywife,”I said, cutting him off. “Onyx and Magnus are a close second, but they’re still not as important to me as Keris.”
“Okay, okay,” he rushed out. “What do you want? What will it take to keep you from walking out?”
I wanted to tell him nothing, but then I thought back to how upset Keris had been when I’d told her that I was leaving Kingston Industries. She had given me the same arguments as my father had, onlyherreasons had come from a good place. My father was still just as greedy as he’d always been, and the only reason that he was begging me to stay was because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to sustain what Kingston Industries was today without my leadership.
“I’m giving my wife back her mines and ripping up that fucking contract,” I said as my first condition, and Darius could only nod in defeat. “Second, you will retire fully by the end of next year or I will quit immediately.”
