Page 116 of Chad's Chase
“No,” Chad declined, shaking his head and moving a step back. “I don’t want any of this. Let my father live. Let him have it. I don—”
“Your father deserves death!” That was the first time Chad had ever heard Org raise his voice. Like Chad, he was usually calm, cool, collected, unruffled and unemotional. “Time and time again he tries to usurp me and I spare him. Time and time again he breaks the rules, kills innocents, andyousave him! Unless you kill me, Shadreek, you cannot save him this time. Why do you want him to live even after you found out he kept my daughter imprisoned fortwelve years?”
“He’s my father—”
“A father who has tried a dozen and one times to kill you!” Org yelled, shooting up from the chair.
The tone of his voice, the emotion in it, was what Chad was searching for. Chad had suspected the old man cared for him. He had no idea why, but he knew.
Because the old man was so careful with his emotions, and his pretension that nothing mattered, Chad had decided he would manipulate him right into admitting it.
Org’s reaction right now…he was almost like a father protecting his son, wanting to avenge him. And this whole moment, the emotions, the display of humanity was what Chad had wanted out of him.
Org cared about him like a son.
“He will die by my bare hands,” Org roared on, acerbic, hateful, “for what he did to Isabel, for what he did to Jhay, for what he did to that innocent pregnant woman, and for what he did to you.”
“You are Org,” Chad said. “Your decisions are final.” Then he grinned at the old man, dropping the act, and revealing his true intentions, because fucking with people’s emotions got old sometimes.
“What is with the teeth?” Org asked, giving Chad the wary eye.
“I’ll not allow you to kill my father. And I won’t kill him either. But that’s not because I want him to live.” Chad tucked his gun in his waist. “It’s because death is too kind.”
“What does that mean?” Org asked.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get to watch.”
Ameliorated, Org nodded and sat back down, trusting him.
“But,” Chad continued, “I don’t care to be a part of The Organization.”
Org laughed, shifted his gaze to a resigned Rafail, and then back to Chad. “You already are, son. And when I step down, you will not be apartof The Organization. You willbeThe Organization. You will no longer be Shadreek. You will be”—a slow, arrogant grin here—”Org.”
As Chad made to protest again, Org pointed a stiff, bony finger at him. “You know how this works, Shadreek. Once you are named as an inheritor, you cannot run from your duties. Wherever you are in the world, you will be found, and you will be forced to assume your seat. Or die.”
Chad realized then that, even though he’d given up his legacy for his freedom, his freedom was never returned in its entirety, because his father had stolen it from him the second he named him as his inheritor.
True, he had no choice in the matter, because with his father out, Chad was already a part of The Organization.
However, if he would be forced to be a part of it, it wasn’t going to be how Org dictated.
Jhay would hold the gavel. It was rightfully hers, not his. She might not be qualified enough to lead, but he would be right there by her side counseling her.
Now, he just had to find her. Org was playing a fucking head game with him, and Chad wouldn’t be the one who lost.
“Okay.”
Org watched him with plain suspicion, questioning his sudden acceptance, no doubt.
But Chad was done on that topic. The clock was ticking.
Walking over to his wounded father, Chad shoved aside the shooter he’d speared with the fire poker, then told one of Org’s men, “Storage room. Red duffel.”
Rafail was staring up at the ceiling, unblinking, like he was already dead, and Chad knelt down beside him, picked up his right hand, and kissed his knuckles. “I’m so sorry I can’t save you this time, father.”
Eyes still on the ceiling, his father whispered, “You never stop loving, son. It is your weakness.” Then he brought his dewy gaze to him. “Be the best leader The Organization has ever seen. Make new rules. Get rid of the ugly. Save the world from people like me.”
Chad thought those words were prudent, even coming from someone as nefarious as Rafail Niiveux.
