Page 91 of Ice Cold Christmas
“He’s not my family,” Victor said flatly.
Dario fought the hold of the guards even as Calista and Luis took up protective positions near Melody. Jenner inched closer to Victor, and Melody noticed that Jenner’s hand began to rise toward his waist.
Is Jenner carrying a weapon? She’d wager that he was.
“I talked to Amaya!” More spittle flew from Dario’s mouth. His hair shoved out at odd angles, as if he’d run his fingers through it. Or as if he’d been yanking at his hair. “I talked to her right before I came here! Demanded to see the fucking will!”
Amaya had the will? Well, she was the chief counsel for Mage Industries so…
“I know what Sebastian did, hear me?” Dario raged. “I know the man is a freaking killer!”
What?
“I told Amaya that I was taking over. Had to, what with him confessing to killing! I had to take it all. The estate, the cars, the bonds, all the accounts—only there is nothing, is there? Because you have it! You control it all!”
“Take him back upstairs,” Victor ordered, his voice as calm as you please. “Secure Dario in his office for now.”
The guards began to haul Dario back toward the elevator.
“Fuck that!” Dario yelled as he struggled. The struggles didn’t free him. “Fuck you!” Dario bellowed at Victor. Rage twisted his face. “You took it all, didn’t you? Took every single fucking thing!”
The guards had gotten him back in the elevator.
“Don’t trust him, Melody!” Dario shouted. “He conned every single one of us! He took what he wanted! And he’s left us with nothing?—”
The elevator doors closed on him, muffling his fury.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Do we need to call the police?” Calista asked.
Why? Because Melody’s stepbrother had looked as if he wanted to commit murder? “I want to talk to him first.” Talk, not have the bastard scream at him. Victor needed to know what the hell new confession Dario thought that Sebastian had made.
Hell. The web just kept getting more and more twisted.
But, regardless of Sebastian’s new confession…
He slanted a glance at Melody. The truth has come out. At least, part of it had, anyway.
His phone rang. Melody was still staring at the closed elevator doors. She seemed a bit dazed. Not that he could blame her. Dario had come charging out of that elevator like a maddened bull.
He checked his phone’s screen, and sighing, he put the phone to his ear. “The tip-off call could have come earlier, Amaya.”
“Did he come to you? I’m so sorry, Victor!” Her words rushed out. “The man was pounding on my door, waking up my kids. I wasn’t even thinking clearly and when he started demanding that we transfer property into his name, I just—I slipped up. Said there was nothing to transfer. That everything had been handled. I thought…Hell, I thought you were going to tell him this weekend. That was why you agreed to go out to the estate for the meeting, wasn’t it?”
One of the reasons. But then Melody had come back.
Everything had changed.
Melody’s gaze left the elevator. Came to him.
Don’t hate me, baby. Please. “It’s all right,” he told Amaya. “I’ll handle things.”
“Where are you? Do I need to come and meet you?”
“I’m at Mage Industries. Dario is here, too.”
“Dammit. Okay, okay, I can fix this. We can fix it. I’ll be there as fast as possible.”
