Page 142 of Remi's War (Four Dark Horsemen 2)

I found out the truth with all my connections.

I was born into this world as Odysseus Carrington, heir to the Carrington empire, as Duke Carrington had only one daughter.

All the riches belonged to me if only my grandfather had kept me.

Instead, he ordered me to be killed. So for the first three years of my life, I was subjected to abuse I could see with my own eyes from the videos these assholes stashed. They documented everything as their insurance in case cops hunted their asses.

Kicking me, burning my skin with cigarettes, pushing me around, starving me, even forcing me to eat my own vomit, and some even poured whiskey in me just to laugh until I couldn’t breathe from choking.

Turns out the images flashing in my head were my memories.

Assholes refused to kill me but didn’t mind hurting me. Their addiction and lifestyles required money, so they kept me just in case they’d have the guts to blackmail Duke.

They gave me to the Reyes family with a generous check attached when Duke found out about their lie, and they had to hide from him ever since, even changing their identities.

They deserved no mercy, so I found them all and killed them in the most horrid ways, enjoying every drop of blood and every scream tearing out of their throats.

One good thing came from my past, though, despite only demons existing in it.

Everyone’s cruelty aimed my way made me who I am today.

Powerful. Merciless. Heartless.

I, Remi Reyes, rose to the top and conquered everything in this life I wanted to, proving to everyone who wanted to destroy me that they lost.

I vowed to take away his empire as he took away my childhood.

The plan was going perfectly.

However, through all my calculations and schemes, I couldn’t have predicted one thing.

Her.

For her presence alone awakens my good-for-nothing heart and reminds it to beat again.

Penelope

Still reeling from the information in my head, I dart to the main room, pushing through the bodies toward the terrace where I find the girls drinking in the gazebo that opens up to a view of the gorgeous garden.

Florian and Santiago lean on the railings, broodily watching their women.

“He is her son, isn’t he?” Their brows shoot up—although I don’t miss the approval in Florian’s eyes. “That’s why he wants to end them all.”

“Whose son?” Jimena asks, getting up, but I don’t pay attention to her, my whole focus on the two horsemen.

“Where did he go?” They stay silent. “I need to be with him.”

Santiago chuckles. “Trust me, Penelope, you don’t.” The way he says it speaks volumes about Remi’s whereabouts.

He was so angry, so, so furious with everyone, that this kind of rage needs an outlet.

His various scars pop into my head along with the cryptic comments. When I questioned him earlier about them in the shower, he gave me a curt reply.

I’ve gotten them by doing what I love the most. Fight.

Where does a monster go when faced with his past that still hurts and hunts him?

To the place where he can forget and establish his power once again, as physical pain has the ability to extinguish the fire of self-loathing eating at us from the inside out.

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