Page 161 of Remi's War (Four Dark Horsemen 2)

“This is the place where all my dreams died,” he continues as his men circle me, pointing their guns at me.

I cough. Sitting up, I’m glad I wore jeans today.

Cowards.

“My daughter, my princess, got pregnant by my best friend’s kid at fifteen. She was beautiful, smart, and happy.” He spits the words, snatching the bottle of whiskey from the guard and flicking it open. “Whole future ahead of her, and she sacrificed it all because she fell in love with him!” He takes a greedy gulp and wipes his mouth. “And the fucker of course denied it. He went so far as to call her a whore!” He bellows the last part, making me wince.

It seems Remi’s biological dad was an asshole too.

“That’s why killing Keith brought me extra pleasure.” I gasp at this, my eyes widening, and he laughs, the sound breaking goose bumps on my flesh and creating more fear in the pit of my stomach. Just how many people did this man off in order to achieve his goals? “Forced him to overdose so his family would face the shame and not mine. You don’t call my daughter a whore and live!” He starts to pace back and forth, reliving the past, judging by his murderous expression. “Served my friend right too. His son destroyed my little girl.”

Since the subject makes him agitated and emotional, I decide to prolong it. “He was a child. He probably got scared too.”

Duke looks at me in bewilderment. “He was eighteen! My daughter loved him. Can you believe that? I never raised her to be stupid, but he confused her mind.”

I tense when he drinks more whiskey and then throws the bottle where it lands on the grass. He grips his cane again, holding it tight, and my insides flip just thinking he might hit me with it.

“What happened after you killed him?”

“Sofia became unbearable. She mourned that boy as if he loved her. All while taking care of the baby in her belly and knitting that damn blanket.” The way he says this, it seems he hates the blanket. At this point, I wonder if there is anyone this man doesn’t hate. “The baby. The bane of my existence.”

Anger sparks at this, and I’m powerless to stop the words spilling out of my mouth. “Your grandson. Remi is your grandson.” Even though admitting it out loud feels wrong.

My man is a monster, but he is not a demon like the man whose blood runs through his veins.

Duke is pure evil.

He huffs in displeasure. “I hated him the minute she told me she was pregnant. By the time I found out, it was too late to abort, so she had to give birth to it.” I bite my lip at him calling Remi an it. What an asshole. “I figured I could hide her in this house till the dust settled. Everyone thought she was in Switzerland anyway.”

“But she wanted to keep the baby,” I say. He nods, tapping hard on the ground until the tip of the cane digs into it and makes a hole. “You didn’t want Remi.”

“She was fifteen and confused. She didn’t need the baby to give her a bad reputation. No one needed it. Even Keith’s family preferred I get rid of it.”

Awful, awful people who didn’t deserve to have Remi in their lives anyway.

However, my heart aches for his mother who was deceived by everyone and didn’t get to spend time with her child.

“So that’s what you did.”

I press my hand to my cheek as he paces once again, continuing his tale. “Of course. After the birth, I gave her a few hours to enjoy her time with him and that night did what was right.”

“Ordered him killed.”

He shrugs. “I couldn’t kill him myself. I love my daughter.”

I chuckle, which doesn’t go unnoticed by him. “You have a weird way of showing it to her.” His brows furrow, and then annoyance flashes on his face. He doesn’t appreciate my humor, and I see the error of my ways when another hit lands on my back, the pain sending me forward while my entire spine hurts.

“Don’t talk about what you don’t know,” he demands, then walks around me again, telling his story as if I really care what led him to his choices.

No matter how he wants to justify his actions, he can’t.

A parent who loves his child would never do what he did to Sofia.

“She cried, drowned in her grief so much she lost her spark and never gained it back.” I see him circling something with the cane as he looks on the horizon. “In time, she went back to functioning, but she just existed. She did what I asked of her as long as I let her stay in this damned house. Even married the perfect man, but he couldn’t stand her grief.”

I imagine no one could, least of all her father.

After such a tremendous loss, his daughter needed therapy, company, so she wouldn’t feel so alone in what she experienced. Instead, he essentially ordered her to shut up about her pain and live as if it never happened.

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