Page 16 of Burn It Down

“I wouldn’t be worrying about my survival if I were you.”

“You think you scare me? I’ve been in your father’s employ for over a decade. Nobody inspires true terror like he does. You’ll never come close.”

“I do relish the shock that comes with my enemies underestimating me. It makes it all the more satisfying to prove them wrong. Faulty assumptions are the root of all failure.”

“This is a coup? Taking this house?”

“Not just this one.”

“Fuck. It’s all you? Do you know how much damage you’ve caused?”

“Not yet enough.”

“You think you can take his seat of power?”

“Not the goal.”

“This is bad enough. You’re crippling his empire. He won’t stand for this. Even being his son, his heir… now you’ve done this, he’ll end you, kid. And he won’t make it quick and painless either. I’ve seen him when things turn personal… he’ll… he’ll break you.”

“Not possible.”

“You’re wrong. He can break anyone.”

“I’m already broken.”

“Brent,” Sam spoke, cutting into my recollection.

“Right, Brent. Sam’s extra pissed, son, because the two of them had a fling of some sort.”

“Curb your jealously, Carson. It’s unbecoming.”

My father chuckled darkly. “Jealousy? Wishful thinking there, Sam. You know who I have my eye on.”

“Yes, I’m well aware of your fixation.”

My father ignored that and went on, “You went after who he loves, Asher. Believe me, Lan doesn’t take kindly to that. He responds brutally. And that’s exactly what he did here. He didn’t even stop at the betrayal.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked tiredly, as I tried to take in everything he was telling me, trying to analyze the validity of it all, or if it was some sort of game or ruse to get under my skin and manipulate me to his liking.

“Someone tried to kill you, Asher. That bomb was planted in your car. Hell, it was likely intended for all three of you. Aurora was never meant to be there, remember? That was unprecedented. No, that explosion was meant to take you out. Aurora was just collateral damage. Brutal too that he ended up killing his own daughter in his bid to actually protect her from the likes of us.”

Aurora? Explosion? Car?

“Fuck,” I choked. “She… I saw her… the car…”

“Hmm, good boy,” he said, stroking my cheek again. “There it is.”

I jerked my head away, but that only made him grasp my face with both hands, forcing my gaze to his. “Your little girlfriend is dead. Revenant killed her.”

Emotion threatened to take me over and I swallowed hard, squeezing my eyes shut to try to push it away. Allowing it to infect me in front of the two of them, while I was held captive here, of all places, was beyond dangerous.

I had to bottle it. I had to compartmentalize and bury it as far down as I could until I found a way through this.

“He tried to kill my son, my heir. I can’t have that.” He released me and pushed back to his feet. “So, Samuel is going to make you lucid so you’re fully aware of what’s happening and have all your wits about you. And then I’m going to realign you to our way of thinking. From there, the three of us will hunt that bastard down and deal out the punishment that he deserves. You’ll take your place as my heir.” He smiled. A creepy, sadistic fucking smile. “But don’t worry, by the time I’m through with this realignment, you’ll be ecstatic to follow in my footsteps. In fact, you’ll beg me to allow you to be a part of it.”

“You’re going to make me into a doll?”

“Oh, no, son. You’ll be the first of a new kind. It’s something you inspired in me, actually. Taking down the dollhouse network, the lifeblood of our fucking business, has left us no choice but to pivot. You’ll be a shell, a person completely devoid of their own will and thinking who lives to operate for us only. On the outside you’ll appear fully in control, fully there, but within you’ll be empty of everything except the need to carry out our will. My puppet heir, if you will.”

---