Page 135 of Vicious Knight

“Yeah, but that won’t stop him from coming after you. You were both safe because people thought you made him up. Now that we know he’s not made up, you especially will have a target on your back. If you don’t already have one.”

“I know. I’ve been speaking to my own sources in the underground. Since no one is truly trustworthy, I knew from the moment I opened my mouth I’d have a target on my back. But I need to get to the bottom of this, Lucian. For myself, but more so for her. My family is dead. All I can get is justice, but she might be able to get her father back.”

Lucian studies my face, analyzing me with the attention of a heart surgeon trying to save his patient. He’s silent for a moment, just looking at me, then he shakes his head. “Are you seriously going to marry Tiffany?”

“Lucian. Don’t ask me about that.”

“How the hell do you expect me not to ask you about it?”

He’s asked me before and I didn’t want to talk about it. Instead I steered him to help me with the shit I found on Aleksander and my mission to find the scar-faced man.

“It looks like you’ve chosen Tiffany over Ivy,” he points out.

“Fuck you Lucian. You know I haven’t. And it’s not that simple. If it were I would choose Ivy a million times.” I seethe at him. “This is about the fucking company.”

“I get that but your uncle had no motherfucking right to change the rules on you the way he did.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat and try to think beyond the block in my mind. I know the answer to my conundrum lies with the connection I still have with the past.

“That company was the only thing my father had. If I don’t fight for it, it feels like I’m letting go of the only thing he put his heart and soul into creating. That was his legacy. Aleksander is trying to take that away from me.”

“I never knew your father, but when you talk about him it’s always with great respect. You always say you had a home full of love.”

I smirk without humor. “Didn’t know you were paying attention to that.”

“People like me listen because I didn’t have that kind of home until my stepfather came along. I might not always get along with him but I know he loves my mother and me. If you can talk about your father with such honor, and you were only eight when he died, it means you and your family were his priority. You were his legacy. Not the company.”

His words sink in, clearing the fog of conflict from my mind. It gives me the freedom to truly think.

I think of my father and the way he was with my mother, my sister and me. We were inseparable but my father was the glue that held us together. He spent time with our family, creating those unforgettable memories.

That is my legacy.

“I don’t think your father would be happy with your uncle forcing stipulations on you, or you trying to meet them.” Lucian raises a brow.

I stand, suddenly knowing what I need to do. I still have nothing to work with but Aleksander doesn’t have me cornered yet.

If this were a game of chess I’d still have to make my move and keep playing to the end, even if my best pieces had been taken away from me.

The game isn’t over until I’m checkmate.

That means I can still win, but I have to keep moving and find a way.

I grab my jacket.

“Where are you going?” Lucian looks me over.

“To see my uncle. We need to talk.”

Lucian smiles.

It’s late, so I already expected my asshole uncle to be pissed to see me at his home. The thing is, he would have been pissed at my presence anyway.

He’s sitting in the living room wearing his dressing gown, watching TV.

When I walk in, the scowl on his face deepens. It’s the kind of unwelcome expression you’d find on a person who’s shooing away a dog with mange.

“What the hell do you want at this hour?”

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