Page 162 of Vicious Knight

“Really? So I’d lose the leadership to you.” Aleksander gives him an incredulous glare. “But I guess you’re here to take it, aren’t you?”

“We should be.”

“Should? Don’t tell me you’re here out of the goodness of your heart.”

“No. You killed my heart a long time ago.”

“Then what? What the fuck are you going to do? Broadcast it so the Knights Council can shove me through the door and kick me to the curb?”

“I’ve handed that decision to Thorne to deal with.”

Now I smile because the look of fury and defeat on Aleksander’s face is priceless.

I’ve wanted to kill his ass for so long for the way he’s screwed with me, but my decision is so much better.

I straighten and stare him down. “I will allow you to keep your leadership in the Knights until your death. We won’t say anything.”

Aleksander looks shocked that I would allow him to keep his leadership. I have a reason for that and it’s not because Caspian and I aren’t ready to take charge now. We are and we’d do it today if we needed to.

I’m using the position as leverage and allowing Aleksander to keep it because he could force the Knights’ law on me and still demand that I marry someone of his choice. If he did so and I refused him again the way I did with Tiffany, I would lose my Knighthood.

Although Ivy’s father is a Knight, her mother is not of Knight descent. That would be enough for him to force a marriage contract on me because our family is part of the leadership. The rules are different for us, but as leader Aleksander can change them. Regardless of his sickness.

The other reason I’m allowing him to keep the position is that the women in our lives aren’t ready for us to lead the Knights yet.

Ivy is still eighteen and Willow is nineteen. They need time to adjust.

I guess we do too, now that we have them.

Caspian made the same decision last year, so it appears that Aleksander is getting away with murder twice. But this is all for our benefit.

Aleksander quirks a brow. “What else is there? You want more don’t you?”

“Yes I do. You will step down from the company with immediate effect and we will take over. With immediate effect. There will be no internship for me, and no fucking marriage contract. Under no circumstance will you choose a wife for me. I get to be with whoever I want and have my birthright. Refuse my offer and you lose every motherfucking thing.”

Silence passes between us. It’s so tense and thick you could touch it. I expect it to take on a life of its own and suffocate me.

Of course he doesn’t want to lose the company or the leadership of the Knights. He put his life into this company, but he’d lose so much more if he weren’t the leader of the Knights.

Lifetimes seem to pass between us as he contemplates his decision, then finally he nods.

“Okay. You win, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”

I give him a thin smile. “Pleasure doing business with you, Uncle.”

He seethes, throwing back a steely stare.

Caspian and I walk out, leaving him.

Once we’re outside we look at each other but we don’t say anything.

No words need to be said because we just got control of a multibillion dollar empire.

We both won.

Now to secure the next item on my list.

Ivy.

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