Page 127 of Mine to Worship

“I’ll fight this until my last breath.”

He gets in my face, and I drag him by his tie and strangle it around his neck until he gasps for air, his face taking on a lovely violet hue. One flick and I could cut his air supply for good, but I release him. I’m not going to dirty my hands.

He bends over, gurgling for air, while I brush my jacket.

“Let me give you some options,” I say before I throw at him another package full of pictures, recordings, and videos.

“What is this?” he asks, while his fingers tremble on the package. His face crunches in fear, while he tears it open, and he gasps.

“I have connections to people you would never want to meet; I call them friends, and each of them has a particular set of lethal qualities. “Your account is being drained of every cent as we speak.” I stand up, leaning forward with my hands flat on the table and add, “You could choose the moral road, go to prison and pay for your sins where you will rot, serving at least one life sentence, paying for what you’ve done: drugs, illegal fighting rings, prostitution. Some of those girls were minors, but you never cared as long as they entertained you. But we know you never were the moral type.”

Richard slumps back on his chair and rakes a hand through his hair.

“Or you could live on the streets.”

“How were you able to get in on those shares? I triple checked.”

“Those friends I told you about made sure no one would be able to connect the sales to me until now.”

He seethes. “You fucking bastard.”

“Not my fault you couldn’t stop entertaining your sick fantasies.”

He’ll choose the second option. I can smell his cowardice, the mix of sweat and agitation, like all the others. Not one of them made it on the streets for more than a few months.

“How much will I have left?”

“Not one cent. You will have no money, no family name, no power.”

“How am I supposed to live, then?” Richard grips his head, realization setting in.

“Not my problem.”

The conflict tears him up, one side demanding him to fight, but the other, the gram of brain he has, telling him the battle is lost. I lean back in my chair, my ankles crossed, and stare at the man who almost ruined me emotionally. He would have, if Ellia hadn’t appeared and made me realize what it was to love and be loved.

“Which one is it?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I just need to make a call and you will be taken into custody or you’ll leave with nothing but the clothes you have on your back.”

Through gritted teeth, he says, “Power hungry bastard.”

I smirk. “Thank you, but it was teamwork. I can’t do everything on my own. Brandon helped too by being my right hand.”

“You used my son against me?”

I lean back and cross my hands behind my neck.

“I did nothing but tell him the truth.”

“He’ll give me money. Without my name, he wouldn’t be here. He owes me.”

“No, he doesn’t, and he knew what was going to happen when I came here. Brandon didn’t bat an eyelid. Must be because he threw up after he saw the pictures.”

Richard’s body twitches with a shiver, and his head drops in his hands.

“I never thought you would go this far.”

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