Page 59 of Trapping His Assassin

I peeled off before he could even put on his seatbelt.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he started, but I cut him off.

I slashed the air with one hand, trying to convey this sentiment since I felt that shit deep. “No, you said that with your whole chest.”

I swung the wheel and cut off the vehicle to my left, so I could speed through the yellow light that was coming up. Then signed again. “Own it.”

A mixture of pain and longing escaped from Alexie’s throat in the form of a small noise. “I want a son who resembles her in every way possible. That’s all I was trying to say.”

I nodded but remained silent. It was clear that he meant what he said. As we drove on, my speed increased and my anger grew.I had helped him build this entire operation, and now he wanted to replace me?

“You don’t understand how difficult it has been,” he continued. “Each time the test comes back negative, she cries.”

Frustrated, I signed together a few code words that conveyed what I’d done for them.

“I understand that you were busy, but don’t forget that I was the one holding her hand every time she anxiously peed on a pregnancy test. Where were you during those moments?”

“Working.”

I looked over to see his teeth clenched.

I smirked and signed.

“Your empire was more important than her.”

It shouldn’t have been funny at all, but ever since Sloane had his first child, all Alexie had tried to do was get her pregnant again. All while trying to gain more power.

“No, that’s not true,” Alexie denied.

I scoffed, ignoring the pain, and signed, “You can’t tell me that, since we took down that MC, things have been the same. All you’ve been obsessed with until recently is power. Not her. Not me. Power.”

I slapped my hand back on the wheel, shutting up. I hadn’t meant to say that last part. But in my defense, Alexie was the closest thing to a father I had. After I had my throat slit, however, he ghosted me, along with his wife.

I mean, at least Sloane met up with him at night. He refused to spend his time in a bed that didn’t have her in it. If she tried to sleep elsewhere, he strapped her down to the bed.

So imagine my surprise when an obsessed man like that disappeared on us. Alexie was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Meanwhile, his wife was spiraling from depression.

As more negative pregnancy tests piled up, Sloane questioned her worth, and purpose on this Earth. If I hadn’t gotten Alexie’s attention, I think she would have tried to hurt herself. That fear led me to stay silent when Alexie chose to leave the country with his love, leaving me alone with all his men, waiting for orders. I was the monster that my father created. But he was still my father.

Alexie sighed. “Maybe it is true.”

I didn’t relish his resigned tone, and signed the truth between us that we had never spoken of before. “You stopped being a father, a husband, and a leader.”

“I know,” he agreed.

I went on. “The miscarriage was understandable. The men understood you needed time to grieve, yet you never returned.” Thinking about it made me see red all over again. He abandoned the men. Me.

“I know, I-I couldn’t lead. I questioned everything.”

I nodded, sending the message home in a language he’d understand since we created it together.

“It’s only because you backed me, when I wanted to get rid of that coming-of-age cult ceremony. I wasn’t drinking any man’s blood.” The entire ritual skeeved me out and I was glad that Viktor abolished it. I mean, I could’ve killed my mother, had I known where she was. That wasn’t the issue at all.

But they expected me to drink from a chalice full of other people’s blood? That’s where I drew the line. I liked my blood well enough. In that instant, I came to understand the eternal worth of my Brotherhood’s blood. It sated my cravings long enough for me to reject the archaic practices of The Brotherhood.

“Don’t head home yet,” Alexie suggested.

I narrowed my eyes at his hand, as he threw on the vehicle’s GPS, and typed in an address. I signed, “What are you planning?”

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