Page 100 of Ink Deep Devotion

The elevator opens and we turn silent as we enter the board room. I spot my dad sitting at the table in a wrinkle-free navy suit. I wonder how many people Dad has killed himself. He never looks the part—always so clean-cut and polished.

How long did it take him to wipe away his sins and fool the crowds?

How did you do it, Dad? Fool the world, love my mother, and keep her safe?

Ask him?

I can’t, because then my father will know how much I love Mila. He’ll use her against me.

“What the hell are you wearing?” My father snaps. We just came from a training session with his men, and he knows very well what I’d be wearing—black cargo pants, a black shirt, a knife strapped to my ankle, and a gun at my side. Certainly not a fucking suit.

Our dads require us to participate in their versions of training. Passing Initiation 101 wasn’t enough. They still want to provoke our beasts and tug at the collars around our necks.

I sink into my seat. Would it be too much to kick my boots up onto the conference table?

He’s damn lucky I haven’t turned the trigger on him. When you raise a wild beast, the likelihood that the beast will turn on you is high. It’s in the beast’s nature.

We finish the paperwork in less than twenty minutes, but then Greg decides to piss me—and every other King—off.

“When this marriage goes through,” Greg begins to say in a questionable tone.

He signed the contract!He’s a lawyer known for never allowing a contract to be broken, yet there’s that smug grin on his face, as if he holds the power to fracture it.

I’m happy. Now my father can see how cocky Greg has become since he tied his daughter to us.

“Are the transgressions of your past going to stain my daughter’s future?” Greg questions my dad then his eyes pivot to my uncle.

Oh boy, Greg, you’re dead. My dad is a beast, but my uncle Elijah—Damian’s dad—is a pit that devours souls like yours. Craves it.

I furrow my forehead, glancing at my cousins. What is Michelson referring to? Why does he keep hinting that someone else is controlling us all?

My father slams his fist on the wooden table, making every glass of water tremble. He rises from his seat, shaking with anger.“How dare you question us!” My father roars.“You are lucky we have welcomed you into our fold—”

“Marcus,” my uncle Elijah sternly warns him.

Greg leans forward, resting his elbows on the table, and whispers a threat so quietly that I only catch a few words.“He’s gaining influence, do you have the numbers to win? I want my daughter safe.”

That’s when I realize something. Gregdoeshold some kind of power over my father. It’s clear to my cousins and me now. That’s why Dad keeps telling me to back down and let Greg keep his guards on Mila.

We don’t have a choice because Greg controls that.

The older I get, the more I realize my dad isn’t some mastermind villain. Shit, he was never the hero, but he’s more like me than I’d ever admit. He’s scared that the only thing he still has will be taken from him.

Me.

I see it in his eyes as they linger on mine too long. I remember his words after I broke my leg. He only kept going, suffering life on earth without my mom because of me.

He cares in his own twisted way.

I don’t want to acknowledge that the man I hate also loves me.

Dad’s eyes plead with me to understand what Greg is alluding to, but I can’t bake a cake without all the ingredients.

Just tell me!I press my lips into a firm line, but Dad glances down, revealing nothing.

“We’ll discuss this later,” Uncle Elijah orders, then shifts the subject. Greg and my dad, though, remain locked in a staring contest.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I glance at the screen, and my blood boils. It’s a picture of Mila and Nova at a bar surrounded by men. I know exactly what those men are thinking because Mila looks mouthwatering.

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