Page 170 of Poison Vows

“What happened to my mother after my wife’s grandfather drowned?”

“Why? Your father didn’t take you to her?”

I pause and stare at him.

“You… you were working with him all along?” I realize.

“Your parents, despite my denial, are childhood sweethearts. Syrus worked like a madman, sacrificing everything to find your mother, partnering with those families you are neighbors with in that little town of yours to pool resources and exchanging favors.”

“I thought you disliked him.”

“Well, when your mother was taken, he was busy taking a smoke break! How can I like him?” Grandfather seethes, then he takes a deep breath as if to calm down. “But he fought me tooth and nail to raise you here in America, or else you would’ve been with me back home.”

Suddenly everything my father did now makes sense.

The weeks he’d disappear from Westbrook Blues.

The research he conducted for my heart… he’s the one behind the organ in my chest now.

Then the deals he made to have me marry Astraea ended up a disaster, and him disappearing…

“You saved my father’s life from Eli Beaumont,” I note as another piece falls in place.

“Eli is a rabid dog! Your father made the mistake of having a hand in the murder of the only woman that man has ever loved and, to be fair, I can sympathize with that feeling, but I couldn’t leave your mother without the one person she could remembered after her trauma.”

Agony like a tide crashes into me at this revelation.

Syrus finally admitted to me that my mother has been recuperating in the south of France all these years… with no more memories of her past life.

“Yes, you hate me for being hard on you but what else would you do when your sole heir was born sick and you find out years later after almost losing your daughter? Of course I went hard on you because I knew you thirsted for vengeance, but if I ignored you, Syrus alone wouldn’t be able to protect you. I had to bring down the weight of the world so you could grow up with everything you need for what you want to do.”

We stare at each other, this raw, honest, and open talk filling in all the gaps I’ve always wondered about but never cared to observe carefully.

The old man knew all along that I was sick.

The father I always thought was a coward had been taking care of his wife while working with my own doctors—that I naively thought I had found all by myself—to find me the best suitable solution.

And the girl who I thought was random, cried for my mother, protecting her with her tiny little body when Grandfather’s men took her away, leaving her scared and hurt.

“Alessio, you have always been vastly different from every male heir in this Family. You are detached to this world, looking at it as if it’s dust, meaningless and boring,” he says slowly, looking at me firmly. “You’ve never been reckless like me, or your mother. You’ve been steady, calm, calculated, silent, ruthless, and cold-blooded… but things are different now. Theysuspect that you know the truth. They’ve been getting ready for years.”

“So have I,” I grit out. “And I intend to finish it.”

He’s silent for a while and then he speaks.

“In a few weeks, it’ll be my birthday. I have invited some important people that must meet you,” he states. “But first, you have to meet some important stakeholders in the coming days. Host the event.”

“I know them all.”

“But they don’t know that you’re now the Don, so don’t try to weasel yourself out of this. Oh, and bring that clever wife of yours. I like her!”

I stare at him, feeling a headache coming on.

“In any case, you’ll have to hold your peace until then.” I get what he means. I can’t go finish what I started tonight.

Just then, there’s a knock on the door and Ripley comes in.

“Young Master, it’s being reported that Theodore Hughes has died in the dungeon.”

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