Page 154 of The Protégé

I pushed my phone over for him to see the threat, forcing me to resign.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jonah said calmly. He was prepared for this meeting. What did he have up his sleeve for this confidence?

Leaning in, I grabbed the pepper shaker and twirled it around before placing it back on the table.“I don’t have time for your games, Jonah. I want the truth.”

His friendly expression changed to dark and impassive, transforming into an unrecognizable person. A menacing smile curved onto his lips.

“I didn’t know you enjoyed raping girls at the campground and recording it with Jasper. You guys are sick.” I flicked him a look. “Are there more recent videos of you and women? Be honest, Jonah. Unless you’re afraid of me.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’m not afraid of you, Orion. But you should be afraid of me.”

“Why?”

He glancedaround the restaurant. There was no one close to our table. No new customers had entered since I came in.

“Because I killed your mother. I killed Kate.” He smiled through narrowed eyes. “And your father is recovering from a coma because of me. The old man should’ve just died. Lucky bastard.”

My fingers clenched, and I gathered every ounce of will to not pummel him right now. But everything he told me I already knew. Still, to hear his confession enraged me even more. He dismissed people’s lives as though they didn’t matter.

He had information I needed, and I was just getting started.

“Why?” I seethed. “Sounds like you’re a trained dog killing for them?—”

“You don’t know what they’re capable of!” He interrupted with a loud voice. “You don’t know who I am to them.”

“Actually, I do, Jonah Lance Rotherfield—the illegitimate son of Benedict Rotherfield, also known as the Duke of Cambridge, who’s an elite member of The Trogyn.”

Jonah flared his nostrils, surprised that I knew about his real identity.

“You’re not part of the Reimann family. You have no right to anything. You killed Uncle Ray because he discovered you weren’t his biological son. And neither is Jasper. Were you angry at your mother for telling my uncle the truth?”

Jonah could deny it all he wanted, but I had evidence and the motive for his crimes.

He clenched his fist. “How long have you known this?”

Jonah had killed my mother because she found out he and Jasper weren’t my uncle’s sons. She had copies of their birth certificates hidden under the rocks on Quintile Island. This crucial information, along with names of other corrupt wealthypeople within our family circle, was the reason Jonah and Jasper wanted to buy my island.

He probably knew something was hidden on the island, but didn’t know its location. The DNA from the gold button belonged to Jonah, which meant he’d been on my island. I found a recording of a figure diving into the water during the night. It had to be him.

The information my mother had left me proved The Trogyn had planted a spy in my family—the most powerful banking family in the world. It had started with my uncle’s wife, who bore him children so they could inherit a portion of the Reimann fortune. My mother and father feared for my safety. For that reason, my father believed it was best he kept his distance, showing he had no emotion for his son—his heir. They believed my father didn’t love me and wouldn’t leave his fortune to the son who disappointed him.

“You’re being used by people who don’t care about you. You think that poisoning my father would give you the upper hand?”

“He should have died,” he barked. “You had no interest in the Reimann Corporation.”

“You’re wrong.” I smiled. “Let’s just say I wanted my enemies to believe I wasn’t interested. The Reimann Corporation is my family’s legacy, and I’ll protect it to the day I die.”

“Your father hates you, and you hate him.”

What I’d shared with him during our teen years resulted from teenage angst that needed venting.

“I lied.” I watched as the evil in his eyes intensified on me. “Why Kate?”

“She was at a café and overheard my conversation with Jasper about your mother’s death. She threatened to tell you. So I followed her home, forced her to take pills, and displayed her in the closet for you.”

I wanted to rip him to shreds, but I was reminded of the bigger picture. “The people who created that video of me and Chantel are being arrested as we speak.” I glanced at my watch and knew the boys were already on it.

Chantel and Jonah had been dating, and he probably told her to get close to me.

---