Page 201 of River & Crown
Lucian's eyes glinted, sharp like a scalpel. "You came to me at thirteen. That strong will of yours was already tearing your life apart. You stood up for your mother without fully understanding who you were sacrificing yourself for. All your adolescent mind could process was that you were protecting your mother. What you did was brave, but when you look back on that moment... what did it actually get you?"
His voice dropped, low and cruel.
"Your mother still died, didn't she? And not just died, she suffered. Her skin peeled from her body, inch by inch. And you, her son, had to watch."
A ghost of a smirk pulled at my mouth as my response. Inside, my mind snapped like a shutter.
Flash.
My mother's still body.
Flash.
The raw caramel of her skin slipping off like wet paper.
Flash.
Her eyes were wide, pleading for me to make it stop.
I swallowed. No emotion cracked my face. I remained calm because panic is what Lucian wanted.
"You're right. I offered myself to you without asking for anything in return. The consequences were watching you kill her, but what I earned was family."
"Wrong!" Lucian's voice cracked through the silence. He took a few steps closer to the bed. "You didn't earn family because I taught you family does not matter in the grand scheme of things. You earned clarity and forethought. I locked you in that room not only to break you but to rebuild you in my image. You hate what I am, but you've molded yourself after my methods. Structure. Sacrifice. Control."
He stopped at the foot of the bed, watching me.
"You wanted out of that room because you wanted freedom, but freedom," he scoffed. "Has a way of feeling more like chaos than liberation. I gave you walls and structure because that breeds clarity."
"I don't need clarity. Tell me who the fuck is after my brother, and I'll handle Talon for you. None of this other shit matters," I gritted.
His smile twisted.
"The answers you're looking for are ones you already have. Isn't that why you paid Honey to keep an eye on Lynx?"
I raised a brow, wondering how he could've known that.
"And here we are right back to clarity and forethought. You sensed something was off. Your instincts... rather,myinstincts, were screaming at you, but you didn't say a word to your brothers. Why?"
He paused, savoring the question.
"It's because you need them to fuck up. You didn't warn them because you enjoy being the one to clean up the mess. You like being needed. It makes you feel valuable. It's never been about protecting them. It's about the position."
Lucian leaned forward, lowering his voice until it felt like he was speaking directly to a nigga's heart.
"You confuse being needed with being loved."
My jaw locked.
"Talon and Navy may be my blood, butyou, Honor... you're my son." Lucian chuckled darkly, the sound echoing in the sterile room.
"In this situation, you are me, and your brothers are you. You keep them caged and dependent, all under the guise of protection, but deep down? You're afraid. Afraid they'll figure out they don't need you at all."
The silence that followed was empty but loaded. Charged like the moment before glass shatters.
"I'm nothing like you," I growled, shoving Lucian away from me. Pain ripped through my abdomen, making it hard to breathe.
"I won't convince you, but I do expect you to keep your word. Lynx and a man named Rakim have been working together to take out Crown. They were behind the first robbery, the rumors, River's car accident, the shooting at the dock, and at River's party, and the hit on Gigi."
