Page 129 of Cinder
Light gleams on the gold ring on his finger as my mind tries to unscramble the meaning behind what he just said.
Amused by my sudden confusion, Luca laughs. “Well, I guess there is no harm in letting you know. After all, the game seems to have reached its conclusion.”
I grit my teeth. “This was a game?”
But I have a feeling I already know.
“This wasn’t about the recipe, was it,” I say.
Viktor looks irritated. “I already have it. I paid an exorbitant amount of money to a man in a white coat to figure it out.”
“Then why did you send me to the clubhouse?”
“It was your brother who wanted you to?—”
Luca clicks his fingers. “Now, now, Viktor. Let Ella work it out herself. We don’t want to give it all away. She’s a smart girl, aren’t you, Ella. Well, according to our father you are, so come on, let’s see you figure it out.”
I look away, trying to piece it all together.
My brother has always made it clear how much he resents me. From the moment we met. Because I grew up with our father. While he grew up very differently. “Youwanted me in that clubhouse.”
“Viktor just letthatcat out of the bag. The question is,whydid I want you in that clubhouse?”
“Revenge?”
“You’re getting warmer,” he singsongs like a psychopath.
“You wanted revenge on the Knights? But for what?”
“Come on, sister; you’re a lot smarter than that.” Luca taps his temple with his forefinger. “Think.”
“They did something to you.”
He yawns theatrically.
And then it hits me and heat prickles over my skin. “You didn’t want revenge on the Knights. You wanted revenge onme.”
He winks. “Very good.”
None of this was about Viktor or a recipe or the Knights.
My jaw tightens with rage.This was all a stupid game to amuse Luca. “Why?”
His smug grin morphs into evil seriousness. “So you knew what it felt like to be scared. So you knew what it was like to have nothing. Just like I did for all those years growing up without the protection of the Moretti wealth.”
Apparently, Carolina went through several husbands while Luca was growing up and didn’t let our father see him for many years.
And somehow, her keeping them apart was my father’s fault.
“It was very satisfying to see you living in that fleapit motel room,” he snarls. “Stripped of everything you had. Going without the safety and the money of our father. Just like I had to for my entire life.”
“You did this because… you didn’t have our father growing up?”
“I didn’t have himallmy life,” he screams suddenly, losing control of his emotions. “And when I finally got the chance, he decided he was going to name you as his successor because he thought you were better suited. He thought you were more of a man than me. He thought you were better than me.” His eyes gleam brightly with menace and every dark emotion coursing through his veins. “He was choosing you over me,again, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
I think about the car bomb that killed my father.
My voice shakes. “Did you kill our father?”
