Page 84 of Wicked Little Game
“What brings me the honor? Did the little princess decide she’s finally done with pouting? Took you long enough,” he says, leaning back into his chair with a grin.
I know I promised to stay polite to get more information out of him, but my body acts on its own accord as I roll my eyes.
“Ruby, please, stop behaving like a child. Don’t tell me you’re still angry. You know how many people I saved. That little girl,” he turns his phone around to show me a picture, probably googled it a second ago, “she gets to run around, can play with her friends again because she got a liver transplant. You are in the wrong when you tell me I’m the bad guy in your story.”
“Just because something good comes out of it doesn’t make it right. And please don’t tell me you kill all those people to play savior.”
He groans, taking a cigar out of the box on his desk.
“All you do is cost me, nerves and money. You and your annoying moral compass. Funny how the money isn’t dirty when you spend it on your stuff.”
His eyes linger on the placement of the box before they are back on me while he lights his cigar.
“This house, your designer clothes, your degree, all those vacations… Where were your morals back then? And don’t get me started on the bodyguards. Do you think they work for free?”
The way he says it makes it seem like I could have decided against all of this. Maybe I really could have.
Bile rises in my throat, not only because of his accusations. He may be an irresponsible businessman, but when it comes to getting someone to break, he’s talented. Knows what to say, knows exactly which buttons to push.
But this right here isn’t just to get me to snap. Something is wrong, I can feel it.
“Business is going well, huh?” I ask, leaning against the sideboard next to the door. My nails dig into the wood, so hard that I fear I’ll break one.
“Heard you branched out again. Nikolai told me.” His eyebrows go up for a fraction of a second before he scoffs. “You know, the nice guy you wanted to sell—ah, I’m sorry, set me up with.”
“Nikolai told you,” he repeats, taking a drag from his cigar. “You want to know what Nikolai toldme?”
He sits up straight, and my blood runs cold. I don’t believe a single word he says. Someone must have told him something, yes, but I’d bet a good amount of money that it wasn’t Nikolai. His bodyguard, on the other hand—fuck.
“I just want to know one thing, Ruby.” The smile vanishes from his face as he gets up, his cigar abandoned in the ashtray as his hand slides behind his back.
“How does it feel to betray your own father?”
I swallow thickly, trying to understand him over the ringing that’s back in my ears, even louder than before.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice? You should be ashamed of yourself, ratting me out like this.”
He leans against the desk, loading his gun, and this is probably one of the situations Samuel meant when he told me to call him in immediately if anything dangerous happens, but I’m frozen in place.
“I could have had you both killed, right there at the country club. Could have made you watch while they blew his head clean off. Would have let you mourn him for a few minutes before they took care of you. You want to know why I didn’t do it?”
He shakes his head, looking at me with eyes full of disappointment and hatred.
“I’m the reason you’re alive, Ruby. Your mother didn’t want you. I had to force her to agree to keep you. Stupid woman,” he scoffs. “I gave you your life, and I’ll be the one to take it from you. Because look what trying to trust you gets me, Ruby. I did everything for you, gave you everything you wanted. But you’re just too greedy. Never happy with anything, just like your mother.”
“I am greedy? The drugs aren’t good for you,Dad.”
His words don’t hurt me. The fact that his gun is pointed at me doesn’t hurt me. I’m just numb.
“None of this would have happened if you would have listened to me. Everything was going well. You had more than enough, more than anyone could ever need, but you were the one who always wanted more.”
The taste of blood spreads in my mouth and just now I realize I had been biting the inside of my cheek the entire time he was talking.
“But you couldn’t get your pockets full, am I right? What’s the end goal, world domination? You’re an egomaniac, always have been one. Concerning to see that you found an even bigger one. How does it feel to be a measly little errand boy? Jay Barron, degraded to middleman. Embarrassing, if you ask me.”
“You don’t know shit,” he snarls, his finger hovering over the trigger. “I’m not a fucking middleman.”
“Sure, bet you two are equal partners. That’s why you’re going to take the blame while he replaces you with the next idiot.”
