Page 125 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

Chapter Twenty One

Avery

Uncle Charlie paced in front of my desk, his brow furrowed. He’d come in here to officially tell me about the company party he was throwing for me, but I’d ambushed him instead.

“Why would you want to go to the penthouse?”

“I didn’t get to go to their funeral. I want to say goodbye.”

That was a complete lie, but I wasn’t about to tell him I wanted to find the paperwork for my trust fund. Going back to that place felt so wrong. I had no choice. I couldn’t ask Frazier for copies of it or he’d get suspicious and demand to know why. Keeping him in the dark about what I suspected he wanted was for the best all round.

“And whose fault was that?”

His tone chilled me to the bone. Why would he get so worked up about me going there?

“Look, it’s mine, isn’t it? Dad left it to me. Unless you want me to get a locksmith to break in and change the locks, then just hand over the key.”

He stopped, eying me with no small amount of distaste.

“You don’t need to go there to say goodbye. Go to their graves, you know where they are.”

I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

“Why are you against me going?”

“You ran off for three months after they died. Do you think it’s wise to go back to where they were killed?”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say my uncle was worried about my mental state. Sadly, I did. He didn’t care about me. All he cared about was keeping me at the helm of the company so their dirty dealings didn’t come to light.

They would one day when Aiden and I were ready. When we’d amassed enough evidence to destroy them for good. I’d known asking my boyfriend to execute them all had been a knee jerk reaction to what Rick had shown me. All I really wanted was for them to be stopped so they couldn’t hurt anyone else.

One of the biggest problems we faced was knowing where exactly they kept the girls. My uncle didn’t keep records nor could Aiden find a paper trail leading to them. He’d told me my father had handled it all until he took over Daniels Holdings, but he had no idea who they’d given the role to after that.

Neither of us could stand the thought of those women being handed around Charlie’s associates like they were slaves ordered to do their master’s bidding.

“Didn’t know you cared that much.”

“You’re my niece, of course I care about you.”

He had a funny way of showing it.

He sighed, sitting down in the chair opposite my desk.

“Is it really that important to you?”

I nodded. My dad’s office held the key to working all of this crap out. I was sure of that much. It was a wonder it hadn’t occurred to us earlier. Aiden had never checked the room when he was there, too busy getting me out quietly. I really had messed up all his plans. Turned his life completely upside down.

“I know we haven’t really seen eye to eye since they died. I’m sorry for that. We’re family and family should be there for each other. Instead, I’ve been treating you like an inconvenience when none of this is really your fault.”

He rubbed his face with his hand.

“Them being gone has been tough on all of us. It’s not like when Nick died. We still had each other to rely on. You’re still young and this is a lot to put on your shoulders.”

My uncle apologising to me was about the weirdest thing to happen since my parents were murdered in front of me and a lot of weird and fucked up stuff had happened since. Was this genuine or not?

“I’m sorry too.”

He gave me a tentative smile.

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