Page 91 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

I knew what she was going to ask him next and I almost stopped her, except I wanted to know the answer too.

“You never had kids?”

His expression faltered, eyes flicking over to me momentarily. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things or not but they were filled with regret.

“Annabelle had trouble conceiving. We tried everything, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

A part of me felt sorry for his wife, but I didn’t feel any sort of sympathy for him. He was a dangerous piece of work.

“I’m sorry. That must’ve been difficult.”

I glanced at her. She didn’t look very sympathetic or sorry. Trying to be diplomatic despite what we’d discovered earlier today.

The waiters arrived with our food, saving him from saying anything. I didn’t give a fuck that I was his only offspring. Still didn’t make me want to have a relationship with the man. These dinners had nothing to do with me actually wanting to get to know him. All I needed was the information he was keeping from us.

At least this meal sort of made up for having to sit with him for an evening. I cut a piece off for Avery and fed it to her because I couldn’t not share it. Her eyes lit up. She leant closer when she swallowed.

“Can we have this at home one day?” she asked, her voice low.

I nodded. I’d make her whatever the fuck she wanted if it made her smile like that.

“Have I told you how good you are to me?”

“On a few occasions,” I replied, smiling at her.

I brushed her hair out of her face before kissing her forehead. Turning back to my meal, I noticed Rick assessing us. I wondered what he made of my relationship with her. Not sure why I cared. I hated the man. Except a part of me would always feel conflicted when it came to him. He was my only flesh and blood.

My mother’s parents died when she was young and she’d gone into foster care. It was when she’d run away at sixteen that she’d got involved with the Daniels and Rick. A sorry fate. I only found this out from Tina when she deemed me old enough to know the truth. That’s when I started digging and I never stopped.

The rest of the meal continued in relative silence. Avery excused herself to the bathroom when the waiters removed our plates. Rick sat back, eying me warily.

“Not going to follow her in there like last time?”

I clenched my fists under the table. What a fucking surprise that he’d worked it out.Not.

“What I do with my wife is none of your fucking business.”

“Come now, Aiden, she’s a pretty girl. I can see the attraction. She gives you what you need, doesn’t she?”

He was fucking baiting me. Despite what I’d promised Avery, I couldn’t fucking help myself.

“You’d fucking well know all about that. Bugging her fucking house and all. You better not have kept that shit.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“You know about that.”

“Yes and believe me, it’s taking a fucking supreme effort not to punch your fucking lights out right now.”

He drummed his fingers on the table, his expression turning dark.

“Yes, well, I suppose it was an invasion of her privacy.”

“Our fucking privacy. You’ve got some fucking nerve.”

“You seem to think she’s not an important part of this, but she is. I must admit I was rather surprised by this little development between the two of you, but it’s neither here nor there.”

He could be surprised all he fucking wanted. I was done with his bullshit.

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