Page 114 of Roots of the Wicked

Chapter Forty-Eight

Jax

Amanda glared back at us and didn’t appear to be sorry that she had been invading Chase’s privacy for years.

“I took the key from her.” James informed Chase, like it mattered. Chase didn’t acknowledge his father but continued to cast an infuriating gaze in Amanda’s direction.

“You,” Chase pointed at Amanda. “You’ve been in and out of my penthouse for years, spying on me. All those times, I sensed that I was being watched, hearing things, it was you, wasn’t it?”

Knowing who her father was, Amanda was probably able to get away with things that a normal person wouldn’t. Then, linking up with James, probably gave her a wealth of infinite knowledge on how to be wicked.

“I’m sorry Chase. I waited for you. When I saw you sleeping with all those other women, I could have reacted, but I swallowed the hurt and sat by and waited for you. I tried to figure out what you saw in them, so I could give it to you.” She had the nerve to look embarrassed.

Chase had very little privacy, but she was confirming that he’d hardly had any. His life was being stomped on by a bunch of lunatics who wanted to shape it the way they saw fit, despite his feelings.

“It took a team of ten to stop your cyber-attack and to keep, you and him,” James stated, pointing at TK again, “From launching a full-on cyber war and destroying a major broadcast network. You two were always a step from finding out the truth, despite the team I employed. Max MacKenzie gave the team a run for their money also. Your determined efforts would have forced me to reveal the truth sooner or later.”

James paused, and I could imagine all that crazy inside his head fighting to come out.

“Amanda’s erratic behavior is what drew us all here today and forced me to reveal too much at once.” He pointed a crooked finger at Amanda, still pinned to the wall breathing like she was running on a treadmill. “Honestly, there’s not much the team can do anymore to keep you from uncovering the truth anyway.” James finished.

Chase pointed an angry finger at his father, hurtful tears standing in his eyes. “Tell me this, and I want an honest answer from you.”

James nodded.

“The knee injury I suffered in college that ended my baseball career, you did that to me too, didn’t you?”

Another nod from James. “You were concentrating too hard on your hobby instead of a career that could last you a lifetime.”

The hurt in Chase’s face stirred something in me, making my anger toward James flame to an all-time high. Through the years, Chase believed his father’s tough love was for his benefit. He glanced down, placing his hand against my stomach while glaring into my eyes.

“We’re the roots of the wicked, but we’re better than what we were born from. The truth of your father’s words are reflected on me too. The roots of wicked seeds are capable of growing into something decent and producing something special.”

A sheen of raging anger covered Chase’s face when he glanced at his father.

“James Arthur Taylorson, you are the wickedest man I know. I pushed myself to impress you. I swallowed my dreams to pursue yours. I shelved my happiness to bring you yours. I see you. I see the deceit and evil that has always resided in you.”

He shook, attempting to contain the rage tightening his muscles and coursing through his veins. My firm grip on his arm tightened as it seemed he might snap and deck the old rabid possum standing in front of us.

“Somewhere along the lines, you lost your mind, I’m sure of it. You could have crippled me for good. You could have killed Jax and our unborn child with these stunts of yours. I didn’t need my life turned into a living hell to know how much I love this woman. No matter what you did, I would have never left her,” he expressed with a level of emotion I felt.

“Despite what you may think of me, my instincts have never failed me when it came to choosing what’s best for myself. Especially, when it came to ignoring the fucked-up lessons you attempted to teach me and Blake. You’re the reason Blake is so screwed up.”

James had the nerve to look hurt. He was truly a hot, delusional mess of a man.

“Why don’t you tell the group why I truly took over the company, father!” He spit the word father out like it had burned his tongue. “Tell them how the board members ganged up on you and voted you out. How they threatened to buy the company out from under you. If I hadn’t taken over, there wouldn’t even be a company.”

Chase had sacrificed the life he wanted to save their family business, and James didn’t appear to be the least bit grateful. All he was interested in was power. Since it had been taken from him one way, he sought it in other ways.

“The main reason Swift Capital exploded into a billion-dollar company was because I followed my own instincts. I never wanted to be CEO, still don’t. I stay because the company needed someone better than you or Blake, and I had enough confidence in myself to know it was me.”

I lifted a brow; proud he was venting his frustrations.

“James, over the years, I have allowed you to believe your ideas and input actually mattered. Your ego driven power plays wouldn’t allow you to see I was not the puppet you assumed I was. It took me a while to master the skill, but I figured out how to feed your ego enough to let you think you had the control you so desperately desired, when I was in control the entire time.”

James had been stunned into silence and unable to comment. I side-eyed Chase. Is that what he had done to me? Had he fed my ego to ultimately get what he wanted from me?

“Why?” The deep angry tone of Chase’s question reverberated throughout the room and yanked me out of my thoughts. “Why send Amanda to pick up Jax, knowing she is unstable? Why not sit us down and tell us how you felt? I started to believe you had changed, but even with parts of your brain damaged by strokes, your mind is still as warped, and twisted as it has ever been. Shame on me for believing that a man wicked enough to hand his teen sons over to two sexual deviant oil baronesses, in exchange for a board seat, would ever have anything other than sewage pumping through his rotten heart.”

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