Page 66 of Merciless Sinner

Father smiles, revealing perfect white teeth. "Oh, I will be there just the way you want me to be. I'm very aware that you want me to be present, to witness you marrying my enemy's daughter, so you'll feel like the man who defeated me, but it's the reverse for me. To me, my son achieved something I could not. My will is still done by whatever means."

My insides twist. Of course, he would see it like that. His glass is always full, and all his clouds are covered in silver and gold. "You think you own everyone, don't you?"

"I don't, but I know how to keep you in line. I worked hard to build our empire, and I won't see it fall for foolishness."

"What the hell do you want to talk to me about?" I press. I'm not going to get into this with him tonight. It will only end up with me feeling more unhinged.

"I want you to divorce the girl when the year is up," he declares, revealing he's looked into everything to do with the diamond mine and my marriage to Olivia, just like I thought he would.

"No." I keep my voice firm. "I'm not doing that."

"You only need to stay married to her for a year. Then I want you to get rid of her. I still want you to marry the hotel heiress. Imagine us with both assets and opportunities in our hands." He extends an arm to either side. "The gold mine and a hotel chain. Can't you see the benefits of having such?"

"So, you want me to take her inheritance?" I clarify.

"Of course." He smiles and rests his hands back at his sides. "You are a blind fool, Virgo," he sneers. "Blind to love. This problem of yours has come back to haunt you, when all I wanted was for you to be rid of it. Remember, I still have you by the neck."

Rage courses through my blood. "Don't you dare threaten me." I ball my hands into fists. "Don't you dare. This is your fault. If you were any kind of father, you wouldn't have done what you did to me. You blackmailed me into this position, and it had a knock-on effect for Olivia. If you didn't force me to break up with her, we wouldn't be standing here. She would've been mine long ago."

"I beg to differ," he counters.

"You would, wouldn't you? I protected Piper when you wanted to do nothing to the man who destroyed her. Then you punished me after, and you still want to punish me even more. No more of it, Father.”

“Olivia is just easy pussy." Before he can say another word against her, I grab him by his neck.

"Shut the fuck up. Don’t you ever speak about her like that again.”

“Just stating the obvious,” he dares me.

“Don't let me kill you." I eye him seriously, showing him I am not joking. "I kept my end of your demand. I'm getting married. You know no one else but me can run the company the way you want it. So, back the fuck off."

I release him, shoving him hard, so he stumbles. I've never grabbed him like that before. I'd never think to, but it was necessary.

"I'm not happy with this, Virgo." His voice is low.

"Deal with it," I grate out.

"Oh, believe me, I will." He turns and walks away. I watch him leave through the door, slam it shut. I know he meant every word he said and he's a threat on his own. But I know to be ready for him, too. I'm about to leave as well, but then I feel eyes on me, and I look up and find Cillian standing on the upper balcony, leaning against a pole, smoking a cigar. He saw us and probably heard everything, and he's not making any attempt to show that he wasn't eavesdropping. I know he was, but there was nothing I said to my father that showed my support for his plans the way Cillian believed all these years. He backs away, moves into the shadows, and I leave, too. Tonight feels like the start of a war, a war I've always been fighting. It's just time for others to join me.

ChapterEighteen

Virgo

Tiredness will not be my enemy tonight.

Although I've only had a few hours’ sleep, I must keep going.

Today, I was at work at the oil company from before the sun came up. Now, I'm at Club X.

I've spent the last few hours at my desk going over the rest of the police reports. I have a few more files to look through before I leave tonight. The files I'm studying contain the CSI notes from the crime scene at the O’Ridian house. I'm reading the detailed notes about what they recorded from the bodies and the CCTV. Earlier, I watched the footage they listed as high profile. Those were the recordings the cameras picked up just before the attack and after.

The before footage shows Callahan and his wife in the kitchen.

Olivia came in at one point to get a cup of coffee, then she left. When I saw her like that, it pulled on my heart. She was herself back then with nothing wrong with her and all her memories in her mind. At the time of the recording, it was exactly two hours before I broke her heart. That's the only footage I have of her and her parents. The CCTV was tampered with and did not record the places they were in the house, or it was wiped. The only other footage is the attack, which shows the guards being shot by masked men. Again, there's nothing more. Nothing that shows the men getting inside the house or out. Like with all the other files and reports, I've seen these before, but I'm going through them again. Outside of Olivia's mind, I keep thinking that the secret I seek lies in the evidence that was collected after the attack at the scene of the crime. So far, I haven't found anything, but I'm going to keep looking.

A knock sounds on my open door, and I lift my head to find Cillian. He gives me a crooked smile and dips his head.

"Hey," he says, "I have a possible lead. Also thought it'd be good to talk to you." Any kind of lead is good in my book.

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