Page 86 of Heart of Stone (Dark Billionaires)

There it was. That little voice that whispered black thoughts into her ear when she was at her lowest, always eager to kick her when she was down. It was the one thing she could count on. There was nothing else, only her and her suicidal thoughts.

Except now there was a new voice; the one that reminded her she had a child counting on her. A child that would be taken from her. Tears slid from her eyes, irritating the sensitive skin beneath them. Kate didn’t even bother to wipe them away anymore.

She clutched the scan photo that Warren had crumpled beneath his feet, holding it against her heart. He’d turned on her—onthem—without warning. More tears escaped when she closed her eyes. What kind of man did that to his own child?

But she knew the answer.

A man like her father.

It had never been a conscious thought, not really. But at the back of her mind, Kate had always known that she’d choose a better father for her children than her mother had chosen for her.

Failure, the malignant voice hissed.

And it was right. She’d failed her child before it was even born.

The black thoughts surrounded her then, swirling around her in a teeming whirlpool of misery, luring her towards the relief that death promised. Kate clutched the scan photo closer, as though it was a talisman of goodness, oflife, but the black thoughts feasted on her anyway.

The bedroom door opened—and Kate’s eyes opened with it.

Brax addressed her from the doorway, a crease between his eyebrows and a cast on his arm. His jaw twitched as he glared down at her, no doubt recalling the day before yesterday when she’d asked him if she could write ‘CUNT’ on it. In her defence, people should be warned. “Come with me.”

“Go fuck yourself,” she answered tonelessly.

He sighed. As thoughhewas the one being inconvenienced. “Kate, I’m trying to help you here.”

“Really? Because it looks like you’re literally acting as Warren’s guard dog. Does he tell you you’re a good boy and give you belly rubs?”

“For god’s sake,” Brax muttered under his breath. His heavy footsteps stomped over to where she sat, but Kate went limp as he tried to lift her to her feet, doing her best impression of a child mid-tantrum.

Unfortunately, however, Brax was well versed in her strategy. He bent, hooking an enormous arm behind her knees and hefting her over his shoulders. Kate yelped as he stood to his full height, not used to the view from the top of the beanstalk.

“Put me down!”

Brax snapped out an answer as he bent to walk through the doorway. “I refer to your earlier response ofgo fuck yourself.”

“I hate you,” she hissed, her hair swaying around her head as Brax strolled down the corridor. As much as she wanted to try and kick him in the balls, she also recognised that he was holding her one-handed, and a fall from this height could be fatal if she landed on her neck. And she didn’t want to hurt her baby.

When he entered the lift and pressed the fingerprint scanner that would take them down to the cellar, however, Kate flailed like a trapped animal. There was only one reason he would take her down there. “No, no, no, no, no,” she squealed. “He said he wouldn’t torture me!”

“Calm down,” Brax urged her, tightening his grip. “You’re not going to be tortured.”

Kate didn’t believe him, but it made no difference.

The cellar was much as she remembered it. Dark, cold, and intimidating. The room in which Brax deposited her was different to the one Warren had questioned her in before. Steadying herself, she looked around to gain her bearings, her breath fogging in front of her face. A security camera perched high up on the wall, and Kate’s eyes narrowed immediately.

But it wasn’t the camera that held her attention; it was the long metal table in the centre of the room, a strange lip running around its edge. Although a shiver ran up the back of her neck, it had nothing to do with the freezing temperature.

A body on the table had her backing up against the wall. A sheet covered the corpse, but there was no hiding the congealed blood underneath.

“Is that my father?” she whispered, attempting to swallow her horror.

Brax didn’t answer. He merely walked over to the corpse and pulled back the sheet.

Her gasp was a garbled, “Daniel!” She rushed over to the table, clapping her hands to her mouth. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” Words of disbelief tumbled out of her, coupled with a barrage of guilt that nearly sent her to her knees. “What did you do to him?”

An immobile Brax watched her like a hawk.

“He didn’t…” She gulped, seeing the crispy, blackened skin at his shoulders. Her shaking hands passed over Daniel’s corpse, not quite daring to touch him. Had they set him onfire? “Daniel didn’t have anything to do with this. He didn’t deserve to die, Brax! He was a teacher.” Kate sniffed, her voice shrinking until it was almost inaudible. “He had ason…”

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