Page 52

I still have a heart. I still care for some people. My brothers. My mom. The Montfords. Bella. My list may be short. But I know I am not as callous as my father.

Roland noticed too. He saw that I wasn’t in this a hundred percent. That I’ve retreated and just gone along with things instead of being proactive. Maybe I am confused and don’t know what I want.

I turn off the treadmill and head over to the punching bag. Anything to get me out of my head. Anything to get me to figure out what the hell it is I want.

Too bad the one thing I am irrevocably sure that I want is the one thing I have to fight to have.

I grunt as I slam my fists over and over again into the punching bag. Sweat dripping down my face, my back. My muscles aching from every move I make.

The only thing that makes me stop is the sound of my phone ringing. I see my father’s name on the screen. I clench my hand around my fist as I go to pick it up. I called him immediately after leaving Roland at the club three nights ago and he is finally getting back to me.

“Hello,” I answer, keeping my voice steady.

“Kilian, you said you needed to meet with me in your voice mail.”

I don’t miss the smugness in his voice. “It took you three days to call me back.”

“I’ve been busy.” I hear him shuffling papers on his desk in the background. “But if you would like to meet with me, I am in the office today. I’ll be free in thirty minutes.”

He doesn’t say anything and just hangs up.

I slam my fist one more time into the bag for good measure. Then take a quick shower.

I speed over to the Bancroft Enterprises office. I slam my car into park in the underground garage and head to the elevator that leads directly to his private floor.

The door opens to the hall across from the side door to his office. I don’t bother knocking and barge in.

“Kilian,” he says. No surprise in his voice.

“What the fuck is this about you handing the Renzettis off to Roland?”

He turns in his office chair to face me. The wrinkles around his mouth pointed down as he frowns at me. “You’ve been looking for that man for over six months. You are not moving fast enough.”

“I am working on it as best I can,” I grit through my teeth.

“You’re weak, son. I never should have chosen you for this.” Venom leaks from his mouth as he says, “I don’t even want to call you my son. You fail at so many things. I should have had Grayson or Liam take over for me. I thought you would succeed with your charm and your personality. But you let your feelings get in the way.”

I clench my fists at my sides as I stand in the middle of his obnoxiously large high-rise office. “I do not let my feelings get in the way.”

He laughs at me. “We both know you do. Do we need to have this conversation again? The one on how you took Bastian and Thiago Montford from me. You lost some of my best assets. Even the fuckup Matías was better than you.”

“They wanted out. You worked with Thiago. You allowed him to pay an abhorrent amount of money to get out. And instead you took his life.”

“You know The Partners had nothing to do with the death of Thiago Montford.”

I scoff. It’s always been the one thing my father has never admitted. The one thing that all The Partners deny. “I gave those men their lives back and gave you mine.”

“And it seems like a waste.”

I hold back my retort, my anger. All the wretched things I want to say to him. If I had the courage, if I had brought my gun, I would kill him now. Maybe I am weak. At least around him because instead of standing up for myself, I fold into one of the chairs across from his desk. “I will find Ezio Renzetti. I’m close.”

He ignores my statement and changes the subject. “I need you to close the deal with Hayward Shipping. He’s ready to join. And we need that business. They will make trade easier in Australia and the Philippines.”

I hold back my smart-ass remarks. I am well aware of why we need them. I am the one that got my hooks in them. Seduced them to the dark side. Did the job I’ve been given since I found out about The Partners. The job I’ve done for the last twenty years. The one where I convinced my best friend to join with his brother. “Consider the deal closed. I have a meeting with him tonight.”

My father looks pleased. “Good. Then I need you at the docks in Athens for the next shipment. It’s scheduled for Monday night.”

“Why are you putting me at the docks? That is a job far below mine. Roland should be there and Dimitri can handle it like he always does. There is nothing I need to check on. Not for this.”