Page 34 of Cruel Possession

Chapter Eleven

AIDEN

“What’reyou planning on doing with Zoe?”

I look up at the door as Royce strides into my office like it’s his own. “Excuse me?”

Royce slams the door shut, turning to me with his hands curled into fists at his side. “I asked you what you were going to do with Zoe.”

“You’re going to want to figure out whose side you’re on before you come in here and question my authority.” I pick at some of the dirt—or maybe it’s dried blood—beneath my nail, trying to keep my rage in check.

Sooner or later, Royce is going to become a problem that I have to deal with. I’m not seeing a way around it anymore.

Royce’s jaw flexes. “Look, I’ve done all but kill you myself in the last few months. You’ve been a jackass of the biggest proportions, and maybe I’ve let it go on for too long, but it needs to end. You’re scaring the family, and you’re losing control.”

My brother wants to pretend that I’m the bad guy, and I might be, but it’s time he establishes his loyalties.

Going against me and having a baby with the half-sister of the enemy was bad enough. Bringing her into our family and having another child with her was nearly the tipping point.

And now, he’s questioning my authority.

I stand, leaning forward, hands pressing down on my desk. “I’ve had enough of you thinking that you could do this better than I do. You have no clue what it takes to keep this family running. You don’t know about the things I have to do for the sake of keeping us all alive.”

“You want to talk about what you’ve done?” He scoffs and shakes his head, steely gaze fixing on me. “What about the things I’ve done? You and Dad were all too willing to turn me into a walking, talking, killing machine, and now that I have the balls to say anything else to you, you want to act like I’ve done nothing for this family? Like the blood that coats your hands is more than the blood that’s on mine?”

My jaw clenches, teeth gritting together so hard I’m sure I’m going to crack one. “You don’t seem to mind when you’re reaping the benefits. You get nice houses. Lots of money. You get to live without worrying where the next meal is going to come from?—”

“Are you saying that’s because of you?”

“Yes.”

If looks could kill, he would’ve murdered me a thousand times over by now.

Royce rolls his shoulders back like he’s loosening up for a fight. “What are you planning on doing with Zoe?”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Do you think I want to go to Gia and tell her that her sister is going to die?”

I round the desk, perching on the edge, crossing my arms and just waiting for him to throw the first punch. “Whose side are you on?”

“Gia’s,” he says without hesitation. “And if you have a problem with that, then we’re going to have a problem.”

“I do.” I’m seething as I push off the desk, stalking toward him. “This is your family. I’m the one who raised you. Who made sure that you weren’t put into foster care when Dad died.”

“You mean whenyourbest friend killed him? Maybe we should be talking about whereyourloyalties lie.” Royce gives me that smug look he’s been good at since he was a child.

I lunge at him, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him back into the bookshelves.

A wave tips and falls, glass shattering on the floor. Several books topple down and hit the ground.

Royce’s eyes widen, and his nostrils flare. “Think this makes you a big man?”

“Cute. You need to figure out that this relationship of yours is pushing you to the point of no return. You’re my brother, and that means something to me—in fact, it’s the reason why you’re still standing right now.”

“And that has nothing to do with the fact that you still talk a good game, but when it comes to the follow-through, you’re failing?”

I dig a knife out of my pocket, flipping it open, and driving it into his shoulder. His loud hiss of pain fills the room, his body slumping slightly, the fight going out of his eyes.