Page 21 of Forgive Me, Father

“So, they get everything they want, and we just have to be okay with the scraps?”I felt my anger starting to build.

“Camilla.If this merge doesn’t happen, you have no idea how far you are setting us back.”She tried to reason with me.

“I’m setting you guys back?Thanks a lot, Mom.”I zipped up my suitcase.

“You will marry him, so help me.”

I walked to the door.I wasn’t going to tell her everything, but I would tell her this.“Yeah, I’m afraid that it’s too late.I’m already married, just not to that lying son of a bitch.”

My mother froze, and I knew it was the perfect moment to leave.I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and wheeled it briskly down the hallway.

In so many ways, we were alike.She was stunning, and I’d inherited much of her beauty.Neither of us had ever been considered the smartest in the room, but she understood the power of appearance, and she wielded it like a weapon.

I looked back, and my door was still closed.She was still processing.I rounded the corner and collided straight into someone.

“Sorry,” I said, as Philip stared at me with pure rage.

“Where the fuck where you yesterday, Camilla?You made a fool out of me.”

Anger took over, and I pushed him as hard as I could.“Oh, I made a fool out of you?Where the fuck were you, Philip, before our wedding?”I yelled at the top of my lungs.My anger finally got the best of me.

“What?”I couldn’t decide if he was acting stupid or if he was actually confused.

“I saw you fucking my best friend in your room.You didn’t even lock the fucking door.”

“Not this shit again.”He rolled his eyes.

“Stop.My mother said she knew.I’m so done with you.”

Philip laughed.“You and I will never be done, Cami.We are bound for?—”

“Save it for your whore.”

I stormed past him.My heart pounded like a drum, and I knew he was following me.I could hear his breathing behind me, like a bull.

He grabbed my hand and twisted my wrist as he pushed me against the wall.

“This merge will happen.Even if I have to drag you down the aisle myself.”

“No, it won’t.Maybe now you and your father will tell my family the truth.How you needed this merge more than we did.”

I saw the truth reflecting in his eyes.The fear that they had finally been discovered.

“Oh, I’m not as stupid as you think I am.I know your little scam.How you own what, twenty percent of the docks, maybe even less?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t fool me, Philip, and get your fucking hands off me.”

“No, you are mine, and you will….”He froze as a knife pressed into his throat.

Nico appeared behind him.“I suggest you take your hands off the lady as she requested.”

“Sir, this is none of your concern,” Philip replied, trying to sound confident but I could see the fear on his features.“And you will take your knife off my throat if you know what’s good for you.”

Nico chuckled.“Ooh, I’m scared.”He took his knife from the bastard’s throat.A drop of blood oozed from his neck where the knife had nicked him.Philip pressed his finger into it and then licked his own blood.

Like always, Philip was ready to fight, and in two jabs, they were so fast, I hardly saw it coming, he was on the floor, coughing, trying to catch his breath.