Page 164 of Lust & Lies

I couldn't let Sam return to his assassin duties. He was old now. Yeah, he could still shoot. But he couldn’t fight. He had back problems and knee problems. Plus, he and Gertrude had retired to their orchard.

They were happily waiting for me and Aiden to have kids so they could spoil them... their words, not mine. They'd worked as Watchdogs for years. It was the only job either of them ever had.

Blood and death had been their companions all their lives. But even assassins deserved to retire and get away from all that darkness. They’d earned this chance to be free. I couldn’t be the reason they lost it.

But I also loved Aiden and didn't want to give him up. That man loved me unconditionally and deserved only the best from me, the best of me. I guess I took too long to respond to Grandpa Park’s demand, because he suddenly took things from bad to worse.

“Since Sam wouldn't last long as a Watchdog at his age and in his condition, how about I just kill him to save him the pain of being captured and tortured by the enemy. And since Gertrude loves him so much, I should send her with him, right? Isn’t that what people in love want, to live together and to die together?”

“Do you even know what love is?” I asked, honestly wondering if he did.

“It’s a weakness. And for some, it’s like a disease that eats away at them.”

“Is that why your own son left as soon as his boys were teens? He left to live a life that wasn’t controlled by you. And their mother won’t even return to the country because she fears you.”

“My son and his wife were not strong enough to handle the family businesses and the responsibilities that came with them. But since you brought him up, let’s use him as an example of what love is. He claims to love his sons. Yet, he left them with me. If I were such a bad father, why did he leave his three sons in my care?”

“You wouldn’t let him take them.”

“If he truly loved them, he wouldn’t have let me prevent him from taking them. Neither would their mother. It was their freedom or their children. They each chose freedom. Sure, my son still helps with the overseas businesses, but he will never inherit my wealth or the family businesses. And though Tristan almost made the wrong choice, in the end, he chose wealth and power over love. Aiden will do the same. In the morning, after you catch him in the act with Ellie, he’ll storm to my office and blame me for it all. And I’ll issue him an ultimatum: either he marries Ellie, or he’ll lose it all.”

“Aiden doesn’t care about wealth and power.”

“But he cares about you. When I say lose it all, you’re included.”

“There it is,” I said, releasing a sarcastic chuckle filled with pain. “I knew you hated me.”

“I could never hate you.”

“Yet, you’re willing to kill me if Aiden doesn’t let me go.”

“You like assuming the worst. I won’t kill you. But I can make you disappear from his life. I can send you far away where he’ll never see you again. I can make him think you’re dead. That’s the only way he’ll give up on you. And if I take your precious Gertrude and Samuel from you, that’s the only way you’ll give up on him. I didn’t want it to come to this. I’m not a cruel man. But you two forced me...”

“Enough,” I yelled, done listening to his bullshit. “You already control everything. But you don’t get to decide who Aiden and I love.”

Grandpa Park cocked his head to the side. “My grandson is so weak when it comes to you. Sometimes, he acts as if he can’t live without you, and that worries me. If he thinks you’re dead, would he decide to kill himself also?” Grandpa Park asked, a smug smirk on his face.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, unable to stomach the pain of Aiden thinking I’d died because he’d chosen me over his family and wealth. The guilt he’d carry for the rest of his life would be unimaginable.

Life? What life? He’d told me numerous times that he wouldn’t live without me. Every time I went away on a mission, he told me to come home safely or he’d come to me, whether I was in Texas, Hell, or Heaven, he’d come to me.

“And how would the Hatfields feel if they lost not only their daughter, Layla, but their honorary niece also? At their age, would they be able to handle such a loss?”

How dare he say that after everything they’d lost because of him? I hated that he got to see the tears streaming down my face.

“Those tears tell me you’ve made a choice. See what love does to you? It makes you weak. It makes you place others above yourself. If you don’t want me to send you away, and make them think you’re dead, if you don’t want me to havethe Hatfields killed because of you, then leave Aiden. You have thirty seconds to answer, or I’ll send your own team after Gertrude and Samuel.”

My mouth dropped open. This sick fuck. I thought of my team members: the Leader, Viper, Fuse, and Scope. They respected Sam and Gertrude just as much as I did. If ordered to kill them, they’d complete their task because that’s what they were trained to do.

But it would break something in them. And Grandpa Park knew that. Getting my team involved was just another way to ensure I bent to his will. Just another form of manipulation. I balled my hands into fists, barely resisting the urge to jump over that desk and beat him to death with his cane.

“I guess now I'm the one who should be asking you if you hate me,” he mused, smile gone. “Do you hate me, Mist?”

“Yes,” I whispered, no hesitation, no need to think about it.

I hated this motherfucker with everything I had in me.

He sighed. “You’ll understand my intentions one day. You’ll understand that following your heart would only lead you to an early grave. Your thirty seconds are long up. Tell me, will you leave my grandson, or do you want me to order your team to destroy the Hatfield Orchard and everyone there? Tell me your answer. Now.”