Page 51 of The Tempo of Truth (The Monsters Duet #3)

Winnie

“I have nothing left. You ruined my life.”

“But at least you have a life to live.” I snapped the words back at Oliver and looked at the downtrodden man sitting across from my desk.

“You’ve got your health. You’ve got your freedom.

You’ve got two hands. You have everything you need to start over.

You can build something for yourself from the bottom up, the same way everyone without the privilege of being from an established and wealthy family does.

Be happy you didn’t end up in the morgue or as a forgotten headline.

You’re fortunate; I’m not nearly as bloodthirsty as the Halliday women who came before me.

” My grandmother might have been able to stomach murder for forward momentum, but I couldn’t.

I shivered whenever I thought about how Lowe would view his mother if he knew the lengths I was forced to go to while guarding his legacy.

I could be callous and cruel, but I never crossed a certain line, unlike the man standing before me.

I leaned back in the leather chair and kept my expression bland.

“Now that the last bit of paperwork is finalized, there’s no reason for you to show your face in front of me or my family ever again.

It would be in your best interest to give me a wide berth.

You never know when I may decide that you haven’t suffered enough.

Rub me the wrong way and I very well may need you to pay the same price as Lev Petrov did. ”

“Are you threatening to murder me?” Oliver balked and glared at me, his gaze fluctuating between barely concealed insanity and legitimate fear. “The Hallidays aren’t above the law, Winnie. Eventually, someone is going to come along and bring you to your knees. Your family isn’t all-powerful.”

“The only person who can bring me to my knees is my child’s father, and that’s only because I want to be there for him.

I don’t need to be all-powerful; I just need to be powerful enough to protect those I love.

” I sneered at him. “And powerful enough to punish those who go against me.” I snorted and asked, “Would you rather I let Ky handle the retribution? He nearly beat you to death once. Imagine what would happen to you if I removed the restraints keeping him in check. You would end up in the same state as that poor kid in the park.”

I didn’t want Ky in prison, so I had one of Helio’s guys practically sitting on top of him while he grieved and started to navigate his life without Lev and the gym.

I knew he wanted nothing more than to rip Oliver Byrd limb from limb, but there was no evidence tying Oliver directly to the arson or the murder.

The money trail ended with a former executive assistant who claimed they hired someone to start the blaze at the request of Oliver’s grandfather.

The story given to the police and the press was that the older man couldn’t handle the way Oliver was smearing the longstanding image of the family and the company, so he started to make big moves to derail the merger he never wanted.

Burning down the gym was payback for his grandson’s beatdown and a supposed warning.

Attacking Lev was never on the agenda; he was simply an unfortunate sacrificial pawn lost in the game going on around him.

It was obvious that Oliver’s father and grandfather were willing to take the fall for any misdeeds as long as the son was able to work and rebuild everything they had lost. They would sacrifice everything to preserve the Byrd name and legacy, even as tainted as it currently was.

I shoved the finalized contract to the side and gestured for Oliver to leave.

I didn’t want to spend a second more with him.

I wasn’t a violent person, but whenever I thought of how much this entitled man had made Ky suffer, I wanted to punch him in the face and bury him in a pit so deep and dark he forgot what daylight looked like.

Oliver got to his feet and smoothed his wrinkled shirt.

He was still dressed in designer labels, but he was light-years away from the composed man I first started working with.

“All of this over a washed-up athlete who amounts to nothing. You ruined your reputation and have the entire business circle questioning your sanity over a loser who has no prospects and no future. You’re an embarrassment to the Halliday name, Winnie.

And once I get back on my feet, I’m going to bury you and strip away everything that has ever mattered to you. ”

I smiled at him with a sharp flash of teeth.

I’d actually never lived up to my name more than when I was plotting his punishment and downfall.

The way I wanted Oliver to experience the same sadness Ky was struggling to find his way out of made me feel more like Colette Halliday than anything else ever had.

I finally understood why she led with absolute ruthlessness and how evil machinations came to fill her insides.

There was no fighting against evil without having a touch of darkness stain your soul.

While my grandmother’s cruelty overtook her whole heart, I only allowed it to steal a small sliver because I knew I would never survive in the company without it.

The rest I had to keep untainted for Ky and Lowe.

“I’ll worry about retribution when you can be a real threat to me.

Until then, I’m busy. Get out of my office.

” At that moment, Oliver, who was once my peer, had become nothing more than an annoying insect buzzing around.

I could squash him like a bug, but I wanted him to have lots and lots of time to wallow in the wreckage he created.

It wasn’t enough to make him lose everything he loved all at once.

Nope.

Oliver Byrd was never going to have another easy day if I had anything to say about it. At any point, if it seemed like he could lift his head and see the light, I planned to yank him right back down into the darkness.

Security escorted Oliver out of my office when he loitered longer than I could tolerate.

I’d refused to meet with him since I had dismantled his family’s century-old business.

I relented today, because he was starting to bug my family members and I didn’t want him popping up outside the brownstone or my son’s school if he became desperate enough to talk with me I didn’t have the patience to suffer fools lightly.

I stewed in aggravation as I tried to get my head on straight for the next meeting.

The people who worked under me had been steering clear of me since I brought down several members of my board of directors.

My Uncle Win’s reputation was that of a sharp and lethal businessman, while my Uncle Alistair was seen as a visionary and someone with groundbreaking ingenuity.

So far, the mark I’d left seemed painful and led to those I dealt with being more on guard and responsive in order to avoid ending up on the wrong side of my rearrangement.

I knew I was seen as a bit of a shrew and as someone who was operating the business in an unhinged and unrestrained manner.

In my opinion, as long as a bitch got the job done, I didn’t care that people were secretly likening me to Catherine the Great and, of course, Colette Halliday.

I knew that ruling an empire required absolute strength and authority.

But as soon as I stepped out of work, I reverted to the woman who wanted nothing more than to eat sweets, cuddle on the couch with her man, and spend time with her precocious kid.

I couldn’t stay cold and reserved when I was with those closest to me.

The armor I wore at work was too cold and far too heavy to haul home each and every day.

I left it for the battlefield. Which is why the mask I wore while dealing with my unwanted guest dropped the second Ky showed up at my office door.

Watching him walk across the sleek and elegant office packed with antiques and multibillion-dollar business deals, in his torn jeans, old boots, and faded T-shirt was a bit of a mind-fuck. It was my two worlds smashing together and making the earth shake.

“You look like you’ve lost weight.” My gaze greedily roved over him since we hadn’t been able to see each other much in the days after the funeral.

Ky’s mom and her husband stayed in town for two weeks, helping Ky settle Lev’s estate and getting to know her grandson.

I was busy making sure Ky saw some form of justice for Lev, even if my methods weren’t as satisfying as an eye-for-an-eye.

I’d been working a lot of overtime and trying to navigate the choppy waters left by my defiant actions.

Ky held up a bag he brought from a familiar bakery. I belatedly realized my entire office smelled sweet and sugary. “You’re the one who is losing weight. I brought you a snack. Lowe says that you haven’t taken him out for dessert in weeks.”

I pushed my hair away from my face and reached for the bag, my mouth watering as he came closer. “I’ve been really busy. I’m so grateful you’ve been there to take care of Lowe.”

The bag of pastries hit my desk as Ky reached out and turned the swivel of my chair to face him.

He stooped and put his hands on the arms to cage me between the back and his warm body.

“He’s my kid. Of course, I’m going to take care of him.

But it looks like I’ve neglected taking care of his mom.

You really look like shit, Winnie. When was the last time you slept through the night?

You’re gone in the morning when I get up, and you don’t come to bed until long after I’m asleep. ”