Page 96 of The Villain's Beast

“Do you remember doing this to me?” I asked when he fought his way back up for air. He couldn’t see, blinded by the chlorine, so his flailing arms didn’t do him any good. “Do you remember all the times you tried to drown me? When you held me down? When you tied me up and tossed me in?”

“You won’t go through with this,” he choked out, and I laughed.

I laughed loud enough I knew he could hear me with his ears plugged with water. He was making such a fuss, and I was in too deep. I needed to watch the life leave him, and I hoped that didn’t change me as a person. But it had been so many years of torture and torment from him and his threats, his promises. The isolation had turned me into the man I was, and it was time for him to see what he’d made of me.

I let him push halfway out of the pool. Even as my hands encircled his throat, he screamed and cursed my name, but it was only fuel for my fire. I took us both over the edge, wrapping my legs around his waist after the water covered my back, holding my father’s stare a we both sank down to the bottom.

Only one of us was going to make it out of that pool alive.

And it was going to be me.

Chapter 67

Fletcher

Isent Daren after Bellamy, hoping the both of them would keep quiet and out of sight. Daren’s door had barely closed before my father threw open the front door to the house, a smirk on his face.

“You did good, son,” he said in lieu of a greeting. He wrapped me up in his arms and clapped his hands against my back, ignoring the way I went rigid beneath his touch.

“I told you I would.”

My father stepped back from the hug and nodded at me like he was proud, like ruining the lives of his enemies was the best thing I’d ever do.

“We should go celebrate.”

I swallowed, thinking of Gideon at the pool with his father and the radio silence that had ensued. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking we could go to Rose Hall and share a toast in front of Gideon North.” My father grinned. “Let him know who’s in charge of things now.”

“I’m surprised you don’t just want to call in a bulldozer while they’re all asleep over there,” I said.

My father hummed a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat, probably debating the merits of my suggestion. “I’m proud of you for coming around, Fletcher.”

I swallowed thickly again, nodding and gesturing toward the front door. “Why don’t you drive?”

My father rambled on about some nonsense the entire drive across campus, and my silent phone burned a hole in my pocket the entire time. When we pulled up to the house, Luca was pacing the porch, golden eyes worried behind the frames of his gold glasses. He stopped and straightened when he saw us roll up the driveway, and I offered him a fleeting and apologetic glance before my father had a chance to open his mouth.

“Where’s North?” my father asked, brushing past Luca and not even giving him an opportunity to answer.

“He’s at the pool,” Luca said, following us into the house.

My father gave the room a disapproving onceover, then turned his attention on Luca.

“Where’s his office?” my father asked.

“The second floor,” Luca answered. “The only door.”

“We’ll wait for him there.”

Without another word, my father headed upstairs. I glanced at Luca, lowering my voice.

“Still no word?”

The footsteps overhead went silent, and Luca shook his head.

“Okay,” I said.

Gideon’s absence didn’t change what I was supposed to do. I had to have faith that he had his own father under control, and that I could take care of mine. Killing him, while an enjoyable thought, wasn’t necessarily my plan. I’d lost sleep over the prospect of it, knowing if it came down to it…