Page 98 of The Villain's Beast

“It’s the end ofyou,” I whispered, words trembling as they left my mouth.

“Do go on, Fletcher. Tell me what you think you’ve done.”

“Right now, Francis North is at the bottom of a pool,” I said. “His lungs are full of water, his face is blue. Gideon’s hands are wrapped around his throat.”

“One less North for me to manage,” he sneered.

“I’m glad you feel that way because it’s time for things to change.”

“What are you on about?”

“I’m doing the one thing you never could.” The words shook as they left my mouth, and my father heard it. He laughed in my face, his breath smelling like stale scotch.

If I closed my eyes too long, I could see Gideon’s teenage face when I told him Gideon North and Fletcher Sinclair were the only things we’d ever be. Neither of us understood, back then, that was enough. That was everything.

“I’m the one taking control of the North empire,” my father said. “The Angelini family?—”

“The Angelini family doesn’t want to see you in charge anymore.”

A flash of doubt on his face. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying, but you’re not listening,” I said, forcing my spine to straighten, bringing us face to face. “I have stronger allies than you. I’m the one who’s a step ahead.”

“Fucking the heir of a displaced dynasty isn’t worth shit, Fletcher.”

“I’m not fucking him; he’s fucking me.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“He fucked me on that desk,” I said, voice low. “He fucked me there after he handed over the financial records and the keys to his house. I told him I loved him and promised I wouldn’t make the same mistakes a second time.”

“The Angelinis won’t?—”

I didn’t care what he had to say or what he thought they would or would not do. I had Vince’s word, and between him and Gideon and myself…we’d decided things were going to change. We were done letting other people pull the strings.

“You’re too much work,” I said with an unimpressed shrug. “You aren’t willing to bend when flexibility is required so, in the end, you’re going to break.”

“What have you done, Fletcher?”

I didn’t need to tell him because he knew. He lunged for me, both of us limited by the small balcony, but the railing was my leverage in more ways than one. I ducked and twisted, and it was enough for my father’s hip to launch over the wrought iron railing, a tangle of roses and thorns meant to confine in the ways it always had. It wasn’t enough anymore, and with a high-pitched yell, he was on his way down.

I didn’t push him over the edge.

But I didn’t reach for him as he fell either.

Chapter 68

Bellamy

It was nearly midnight before Fletcher stumbled home and over the threshold, a dark purple bruise casting his right eye into shadow and claw marks down his forearm. Daren was up from the couch before I’d even fully registered the sight of him in the doorway. We’d stayed together in his room until Fletcher and his father had left, and then we’d waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then we’d heard the sirens and we’d waited some more.

“What happened to you?” Daren asked, reaching for Fletcher like he was a worried lover, a concerned partner.