26. Christian

Chapter 26

Christian

W hy couldn’t Sebastian stalk a less connected woman?

The step-daughter of a Landon with ties to the Castillos and the McKells.

Christian stared down at the woman. She was… weird .

She wasn’t crying, or asking for help, or screaming.

She was fucking humming and it was annoying the shit out of him.

“You can leave now; I will call you back if needed,” he directed the three men in the room with them. He could manage one girl by himself.

What was she going to do? Kill him with her off-key humming?

He waited for them to leave before refocusing his attention on the woman below. He still laid atop her, his weight compressing down onto her body.

“You are the reason my brother died,” he reminded her, grabbing her by the throat and pressing her further into the bed.

He pushed his lips to her. They were soft, but otherwise, not noteworthy.

“I don’t see the fucking fascination. A plain fucking woman. How did you attract my brother? He doesn’t typically go for women like you.”

“You mean women my age?” she coughed out, her throat moving against his hand.

He felt oddly calmed by the feeling of her skin on his palm. His grip on her, the complete control he had over her. He appraised her, trying to see her from a different angle, but he couldn’t. There was nothing special about her … Except there was definitely something disturbing about this woman. He just couldn’t pin-point what it was exactly.

“You did know my brother.”

He relaxed his grip on her neck, allowing her to gulp in a few breaths of air. He leaned back, his knees digging into the mattress on each side of her hips.

He hadn’t expected to exact his vengeance so soon, but she wasn’t the revenge. She was a tool to it. Christian had learned of the depth of her ties to the Castillos, of who had really shot and killed his brother.

It was none other than Emilio himself.

“Answer my question.”

He watched her face, her cheeks were pink from her coughing, her lips puffed and swollen, but still she didn’t appear scared . And her eyes? They pierced into his, striking and clear . As if they could see through him. He didn’t fucking like them. He reached for a knife on the table next to them, moving the blade to her neck. He needed her to beg, to cry, to plead for her life.

But she just watched him with her unnerving eyes.

This wasn’t fun like he had thought it would be.

“He was my teacher in high school,” she spoke slowly, still staring at him.

Christian’s mind raced. In high school? From what he had gathered, she was nearing 30. That’s how long his brother had known her? And if that was the case…

“Do you know what happened to him 10 years ago?” His memory pulled forth the night from over a decade ago when Sebastian had called, and Christian had raced to him .

Found his brother shot and covered in blood on the school’s roof. But his brother had never told him why, and then one day several years later, Sebastian up and left town.

Christian already knew at that point about his brother’s proclivities. Had already started to clean up his messes. Tied up all the loose ends so that their image wasn’t ruined. It was hard to make connections to prominent businessmen with documented transgressions.

They had to stay on the up and up for their empire to run smoothly.

“He tried to rape me, so I shot him. I moved away but then he followed me. None of this was my fault. You clearly knew who your brother was. It was self-defense,” she stated the words matter-of-factly.

He thought he knew exactly who his brother was, but this woman was an outlier. Too old for his interests, and yet, Sebastian had been obsessed with her.

Sebastian, what were you thinking? You threw your entire life away for this woman?

Christian’s mind was made up. While he could appreciate the woman’s tenacity, she wouldn’t be allowed to live. He needed to wrap up the remaining unfinished business that his brother had left behind. Sebastian’s one last living victim. Because if anyone found out his brother’s offenses?

Well, Christian couldn’t have that happening.