Chapter Thirty-One

Snow

M y father told me to meet him in his study at the mansion because he needed to speak to me about something important. I hate coming here; it brings back memories of him beating me when I disobeyed him. It brings back memories of Bailey. We both hated living here and we often talked about burning this place down to the ground once the mansion is handed over to me.

I roll my shoulders back and exhale. I don't want to deal with his shit. I push the wooden door open to his office and spot him standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with his hands behind his back, gazing out at the sea.

"You wanted to see me?"

He turns around and eyes me up and down, then flops down in the leather chair. He grabs a bottle of his whiskey and downs it like he's dying of thirst. I notice there are hickeys on his neck, and I want to know if my mother knows about the affairs he has at the club. Most men go there to cheat on their wives, living a double life. When I become the CEO of the company, I'm not touching anyone except for Lyrical.

Speaking of Lyrical, she has gone into a bout of deep sadness and blames herself for the death of my sister. I feel hurt for her, and rage about the fact I couldn't get my revenge on June. I should have been the one to watch the life leave his eyes. I was too focused on Professor Carter that I didn't think June would be the one who killed my sister. I just thought he was an arrogant-ass jock who couldn't take the hint that Lyrical belonged to me.

"Your mother is going to stay with her sister in San Francisco for a while," my father says calmly.

Good for her, I'm glad she's getting away from his sorry ass. I glance around the office, noticing he still has his degree that he received from North Haven University hanging on the wall. Yet he removed all the pictures of Bailey, as if she didn't exist, with only pictures of himself displayed. He's truly not a family man. Sometimes, I suspect he regrets having a family. But the rules are, if you want to have a share of the club, you have to get married. A stupid-ass rule, in my opinion.

"Your sister suffered so much, we didn't pick up the signs that she was abused." He opens his drawer and hands me pictures. "This is what June was doing to her."

I search through them: pictures of Bailey with a black eye, busted nose, split lips. He yanks out his phone and shows me a video of a tall man, raping her, so I snatch his phone from him and slam it against the desk.

"Where the hell did you get this stuff?"

"The PI I hired found these in the shed in the back of the house where June lived. The ex-mafia men never really stopped selling women, they just got good at hiding it. My PI said they are still kidnapping girls from South Haven, their own turf. The person who killed June was Dante. He found out what he was doing to the girls at his strip club." For the first time in my life, my father looks defeated. "Our family hasn't gotten the justice we deserve. We didn't know she was being abused, but it doesn't change the fact that Lyrical cost me a thirty-million-dollar deal."

I frown in confusion, running my fingers through my hair. "How did sh—"

"The car accident. Bailey's arranged marriage to Tim. I was going to give Bailey to Tim for thirty million dollars and forty percent of his parents' business."

My father never cared about our well-being, as long as he made more money. We're just dollar bills for him to use to gain capital.

"Are you still seeking revenge on Lyrical for the car accident?"

His words catch me off guard. I had no idea he knew what I was doing to her. I don't feel as much rage as I did at the start of the school year. And no, I'm no longer mad at her.

"How did you know?"

He picks up his crystal glass, smells the liquor inside, and downs it, before slamming it against the desk.

"Because you were taught to seek vengeance on anyone who harms our family."

He leans back into the leather seat and rests his hand on the armrest.

I shake my head. "No, not anymore. I'm going to be married to her soon, and I don't want to spend the rest of our lives hating each other."

"You have a duty to protect this family." He rocks in the chair. "You're going to kill her. I'm giving you until the end of the semester. You will marry Savannah instead. She will be your new bride. Her parents are offering me a better deal for her. They are giving me forty percent of their business as well as fifty million dollars."

I'm not going to kill Lyrical, and I'm definitely not marrying Savannah. He's out of his rabid-ass mind if he believes I will agree to his bullshit. I need to kill Savannah because she's now getting in the way of my arranged marriage to Lyrical.

"She has cost this family a great deal of pain. That girl deserves to be in a body bag." My father pours himself more bourbon and sips it slowly this time, watching me carefully above the rim of the glass, daring me to challenge him.

"I'm not going to kill Lyrical, and I don't want Savannah."

"You will, or you won't inherit the club."

I smooth out my tie and grip the armrest until my knuckles turn white. "Fuck you and your club."

I get up from the chair, turning my back to him.

"You've got until the end of the semester," he reminds me.

I turn around, trying to keep my cool and not bash his skull in, attempting not to murder my own father out of pure rage, but we don't need another scandal. If I kill him, his friend who works for the DA would bury me in prison, and the other owners of the club won't take too kindly to me killing him. I need to find a way around it. I go up to him, grab him by the collar of his shirt, and slam him against the glass wall behind him.

"I said fucking no."

He cocks an eyebrow. "You're getting bold."

"What? You're not going to strike me like you did before, because this time I'm not going to be so kind. The last time I held off was because you're my father, but I'll kill you if you go anywhere near Lyrical."

Rage grows in his orbs. "You would choose a bitch over your own family?"

I showed him my weakness, and he knows that Lyrical is my Achilles' heel, but I don't care.

"Yes. I'll choose her over you. Fuck you, Revi."

He shoves me off him.

"Listen to me carefully, son. You have two options. You kill her or I kill you both. The choice is up to you."