Page 182 of Poison Aches
That’s the thing I respect about Vaughn… he—just like my friends here in Westbrook Blues—will always fight back, even if the odds are stacked heavily against him.
So as I draw near, he decides to charge first, but I see him coming and with a surprise swing that I kept hidden, I punch him so hard that this time, he’s staggers backwards slowly, his eyes rolling back into his head, and then he falls back hard on the floor, his body looking eerily lifeless.
I just knocked him out, something Grandfather expected me to do before.
With a frightened gasp, Emilio rushes over to his son to check if he’s still alive, but I don’t pay them any attention.
Instead, I turn around and glare at Grandfather.
He watches me silently, then after a long while, he nods, as if giving his approval.
But his approval means shit to me.
In fact, his approval was probably involved in my mother’s sudden disappearance.
I watch silently as Grandfather turns on his heel and leaves the room, then Vaughn is carried out by some of Emilio’s men, and finally, the said snake gives me a withering glare before he leaves, following his passed-out son.
I’m left alone in the room, or so I thought.
“You’re doing too much.” I glance over the left. I almost didn’t see him there. “If you’re trying to get on your grandfather’s bad side, then keep doing what you’re doing.”
I scoff.
“If you’re so concerned about pleasing him, then keep doing what you’re doing,” I grit out.
“I would if I actually had a decent son! One who's, well, fully functioning, not a ticking time bomb!” My father, Syrus Easton, steps closer to the ring, looking up at me with an angry, malicious smile on his face. “But instead, I have you. It’s just like your mother to screw everything up and then leave.”
“Don’t talk about her,” I snap.
“Oh, so now that you can talk a little bit properly, without your embarrassing speech issues, and you can punch a little harder than anyone, do you think that gives you power? Do you think that gives you leverage in the Family? Do you think you can get revenge without anyone in your damn corner?”
I hold still as my father’s words echo in my ears.
My back is on fire, every inch of my body is in pain, but at my father’s words, I fall silent because he knows that’s what I want.
“I don’t need anyone.”
He scoffs. “You and I both know you’re fucking smart and you know that’s not true. In the underbelly, you need pull to do anything, and you… without your grandfather as your backing authority, who the fuck do you think you are?”
I want to shut him down. I want to tell him off, but I know he’s right.
Everyone hates that I’m the heir. After they got rid of my mother, I know they expected Grandfather would revoke my rights but instead, he cemented my impending Don status.
Which means my father is right. Without Grandfather, doing what I want to do will be fucking hard if I have no one else in my corner.
But I already took measures for that years ago, thanks to the opening the twins provided when they moved to the estates.
There’s a reason why I never fought Syrus when he went against Grandfather for me to stay in Westbrook Blues.
But it’s not enough.
“I know you never listen to me, but I know more than you can possibly imagine,” he continues in a low but hard voice. “You need to grow the fuck up and realize that your mother left on her own! She didn’t think of you! She didn’t give a damn, but look at you, isolating yourself, making enemies within the family, ready to take revenge for a woman that will never come back.”
“You don’t know that!” I seethe.
“I do, and mark my words, you will probably not live long enough to see your little plans come to fruition,” he snaps. “You know your condition, now stay in your lane and don’t trudge up problems we can’t afford to face. You’re already the worst liability in my life as it is.”
I hold his gaze.
