“Tsk, tsk.” Colin tutted, “You have known me all this time. So ask yourself, ‘Am I the type of person to go through all of this trouble without any evidence?’”
“I discovered the letters—and consequently, the truth—only last year whilst fulfilling my mother’s request to find and organize our estate’s documents before she died. I suppose she could feel her time would soon be up. Naturally, once I had discovered the wretched correspondence, I confronted her rather angrily about it all. I pressed her for more even though I knew she was dying. And she eventually told me everything I needed to know.”
“To think that I could have been a Duke instead of a bloody Baron! And yes, I grew quite resentful of you, despite knowing that you had been just as ignorant about of all of this as I had been.”
“It’s no wonder that the late Lord Gillinghamshire—the man I had always thought of as my father—barely made an effort to act paternally. He had showed no affection whatsoever throughout his lifetime and I now fully understood why.”
“Oh, and do you suppose it would have been different if you had somehow grown up here, on this estate?” Anthony snapped, “Allow me to remind you that my—or if you prefer—ourfather, was never very affectionate, either.”
With eyes of fire, Colin raised his voice for the first time in this whole ordeal.
“Not towards you. However, he was also aware that, in fact, you werenothisfirstborn. Perhaps ifIhad been here, he would have behaved differently.”
Anthony remembered how as a child, he used to wish that he and Colin were brothers so that the two of them could play whenever they desired. However, if this was what being brothers entailed, then he wanted to wholeheartedly retract his naïve request.
“Why didn’t you just talk to me? I’m sure we could have come up with a far better solution than… this.”
Colin raised his eyebrows. “Oh, really? Then allow me to present you with a solution. At this very moment, I have a will in my pocket. More specifically, it is a special will that I have had drawn up on your behalf.”
“For your part, you simply need to sign it, thereby leaving me every single penny of your shares and non-entailed wealth, which I’m sure is quite sizable by now, given how all you ever do is stay home fussing over your paperwork and the stock exchange.”
Anthony scoffed, “As though I would do such a thing! If you’re going to proceed with killing me at any rate, then why would I bother to increase your wealth in the process?”
Colin did not seem the least bit surprised by this answer.
“True. But what if I did this…” he lifted the pistol once more but aimed it at Meredith.
“Wait!” Anthony yelled in a frenzied panic. “Give me a second to think!”
Colin lowered the pistol once more.
“You see, Tony? I know you all too well. I know that talking to you about this situation would eventually, in one way or another, lead to death. I’ve simply taken the liberty of speeding up the process and saving us both some time.”
Still confused, Anthony asked, “But I still don’t understand why you felt it necessary to go to such lengths, all of this, just for money.”
This time it was Colin’s turn to scoff.
“Of course, it’s not simply about the money, you moron. Think of it this way—you stole the life that I could have had, and this is my way of taking it back.”
“It always annoyed me how women would throw themselves at you even when you aren’t even a fraction as charming or agreeable as either Kenneth or I. And growing up, you almost always had your way. Even down to those blasted flute lessons where our tutor allowed you to slack off during lessons whilst he made me practice nonstop. All because you happened to be the son of a Duke.”
“So you can imagine the rage I felt once it dawned on me that I could have had that life, too. All of our parents are dead but I needed to get my own back somehow, hence all of this.”
He gestured broadly, “And if I can add to my wealth whilst doing so, then all the better.”
Anthony couldn’t tell if the reason he was suddenly feeling very hot was because of rage or confusion as his brain endeavored to process Colin’s twisted reasoning.
“Cole, I’m sorry, but none of this will change the past, nothing can.”
“I already know that, Tony. But I shall finally reconcile with my past by brightening my future. Without your presence constantly reminding me of what could have been, I shall finally be content.”
Perhaps against his better judgment, but most definitely out of frustration, Anthony replied, “But if you despise me so, then why haven’t you killed me yet? Why am I still here?”
Colin lost his composure, “Because I’m not an impulsive half-brain likeyou!” he spat. “Iknow how to restrain my emotions. Did you think I carried all of this out on a whim? I have been planning this even before my mother drew her last breath, and that was nearly ten months ago. I have held back all this time because I wanted to every detail right.”
For the first time in his life, Anthony was witnessing firsthand what could happen to a man who allows himself to be consumed by anger. That volatile combination of rage coupled with the grief from the sudden loss of his beloved mother, all within a mind as brilliant as Colin’s.
Suddenly the idea of him going on a murderous rampage doesn’t seem quite as farfetched.
