Page 173
For one second, pride flickers across his face.
It reaches an old part of me in a wave. For one humiliating beat, I want his approval. Then it vanishes, and I hate that I wanted anything from him at all.
Cigar smoke clouds the space between us, and he narrows his eyes. “You’ve been moving behind my back.”
“I’ve been moving outside your shadow.”
“You think owning roads and warehouses makes you powerful?”
“No.” I shake my head. “Making my own decisions does.”
“And what decision have you made?”
“That I won’t marry Eilish. I won’t live in this house, and I won’t wait for you to die before I’m permitted to become my own man.”
My father glares at me, and for the first time, it seems like he’s measuring me without assuming I belong beneath him.
“This is about the Tallon girl.”
Having her in this conversation is too fucking dangerous, so I laugh under my breath for show.
“No, father, this is about my future.”
“Your sister has already handed Saint Tallon one victory. I won’t watch my son offer those bastards another.”
“When Keira lived in Paris, it was to get away from you.”
When Keira left for Paris, I monitored every address, flight and person who moved too close. Part of me envied her freedom. Hers came from leaving while I knew mine would come from building an empire of my own so no one could ever force me to run.
“Should have stayed there because now she’s humiliated this family.”
Christ, he says humiliated as if Keira’s happiness is something he’s offended by.
“She chose her own life with someone you hate.”
“And now you imagine you can do the same because you’ve bought yourself ground to stand on.”
I don’t buy land to stand on; I buy it so no one can move me.
“I’m not imagining anything.”
He places his cigar in the ashtray. “Sera Tallon has made you reckless and weak.”
The urge to smile catches me off guard. That woman is the reason I’m finally sitting across from him without asking permission, and he’s too blind to understand the difference between weakness and choice.
“She has nothing to do with the decisions I made years ago.”
“But she’s the reason you’re making a move now.”
When I don’t answer, he puffs on his cigar and lets the silence thicken. “You moved my men onto Tallon ground to save her.”
My fingers curl halfway into fists before I stretch them open. The bastard has stripped away every business explanation I could give him and found Sera underneath. Graves is buried in the dirt beyond these walls, and she’s within my father’s reach next.
“I gave the order because the port was under attack.”
“You’ve already given me that lie.”
“Believe what you want.”
