The low lighting revealed an array of battered-looking tables and chairs from the 1980s, an old-school jukebox in the corner, and a tattered pool table bordering on ancient.The scent of beer and bleach lingered in the air, along with the stale stench of sweat and vomit, an aroma fitting for the shit-hole it was.
Aside from the rundown aesthetics, the place was empty of people, except for the older man in a gray suit sitting at the bar with two of his own men lingering in the background.Richard was nearing his seventies.His thinning gray hair haphazardly brushed to the side while his suntanned, weathered skin hung loosely from the curve of his jawline.Time had not been kind to his body, the evidence of which was obvious when he grimaced as he turned in his seat in my direction.
“You have ten minutes,” I told him.“What’s the urgency, Richard?”
He glared at me from across the room but thankfully got to the point.
“I’ve learned some disturbing news, Darren,” he said, his gaze hard while his voice abandoned the nervousness that had initially drawn my attention.I could hardly blame the obvious hatred burning in his eyes as he stared at me.After everything I’d already taken from him and his family, I’d envision the death of the man who killed my child every time I saw him too.
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” I replied, my patience already running thin.
His eyes blazed with an animalistic fury I could feel from the other side of the room, a subtle snarl forming across his lips before he finally spoke.
“Is it true that your mother plotted her own assassination and pinned it on my family to start a war?”he asked incredulously.
Rather than reveal the initial shock on my face that I felt in my stomach, I allowed my features to instead form into a frown of irritation and confusion.And then I started to chuckle.
“Where in the fuck did you hear that bullshit?”I asked, trying not to sound at all alarmed.
“From your own fucking brother!”Richard snarled back at me.
My heart thundered in my chest at the revelation.Had my own brother actually betrayed our family’s greatest secret?After I specifically told him what would happen if word got out?
My raging emotions aside, I needed to consider some serious damage control before I concerned myself with Daniel’s motives.And as much as I wanted to defend his dignity to avoid the impression of weakness or vulnerability in my family, I needed to dismiss this in any way possible.
“My brother?”I replied in outrage, raising my brows in disbelief.“The one currently recovering from brain damage?You took some clear deranged nonsense from him as truth?You must be losing your touch, Richard.”
Katherine’s withered husk of a father abruptly stood from his chair and squared his bony shoulders.“Which is exactly why I called you here.Why would he say that, Darren?That’s some pretty specific bullshit to spout off.”
I rolled my eyes at his insistence.“I don’t know, Richard.Was he drunk?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters!”I nearly growled.“When did he tell you this?”
“A few hours ago,” he answered.
WHAT.
I shook my head and shifted my gaze to mask my rage as I tried to salvage the colossal mess Daniel had once again caused me.I may just have to kill the motherfucker after all.It was just one fuckup after another.
“Then he was definitely drunk,” I bit out.
Richard glared at me, baring his teeth.“People tend to be the most honest when they’re drunk, you know.”
I shook my head again.“Not in this case.His brain is a mess right now, Richard.He probably dreamed the shit up last night, and his brain couldn’t process it properly, who the fuck knows.”
Richard’s gaze hardened like he didn’t believe me, and he was unfortunately right not to.I sure as shit wouldn’t.The difference was I would have kept the information to my damn self instead of flaunting it like it was my ticket to the top.Feigning your own ignorance until the right opportunity came along was clearly a lesson Richard struggled to learn in his old age.Perhaps his brain was nothing but a mess of misfires as well.
“Sounds like an awfully convenient excuse to cover up your family’s insanity,” he replied bitterly.I was right.He absolutely was losing it.
“Careful, Richard,” I snapped, taking a hard step toward him.“I gave you the courtesy of entertaining your serious lack of judgment today.I won’t extend it further to afford you the opportunity to disrespect me and my family because of your own foolishness.”
The scowl on his face intensified as he raised his arm to point at me.“If I ever find out that you murdered my nine-year-old daughter because of a lie your mother engineered then you will see an uprising like never before, Davis.I swear it,” he growled through gritted teeth.
And just like that, the man signed his own death warrant.
“You should know better than to threaten me, old man,” I warned.“I sincerely hope you’ve managed to retain at least one brain cell or two and kept these little drunken ramblings to yourself.”