Empire of Desire by Rina Kent

And with time, I realized he was the only person I could call a friend.

Not anymore, though. Because he’s going to die.

Said asshole flops onto the chair in front of my desk, running a hand over his battered face—the face I should’ve punched a few more times and erased its expression. He dares to sigh as if he’s the wronged one, as if he’s the one who was stabbed in the fucking back.

He places both his elbows on his knees and leans his chin on the backs of his hand. “I know you’re upset—”

“Upset?” I storm in front of him and tighten my hold on the gun. “Try enraged. Try fucking murderous. That girl is my daughter, my flesh and blood, my fucking second chance at life. And I left for one second, one fucking second, and you swooped in and ruined her. She’s become a stranger who stands up to me when she never has before.”

He purses his lips as his dark eyes stare up at me. “She never stood up to you, because she respected you. Now, she’s fucking terrified of you, King. She’s seeing a person that she doesn’t recognize in you. What the fuck is wrong with you? Do head injuries make you act like a monster?”

“A monster? That’s rich coming from a motherfucking predator.”

At that, he stands up and grabs me by the collar of my polo shirt. “Don’t ever, and I mean, ever, repeat that. Respect your own fucking daughter.”

I slam the gun on the desk and choke-hold him by his shirt. “Did you respect her? When you put your hands on her, did you think of respect? Of me?”

“Of course, I thought of you. Why do you think I avoided this place like the fucking plague over the past two years? It was because of her, King. Because she kissed me on her eighteenth birthday and I could never see her as your little girl anymore. Because you were her father and I couldn’t take it any further. Because you’re my fucking partner and best friend and I didn’t want to lose you.”

She…what?

A red haze covers my vision and it’s all I can do not to self-combust. Did he just say my Gwen kissed him—as in, she went after him first? No, he must be fucking lying and making excuses for himself. If she had a thing for him, I would’ve noticed it…

Images of her flushing red whenever he was mentioned or dropped by slash through my mind. She hid away, too, almost always when he was around. It started about five years ago and I didn’t think much of it then, because it didn’t mean anything.

It doesn’t mean anything and Nate is a fucking liar.

My glare falls on his battered face. “It’s so obvious that you didn’t want to lose me, because the moment I was out of the picture, you pounced on her.”

“Watch your fucking language. I didn’t pounce on her.”

“Oh, right. You married her. That makes it all fucking better.”

“We had to because of all the damn wars you have going on with Susan. She would’ve taken this house, which you fought for tooth and nail, mind you. She was suing to own shares in the firm and make our lives hell. We didn’t know if you were ever going to wake up and Gwyneth wanted to protect your assets. She did this for you while she grieved your loss, because she thought you’d abandoned her like her mother did.”

He shoves me away and I hit the edge of the desk. My hands ball into fists and my breathing comes harsh and fast. I didn’t stop to think about what Gwen must’ve gone through because of my accident.

I’m her only family, and she knows how much this house means to me. She wouldn’t have thought twice about protecting what I left behind, because by doing so, she was also protecting me.

Because my little angel isn’t so little anymore.

But I don’t want to think about that. I don’t want to believe that she’s all grown up now and doesn’t need me anymore.

“Let’s say you married her for my and the firm’s sake. But it should’ve been on paper only.”

“It was.”

“Oh, really? Then did I imagine your tongue at the back of her throat just then?”

“You can curse and hit and punch me all you want, but you need to watch your fucking language when you talk about her. And yes, it was just on paper at the beginning. To protect her and the firm and you, but it became more.”

“More, like what? Like you were fucking her under my own roof? Did you perhaps do it in this very office? Was it a fantasy of yours that you harbored for years, you sick fuck?”

He raises his fist and punches me in the face. He doesn’t hold back and my head snaps to the side from the force of it.

“I told you to watch your language, King.”

I drive my fist into the cut of his mouth and revel in the sight of the blood that explodes from his lips as I grab him by the collar. “Do you think I want to talk about my own daughter like that? It makes me sick to my stomach thinking that you touched her, that you had your fucking hands on her and used her.”

“I didn’t use her, King. Never.”

“Oh, come on, I’ve been on your side for over two decades and I know you use women for sex.”

“Not her. She’s different.”

“Heaven could fall and you wouldn’t change, Nate. It’s in your fucked-up genes, right? Because your parents didn’t like you, because you were always second to the same brother you couldn’t hate, because he took care of you. But even he didn’t like you very much, no? Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left you without giving it a second thought. Because you were jealous I had a life, a fucking family, so you went ahead and destroyed it. You went ahead and stained my little angel with your darkness because you wanted to take the one thing that made sense in my fucking life.”