Page 130 of My Sweet Poison
The only thing I gave a fuck about was the fear in Madison’s eyes. The way he tore at her clothes and the things he was about to do to the woman I loved.
Lightning struck, and a window on the far side of the room shattered, and as Jameson looked to see what happened, I had my chance. One hit straight to the gut to make him double over, and then another to the jaw to throw him off me. I rolled over on top of him, and I didn’t stop.
Greyson pulled me off him. “If you kill him, you go down for murder. Then who’s going to protect Madison?”
I spat and struggled against Greyson’s arms while Jameson got to his feet.
His shirt was soaked with blood and more leaked from a cut in his brow and from the corner of his mouth as he stared at me, grinning, his teeth bathed in red.
“This is your fault. This has always been your fucking fault. You stole everything from me. I was supposed to be the oldest. I was supposed to be first. You took my inheritance, the family business, all the money and then you took my woman.”
“I fuckingearnedit,” I yelled back. “It was supposed to be ours, but you were too busy being lazy and entitled to work for it—like I did. And Madison—Madison is mine. She has always been mine. She was never yours.”
I shrugged Greyson off and took a step back. “Get him out of my sight.” Our father’s last words to Jameson, exactly.
Jameson tore free of Greyson's grip before the words were fully out of my mouth.
He screamed and lunged at me.
I tried to move, but Jameson expected it and knocked me behind the desk.
I could hear Greyson and Jameson struggling. But I was done. My brother was never going to stop. He would keep coming at us even if he was in prison, until he had succeeded in killing me which would leave Madison vulnerable. I swore never to let that happen again.
I reached into the drawer, pulled out the revolver and pointed it at Jameson.
He laughed. “What are you going to do…kill me? What will to happen to the precious family name and fortune then?”
Jameson shifted his weight—just enough—and I adjusted my aim.
He couldn’t know that I didn’t give a damn about any of that anymore.
This wasn’t about the Worthington name or fortune. Caring too much had led to a life filled with the constant hunger for more while never feeling sated. A soulless vacuum of empty ambition. I wanted more from life now. More meaning. More emotion. Morelife.
I owed Madison for that…for everything. It was through her that I now had a chance at leading a life of purpose and not just acquisition. A life filled with love.
But first, I had to protect her from my brother’s twisted ambition.
Because I knew my brother was as stubbornly fucked up and flawed as I used to be.
He’d never get over this failure.
“Didn’t you hear?” I pulled back the hammer with my thumb. “My brother is already dead. He died in a car accident. I know—I was at the funeral.”
Jameson’s grin didn’t break. But his eyes went still. “You bastard, you planned this. You planned all of it.”
“I learned from the master. Whether you believe it or not, at first, I was going to let you live. Then you threatened the woman I love.”
He laughed. “Love. What a fucking joke.”
“Skylar would have loved you.”
“The love of a whore cheaply bought. Just like your precious Madison.”
I slowly shook my head as I tightened my grasp on the gun. “Careful, brother. This is your only warning to watch how you speak about her.”
His jaw worked. For one beat, the rage slipped. What was underneath was worse. The face of the boy I grew up next to, the one who used to cheat at races before everything between us went to rot.
Then he sneered. “Or you’ll what?”
