Page 9 of Between Steel and Secrets
I can’t even fathom the lengths that Dante went to do this. It stuns me that he would plan so elaborately when he knew how much I despised him. “Do Ashton and Liam know?”
“Their fathers are aware of the circumstances and agreed, considering my investment in their children’s futures. Besides, it ensures they, too, join the family business. Ashton works for me, which is pleasing his father greatly.”
“And Liam?” I hadn’t been aware he had been on a scholarship. He’d never mentioned it to me. He also avoided any topic in dealing with our parents, which made me unsure whether he loved them or resented them for his upbringing.
“Liam and his sister were both offered the same opportunity. Only one of them chose to accept admittance to Evergreen University.”
“Does Liam work for you, too?” I’d never seen him at my parents’ house, but that didn’t mean he may not have had orders to spy on me or Harper.
It was the kind of dirty work my father loved to hire underlings for.
“Whom I employ is none of your concern, Luca.” Dante stands and removes his jacket coat, placing it on the back of his chair.
I inhale sharply.
It wasn’t an act of denial. Liam may be on Dante’s payroll. It’s a question I’ll have to ask him when I get home.
Liam would be honest with me, wouldn’t he?
Although, I can’t help but consider that he’s been gone a lot and keeping secrets.
He had just been in the emergency room the night prior.
“Liam does work for you!”
Dante’s gaze flickers for a fraction of a second. I’m unsure if it’s because I’m right or he’s surprised by my sudden outburst.
His top lip curls up as he speaks, his tone menacing and thick with annoyance. “Quit harping on about your friend! My concern is your wife. Harper is more than an annoyance to me, she’s a liability. A problem, son, that you need to handle.”
“My wife isn’t the problem.”
“She is, because if you won’t handle her, I will.”
“If you so much as harm a hair on her head—” I threaten, standing, snarling, prepared to throw myself across my father’s desk and strangle him if need be.
The amused smile lights up Dante’s dark features. “I have men for that, boy. Don’t you forget.”
His condescending tone irks me, but no worse than the next words that pass through his lips.
“I created that marriage of yours, and I can just as quickly snuff it out.”
“You’ve done nothing to help. You wanted Harper to marry Ashton!” The rage burns inside of me, just envisioning the two of them together, blissfully wed. His hands roaming against her body, his mouth on her skin, his lips caressing her?—
Heat and nausea overwhelm my senses, and I reach for the letter opener, the sharpest blade on his desk, and grip it like a dagger.
“You have a problem with Harper, you come to me,” I grit.
“Put that down before you take out your own eye.” Dante smirks, and the smile grates me even further. “I’ll have you know your wife tried the same maneuver while you were away, except she had the audacity to put the blade to my throat.”
“She should have killed you.”
Dante shakes his head, clearly amused. “She wasn’t quick enough. The girl doesn’t have the reflexes of a natural-born killer. Can’t say I’m surprised, since she went to the police this afternoon.”
“What?” The blade drops from my hand, clanking onto the desk.
That doesn’t sound right.
He’s lying.
