Page 88 of Claimed By My Ex's Dad
“And what about you, old man?” I sniff a laugh. “You can’t be far away from reaching your grave. Perhaps we can speed things up a little for you and put you in it today,” I grit. “What the fuck do you want?”
“You,” says Siguard. “I thought that was obvious, with the call. But you like everything to be spelled out for you, don’t you, Valerian? Like before when I had to explain how I would win over the lawyer.”
“Money only gets you so far. You can’t hide behind it forever,” I say.
“It’s interesting you say that,” cackles Siguard, “considering you’ve been doing just that for so many years.” He pauses. “What do you have to show for yourself now, without all your money protecting you?”
Of course, it’s him working with Igor. He stole the money. The question is why.
“Unlike you,bratan,I earned every cent I made. Not all of us can be nepo babies, born into wealth. We learn to protect ourselves in other ways.”
“Like how you protected your father when I sent him away to prison?” cackles Siguard.
I grind my jaw, flashing Niko a look.
I curl my hand into a fist, my knuckles popping. Today is a good day to strangle an old, worn-down politician.
“You can drop the American accent. We both know why you’re calling.”
“Dowe?”teases Siguard.
“You’re back for round two, here to frame me like you framed my father.” I sit back, the leather chair creaking. “You want to make me pay, like it’s my fault who my father chooses to fuck. You and your wife were divorced at the time. He didn’t steal yourwife. Perhaps you should take your nose out of other people’s business and question yourself for once.” I bring the phone closer. “Your wife divorced you because you were, and always will be, a boring piece of shit with a receding hairline. You can have all the money in the world and still lose.”
Siguard scoffs. “I’m a boring piece of shit that has your girlfriend.”
Niko shoots me a glare. I shoot him one right back.
He could be lying. He lied about my father murdering that boy all those years ago. He can lie about this.
I keep my voice levelled. “I don’t believe you.”
“Don’t you?” The line goes crackly for a second.
I keep pinning Niko a glare, feeling my stomach starting to flip.
“Why don’t you say hello to Joy yourself.”
Fuck.
Silence stretches on the other side of the phone. My heart is thumping in my chest. I can barely hear anything else.
“H-hello?” says a female voice on the other side of the phone.
Shit. It’s her.
I bring the phone to my ear even though it’s on speakerphone. “Joy?”
“Oh my god,” she gasps. Her voice is raspy. Probably from all of the screaming. “Valerian? Is that you?”
“Do you believe me now?” Siguard takes the phone back.
A cold shiver passes through me. I sit upright in the chair, my pulse spiking. This is bad. The last time Siguard interfered with my life, I never saw my father again.
It feels like a knife through the chest.
“Leave Joy out of your business. She’s innocent.”
“Innocent,” repeats Siguard. He mulls that over. “What a peculiar thing to say, coming from a Bratva leader like yourself. I’ve been studying you for quite some time, Valerian, observing how you move. You don’t spare innocent lives. You take them without remorse, just like you initially took Joy. But recently, you’ve been tiptoeing around the girl. Her life is very precious to you.”
