The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy #1) - Tijan Page 0,84

counter now. “I also have an inheritance from my mother that would make me the tenth-richest man in the world. My grandfather fucked up. He killed the wrong daughter. He took out the one who was smart, who knew how to invest, how to use the money she inherited from her parents, who had his talent for making money. She did it all under his nose. He never knew, until he did.” A pause.

“It says my parents died by carbon monoxide poisoning from an accidental malfunction at a cabin. Those reports don’t detail how the head of my grandfather’s security booked a plane ticket to Aspen on the day before my parents were there. That there’s camera footage of him driving the very road to their cabin, or how he booked a late plane ticket out of Aspen the night they died.” Black humor lifted. “They went peacefully, and I’ve no doubt that was at the request of him. Because he loved my mother more than he did my aunt. It was his weakness. He could hurt my aunt all day and all night, but my mother—he respected her. It’s why he never forced her to join him. But letting her live free of him? He couldn’t do that, not when he found out how much wealth she had accumulated, because he wanted it. He still wants it.”

“Oh, God. Kash.”

I needed to touch him. I needed to help him.

I was in front of him, my hand raising.

He caught it, almost violently. I was about to touch his chest, when he moved like a snake, latching on to my wrist, and held me there. I was transfixed, my arm in the air, his hand holding it there, and we both stared at each other.

A primal look flared. Deep. Primitive.

I felt it in me, answering him. I was burning alive, awake. I had to touch him, and I tried again. Stepping in. Nothing. He held me in place, not letting me move an inch, but he didn’t look away. He couldn’t. He was staring at me like he was starving for me.

“Because my mother was estranged, she had documents saying that in any circumstances, I should go to your father. I was never adopted, but they fostered me. If Peter adopted me, my grandfather wouldn’t have allowed it. His ego wouldn’t have been able to allow it. Your father raised me when he couldn’t raise you.” His nostrils closed, his eyes were smoldering. “I’m the reason you weren’t brought into the family.”

“What?” A hole was punched inside of me.

“When your mother told Peter about you, he told her there was danger in growing up as his child. Your mother made the choice to raise you without him. Your mom did that. Not Peter. And it was because of me. He was worried my grandfather would try to hurt Peter through his children. A bastard child for a bastard child. That’s what he thinks of me. A bastard child. So, you’re not alone in that category.”

I felt sick.

I tried to pull away, but he didn’t let go of me.

“There’ve been kidnapping rings who have tried to ransom the others. That happens sometimes, when someone is as rich as your father, but the one who got the closest was with Cyclone. I destroyed them. Word got out who I was, where I came from, who I have been hiding from, learning to fight, learning how to protect myself all my life, and those hostage attempts stopped. Until you. I had your father wipe out everything on the internet about me.

“We don’t know a ton, but we do know some. Arcane was sent by someone who knows my grandfather. We don’t know if he actually sent them. We haven’t been able to find that out, but we know there was a middleman, someone who reached out to my grandfather’s networks and who was the one to hire Arcane and his team. My grandfather blames your father for my mother’s desertion. His pride doesn’t let him consider that she stayed away because she loved a lowly middle-class investor, but a genius tech billionaire—that is someone he feels is worth being his adversary.” He tugged me closer, his hand moving to mine, and I felt him spread my fingers wide.

Palm to palm.

I could pull away. I didn’t.

I turned, looking at him through our fingers aligned together.

Pain so stark I felt it cutting off my own legs stared back at me. He was looking at me like I