Dark Fairy Tales - Aleatha Romig Page 0,82

delay in my answer is all he needs to know it’s not looking good.

“I guess that explains the outburst before I got here.” He runs his hand across his jaw pensively. It’s a strange role reversal, to see him so calm and collected. We both know our place in the operation, both of us bringing our own version of the brawn and the brain.

“So, what’s your plan?”

“I’m gonna kill him,” I deadpan.

He raises an eyebrow. “Just like that?”

“Are you insinuating that I can’t?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, G. I just don’t think you should do this without thinking it through.” He leans forward, placing his elbows on the desk. “It sounds like this guy has a hardon for you, and if we’re not prepared, he might kill you first.”

“That’s the exact reason I don’t want you there tonight.”

He rears his head back in shock. “Excuse me? That’s not even an option.”

“What if he doesn’t want me, and his plan is to really fuck me over through you?” Swallowing hard, I do my best to ignore the thick wedge of emotion that gets stuck in my throat at the thought of something happening to Kai. “Let’s not forget the few million he’s cost us,” I add, trying to reiterate the business angle. “For whatever reason, he’s killing people I know and trying to ruin my reputation. That wouldn’t fly in anyone’s world, and I sure as fuck ain’t going to let it fly in mine.”

Relenting, Kai looks through the folder again. “So, while I’m on board with your plan, it doesn’t look like you actually know who this guy is. You’re hunting a damn ghost, and you want to do it without me?”

Reaching for a photo out of my drawer, I slam it in the middle of the table. Kai shakes his head vehemently when his eyes land on the familiar face. “You can’t be serious,” he scoffs. “You think our dad is behind this?”

3

Grayson

I slide my cell into the breast pocket of my tuxedo while waiting for the valet to open up the limousine door. After Kai left my place late this afternoon, we decided we’d show up separately. He would bring our father, and I would wait for them, patiently.

It’s not ideal to leave Kai alone with the man, our history with him nothing but years of blood and bruises, but from the text he just sent me, everything seems to be going to plan.

With a long line of cars circled around the aristocratic fountain, there’s no mistaking that I have arrived at the Constantine Estate. Just a few hours from the city, and it feels like I’ve stepped into an alternate universe.

The streets here may as well be paved with money and gold, because nothing about this place is subtle or understated. In fact, nothing about the Constantines and their lifestyle really is, including the way they choose to introduce their youngest daughter to the elite of New York.

I remember the first time my father showed me this world, and there was definitely no fucking party. Not only was it like being seated in a fancy restaurant and not knowing which cutlery to use for which meal, it was also the day my whole life changed.

And not for the better.

The day I found out the man I called my father was nothing but a piece of shit dressed in designer clothes, who cared more about the money that lined his own pockets than he did his own family.

The limousine eventually stops, and the dressed-up valet opens the door. As I step into the cool air and take in all the people milling around in their elaborate, expensive costumes, I think maybe I’m not that different to him after all.

To get rid of him, his people became my people, and I’ve been stuck in an underground battle of conditional love and misguided loyalty ever since. I was no longer Grayson Hughes. I became ‘The Giant’, who literally muscled his way to the top. Everyone was scared of me, because I was the size of a brick house. Little did they know with an IQ of 160, I was a jacked-up genius, thirsty for revenge.

Motivated by the hate for my father, I immersed myself in a world that I was tied to forever, but on the condition that he was no longer in it. It was worth it.

I won.

Until now.

Wearing an outfit that cost more than most people make in a year, I’d be lying if there wasn’t a

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