pain of so many fire-touched sufferers.
Ducks and sheep, hedgehogs and lizards, human and beast…they all made peace with one another, sharing their destroyed home, doing their best to heal.
“Baby bro, I’m assuming the reason you’re not picking up is you’re elbows deep in intestines, doing a clean-up. You were never one to shirk your responsibilities.” He chuckled. “Like the remodelling I did?”
My heart never rose above the numbed pound. I was no longer a man, just hunched up gristle and hate. “This was the last time, Drake. I’m done.”
He sniffed. “Where’s the rage, Sullivan? Where’re the ultimatums?”
“I told you.” I shrugged as the first twinkle of a star appeared above me. “I’m done with you.”
“Well, that’s anticlimactic, I have to say.”
“You always were an attention seeker.”
“And you were the biggest little shit I’d ever laid eyes on.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. My hands fucking stank. My nails were black with death. I honestly had no energy to spar with him. He was already dead to me. He’d never been a brother, just a tormentor. A fucking psychopath who should never have been birthed.
“You want the truth, Drake?” I looked up, dropping my hand. “Fine. I’ll give you the goddamn truth. I’m glad our parents are dead because they were worthless two-legged creatures who had the means and the money to do some good in this fucked-up world. Instead, they only thought of themselves. They taught you the same righteous belief that you’re owed something. That you’re special.” My voice lowered, no spike of hate or flare of rage, just loath-filled ice. “They’re dead…and soon, you will be too. This is our last conversation, Drake. Next time we see each other, I’ll be driving a blade through your motherfucking heart.”
A pause sounded between us. Heavy and potent, slipping into my bloodstream with sick foreboding.
Finally, he laughed, loud and cocky. “Ah, there’s the ultimatum.”
“Not an ultimatum. A fact.”
“Okay then, a fact.” A rustle sounded as if he brought the phone closer to his mouth. “You’ve said your fact. Now, allow me to do the same.”
My thumb hovered over the hang-up button. “Maybe another time. I have much more important things—”
“Listen to me, you little shithead. If you hang up, then I’m done tormenting you. I’ll just go straight to killing you.”
“You already tried that, numerous times I might add, and it didn’t work. I’m like the cockroaches you tried to squash but never could.”
“Yeah, but this time, I have a guaranteed way to exterminate you. I’m not even going to give you a choice. I won’t ask for Sinclair and Sinclair Group. I won’t demand your shares or your bank accounts. There’s only one thing you can give me to stop me from doing this. One thing that’s far more interesting than science…give it to me, and I could be persuaded to play nice.”
My knees locked; the wooden pile I stood on shook with instability. I didn’t bow to his taunt. I didn’t ask what he knew because I would never show weakness where he was concerned.
But I didn’t need to ask as Drake had always loved to gloat.
“You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you, Sullivan? Buying women and farming them out as whores? A little birdie told me that you’ve somehow concocted a drug that makes them beg for it. That they’ll take it up the ass or down the throat as many times as a guy wants and even more besides.” He laughed coldly. “Here you are spouting bullshit about doing something good in this world and look at you…Sullivan Sinclair, the goddamn king of skin and sin.”
I pursed my lips.
I would not respond.
I would not give my reasoning.
“The thing is, little Sully, I rather like your new business. More so than I do at the thought of geeky scientists and boring lab work. Sure, drugs are lucrative, but if you’ve bottled lust, then that’s fucking unstoppable.” He cleared his throat. “So…here’s my ultimatum. You sitting down? ’Cause you might want to.”
I rolled my eyes and stayed quiet. Let him think I’d abandoned the call and wasn’t listening. It would piss him the fuck off.
His temper darkened his tone as he snapped, “I’ve taken away your animal sanctuary, just as I took away the strays you rescued in our past. But that wasn’t my end goal. Call that a little warm-up. Because…this birdie also told me you’ve finally stopped being an animal lover and turned your eye to someone with two legs instead of four.” He