“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 laughed. “What’s better, Sully? Fucking a girl or something with fur?”
Not waiting for me to reply, he continued, “This girl of yours…it’s taken you long enough to dabble in the commitment pool, so I’m guessing she means quite a lot to you. I might even go as far to say you love her. And if you love her…fuck, I’m going to enjoy this all the more.”
I clamped my mouth together.
He’s fishing.
He doesn’t know.
He can’t know.
If he did, that meant I had a traitor in my midst.
Just like always. Just like forever.
Goddammit, could I trust no one? Not even the people I paid such substantial funds to? Was loyalty so fucking destitute these days?
“You have four hours, little brother. Four hours to send through the recipe of your elixir, the deed to your islands, and that fucking whore who’s keeping your bed warm at night. I will spare your life if you do that, but I won’t spare hers. I’m going to kill her. Not right away, of course, I want to taste what you’ve tasted. I want to see what makes her pussy so much better than all the rest you ignored. I will make you watch. I will set you free from your ideologies that you are better than me. If you show some grovelling on your part, we could even run your side enterprise together. Brothers in blood and business. But if you lift one finger against me. If you try to save her from her fate, then I will fucking hurt you. I will hurt you until you beg for death, but I will never grant it. I will happily watch you break apart for the rest of your tortured days.”
Silence fell between us.
My heart stopped. My body swayed. I didn’t believe he could touch me, but…there was a spy in my midst.
A spy who’d gone behind my back and ensured the deaths of so many animals I’d tried to save.
And Eleanor was currently on my island with that spy.
She was at risk. Worse than with traffickers or guests or me.
She was the leash around my throat that could ensure I bowed to my heinous brother. A leash that would choke me if I ever had to watch her suffer.
Before, I hadn’t responded to him out of power.
Now, I stayed silent because I couldn’t speak.
My mind raced.
My heart hammered.
What the fuck do I do?
It came down to trust again.
Did I trust what he said?
Did I trust he was lying?
Shit!
Drake chuckled. “I’m taking by your quietness that I’ve finally struck a nerve. I almost feel sorry for you. You finally know what it feels like to love and now you have to watch me kill her. That’s the price you pay for picking a war with me, baby bro.”