She nodded slowly but looked like she wanted to protest.

“Forever, Lake. I’ll love you.”  I ignored the guilt that ate at me for what I planned to do.

“Forever,” she whispered back.

It was hard, but I managed to pull away, leaving her against the wall and placing my head in the game for what came next.

I ate up the highway until I crossed the Nevada state line. Only then could I manage to slow down to a reasonable speed. My eagerness to see my father dead was disturbing to someone who hadn’t walked in my shoes, but I could only think of it as a long overdue chore.

The serenity of the facility grounds and the knowledge that Mitch had spent his last years in undeserved tranquility pissed me off more than the reminder that my own father sold and led me down this path.

I studied the schematics one last time and mentally traced my steps before leaving my car. I quickly found my point of entrance easy enough, and within moments, I was standing in front of Mitch’s door.

I didn’t hesitate to enter the sterilized room that still managed to smell like death and took in the sleeping form not five feet away.

Mitch Masters was a resourceful, evil man, but he looked like neither now. His hair and skin appeared wilted and even his breathing was fragile. He slept but from the way he looked, he might as well have been dead. I’d known he was dying when John admitted to caring for him, but personally seeing it was all the more satisfying.

“I knew you’d come for me.”

The voice was delivered on ragged threads as it traveled the room to send a chill down my spine. I hadn’t even noticed he had awakened to watch me as I did the same.

“Yet you don’t sound afraid. My uncle isn’t alive to protect you anymore.”

“Yes, I was told of his unfortunate accident.”

“He was gunned down at a stop light. It was no accident.”

“And you’re here to avenge him?”

It was hard to express my feelings for my uncle and his death, and I sure as fuck wasn’t about to bare all to my father who’d like nothing more than to carve out my heart if he suspected I had one.

“I’m not going to kill you,” I said instead. The dark part of my soul raged at the lost opportunity. It needed Mitch Masters—the man who sired and sold me—to pay with his life.

“Of course, you are. You’re a killer. It’s all you’ll ever be.”

“You don’t know me well enough to say that, pops.” I exaggerated the endearment to act as an insult, but if he caught it, he didn’t let on.

“You’re my son. I know you better than anyone. I made you who you are long before I ever sold you.”

I snorted. “I hope the money was worth it.”

“I spent it on crap tables, cheap hookers, and booze.” His smile was slow but more disturbing than the evil behind it was the unwanted pain that caused me to flinch. He chuckled when he noticed my involuntary reaction. “Don’t be weak, boy. Love is for the weak, and those who carry the Masters name aren’t weak.”

“You’re not dead yet.” It was a warning.

“If you’re not going to kill me then why are you here?”

“I wanted you to know that you lost.”

“What exactly did I lose?”

“The chance to break me.”

“I didn’t need to break you. I just needed you to believe I did, and you did believe.”

“I think the cancer is eating at your brain.”

He didn’t react to the insult. Instead, he eyed me. Calculating.

“How long have you lived your life believing you were a monster? A trained killer? How much normality did you miss out on because of me? I took your entire goddamn past, and if I weren’t dying, I’d take your future. Your life is meaningless. You’re nothing more than a bad investment. I don’t care what that whore of yours makes you feel. She weakens you with lies all for the pleasure of what’s in between her thighs.”

It should have been enough to send me into a murderous rage. Instead, I saw straight through it as a desperate attempt to break me one last time. I stared down at him until the smug look on his face disappeared.

“I’d stick around,” I finally said when the tension grew too thick, “but I have a business to run and a girl to love, not to mention my little brother is getting married next week. See you around, pops. Maybe in hell one day.”

Chapter Fourteen

LAKE

PRESENT

Keiran had disappeared inside his office after our fight, leaving me to deal with the newly cracked pieces of our relationship. After pouting and worrying for an hour, I decided to get started on the reading for the start of my summer classes, which were to begin in a couple of days. I tried not to think about how much of my life could have crashed and burned if my arrest had been real.