‘You didn’t fight hard enough to keep her!’ Charlie roars.

Those words. They make me shiver as the enormity of my mother’s story unfolds before my eyes in the form of two bitter brothers. The dynasty split. William left the immoral bastard to be immoral alone.

William practically snarls. ‘I tried my damn hardest to fight my feelings for her. I didn’t want her in the sickness we immersed ourselves in. You put her in the centre of it. You were willing to share her with your fucking clients!’

‘She didn’t argue. She loved the attention – thrived on it.’

I wince and so does William before a wave of anger travels across his cool face. He’s livid. It’s obvious. ‘She loved hurting me. You monopolised on it. Turned her to drink and brainwashed her. You took sick satisfaction in watching me die a little bit more each day.’

I begin praying, praying this isn’t real, praying that this man’s evil blood isn’t running through my veins.

Charlie smirks, sending that familiar chill down my spine. ‘She had my baby, Will. That made her mine.’

‘No.’ Gracie’s melodic tone drifts into the room, pulling everyone’s attention to the doorway, where she’s standing, back straight, chin raised high. She steps into the room, and I can see the bravery she’s fighting to maintain in Charlie’s presence. He still frightens her. ‘Olivia isn’t yours and you know it.’

My eyes widen and I look to William, finding him studying my mother, searching for an extension on that statement. ‘Gracie?’

She looks at him but quickly backs up when Charlie moves forward threateningly. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he snarls.

‘He sent me away when I told him Olivia wasn’t his.’

Charlie visibly starts to shake. ‘Gracie!’

She jumps, but William and I are both motionless. ‘He threatened to harm her if I told anyone.’

‘You fucking bitch!’ He lunges for her, but William intercepts, knocking him back a few metres with a swift fist to his cheek.

William roars in anger, heaving and pulsing as Charlie staggers back and my mum screams. ‘Never touch her!’ he bellows, shaking his fist, eyes enraged.

My mind focuses amid the madness unfolding. Charlie’s not my father? I’m too shocked to be delighted at the news that Charlie, in fact, isn’t my father. I can’t cope with it all. I’m being delivered information at a speed too fast for my fraught mind to cope with.

Gracie pulls William back but soon steps away, like she’s frightened of him, too. ‘He promised to leave my baby alone if I disappeared.’ She glances at him warily. She looks ashamed. And William looks like he’s seen a ghost. ‘He promised to let you . . .’ She takes a long breath. It’s a confidence-boosting breath.

‘No,’ William murmurs, his jaw ticking. ‘Gracie, please, no.’

‘He promised to let her father live if I disappeared.’

‘No!’ He throws his head back, shouting to the heavens, his hands diving into his grey hair.

My world implodes. The wall behind me catches me when I stumble back, disoriented, and I push myself into it, like it could swallow me up and remove me from the horrors I’m facing. William’s head drops, a million emotions invading his face one at a time – shock, hurt, anger . . . and then guilt when he finally manages to look at me. I can’t possibly give him anything. I’m a statue. All he’s got to go on are my stunned eyes and frozen form, but he really doesn’t need any more than that.

We’re both way past stunned.

Charlie chucks my mother a look that would turn iron to ashes. ‘You slut. It wasn’t good enough that you had ten men a week. You had to have my brother.’

‘You forced them on me,’ she shrieks. ‘You made me write the fucking details!’

‘You lied to me!’ Charlie fumes. For the first time since he steamrolled his way through that door, I see frightening anger flashing across his face. ‘You played me for a fool, Gracie, baby.’ He gets up close and personal with my mother, and my trepidation multiplies when she recoils cautiously and William moves in quickly and places himself in front of her.

‘Don’t make me kill you, Charlie.’

‘You just couldn’t keep your hands off her,’ he rages, pulling at the sleeves of his suit jacket. The action reminds me of Miller, and I suddenly find life, pushing my back from the wall that I’ve been propped up against all this time. I need to find him.

I dash for the door.

‘And where are you going, lovely niece?’

My strides falters, his icy breath hitting my back. But I don’t stop. ‘I’m going to find Miller.’

‘I don’t think so,’ he declares confidently, making me halt at the door. ‘That would be most unwise.’

I slowly turn, finding him way too close for comfort. Not for long, though. William takes my arm and pulls me away from his imposing frame. ‘Don’t even breathe on her,’ William says, taking Gracie in his other grasp and tugging us both to his side. ‘My girls. Both of them.’

Charlie laughs. ‘I think amid this touching family reunion, you’ve forgotten a minor detail, dear brother.’ He leans forward. ‘I can get you and the pretty boy locked up for life with one call to a delivery boy.’ He smirks. ‘The gun that killed our uncle, Will. I have it and guess whose fingerprints are all over it?’

‘You bastard!’

‘He doesn’t have the gun,’ I blurt, suddenly lucid. I remove myself from William and ignore Gracie’s worried tone calling me back. I shake off William, too, when he makes a play for my arm. ‘Leave me.’

‘Olivia,’ William warns, making a grab for me again.

‘No.’ I shake him off and step forward, my bravery accelerating just from the look of utter contempt being lobbed at me from Charlie. This evil arsehole is my uncle. It might be a slight improvement on Dad, but it still makes me want to take a shower. ‘Your wife has left you.’

He scoffs, genuinely amused by my news. ‘She wouldn’t dare.’

‘She’s on a plane.’

‘Rubbish.’

‘Escaping you.’

‘Never.’

‘But before she boarded, she shared something with Miller.’ I go on, getting a thrill from the slight falter of his malevolent smirk. ‘There is no footage of Miller killing one of your men.’ I speak evenly, now hearing Sophia’s words before she hung up crisp and clear. ‘Because she destroyed it.’

His faltering magnifies.

This immoral bastard has crawled through life on the back of manipulation. Resentment has eaten him alive for years. This evil bastard is on his way to hell and I hope one of the two men I love helps him get there. ‘Gracie didn’t love you. And neither does Sophia.’

‘I said, shut up!’ He’s beginning to shake, but my fear has fallen away along with my twisted mind.

‘She got rid of the gun, too. You have nothing!’ I’m suddenly flying back and am pinned to a wall, Charlie’s hand around my throat.

I hear screaming, but it’s not mine. It’s Gracie. ‘Don’t touch her!’

Charlie’s face is up close to mine, his body pressing me into the wall. I gulp repeatedly, trying to breathe. ‘You pathetic little slut,’ he growls, ‘just like your mother.’ His breath is crawling across my stunned face.