Chapter 14: And All The Devils Are Here
ORION’S POV
"I want to end things between us, Orion."
Something stank and I knew it wasn’t the guy I buried in the garden last week. Though, I’m pretty sure the corpse is stinking to high heaven now, but this isn’t about that.
No. Louise breaking up with me is as likely as money losing all its value— yet, she did it.
I would’ve found it hilarious, but her leaving me for Leon was a dead giveaway that some shit was going on behind the scenes.
"I don’t know how both of you have managed to interfere in the inheritance process," Aunt Dimitra sighs, "but you have interfered and that is all that matters."
The inheritance process. Of course.
There shouldn’t even be an inheritance process but Aunt wants everything to be fair. She wants the right man to keep the Vassilis family standing— the right man, not the right men.
"And how exactly have we both interfered in the process?" I ask, voice smoother than silk.
Leon stands passively beside me, acting like he’s not even in the room with both of us. It’s amusing how he acts aggressively in public, then like a lamb in private.
Maybe it’s a personality disorder?
"By getting engaged of course." She scoffs. "I planned to leave everything to the man with a partner by his side, and for good reason to! Because how is any of you supposed to manage the family’s business when you can’t even manage a family of your own?"
Her reasoning is persuasively wrong. What does having a family have to do with succeeding a business?
"So, you based your decision on one of us finding a life partner?"
Aunt Dimitra bristles at my sarcastic tone.
"I based it on your ability to handle and stick to something no matter what." She responds coldly. "The Vassilis family will not be succeeded by a head who can’t even handle a relationship. Or do you think you could stay single forever as the family head?"
"You did it, didn’t you?" Surprisingly, it’s Leon who speaks. His tone is flat, devoid of any emotion, but he gets his point across perfectly.
So, he doesn’t always latch on to her tits and hope for the best...?
"That was different." It’s a pity Aunt isn’t giving him an inch. "I left that thing because it wasn’t worth anything in the long run...but even then, I still took over the reins of this family and held everything together."
Well, only because my parents decided to croak.
"Well, you can hand over the reins of this wonderful stallion to pretty boy over here, because I for one have very important things to do." I slap Leon hard on the back.
He stumbles forward then turns to glare at me. Weakling.
I don’t miss the way Aunt tenses when I hit her little chick, but she gets over it fast. "And what about your fiancé?"
"Well, he’s a man so there wouldn’t be much ’family building’ with him...except we decide to adopt or he somehow grows a womb, so..."
If duckling were here, he’d have gone through all the stages of grief at once. It’s a pity he isn’t, because I would have loved to see his face.
"I never said anything about children." She’s like a dog with a bone. It’s getting boring.
"Did you just call both of us here so you could let us know that you’ve unofficially chosen me as the next family head? Or did you call us here to see how far you could push your son until he breaks?"
As much as I love tormenting the blonde fool, I’ve come to realize it isn’t fun when others do it— knowingly or not.
My toys are mine to play with.
The blonde idiot begins to panic like a child. He waves his hand at both of us nervously and takes a step back as if doing that would remove him from this situation. "What are you saying? I never— "
"I wasn’t speaking to you. Shut it." His mouth clamps shut immediately. "Look Aunt, I already have my own empire to run, so I don’t need or want whatever it is you’re handing out."
Keep the goddamn family empire shit to yourself. I just want to fuck around and have fun. It’s never that serious.
"Then why did you take the Dubois boy?" She asks, eyes narrowed behind her reading glasses.
"Because I wanted to make Louise jealous, and I wanted to know what my lovely cousin was doing when he started dating my ex."
Lying is boring. Liars are even more boring.
"They’re not dating, Orion..." Aunt’s grin widens into a smile like mine. It’s horrifyingly fascinating. I just know she’s about to fuck with me.
"They’re engaged. They’ve been engaged for almost a month now."
Oh.
"Engaged, you say?" I taste the word in my mouth. It tastes like nothing.
"Yes," Leon turns to me, shoulders straight, "we got engaged right after she broke up with you."
If I were a lesser man, I would’ve flown into a rage at that reminder. Because what makes Louise Dubois think she can break up with me? Orion Vassilis?
But I’m not a lesser man, and I couldn’t care less for that woman in the first place. But this piece of information...I can’t ignore.
"Tell me Aunt, what was the criteria to get the inheritance?" Oh Leon, you’re playing with a snake.
And this time, it isn’t just me.
"A partner with the intention to marry."
"So in short, an engagement?" She nods in affirmation. "I wonder where my dear cousin got this very important information from. Care to share with the room, Leon?"
You see, I don’t care about Leon taking over the family. My father was the last head before he...lost his head, and by all rights, I should be the one to inherit the entire thing...But I don’t want to.
This business doesn’t involve shooting and killing, and I like shooting and killing, so we don’t mix. I would gladly have left it to Leon, if he somehow didn’t manage to find out Aunt’s big inheritance secret— which should be impossible.
"I..." he stammers, "I got a letter."
This whole thing was never about the swapping of partners, it was just Aunt’s way of pushing the interrogation of her ’precious’ son to me.
She needs a bad guy, and there I am. Because when Leon thinks of fear, he thinks of me.
"A letter?" I can’t believe the idiot who brought a gun to a family event to protect himself from me would try to one-up me in the inheritance race because of a letter.
"Y-Yes, I got it about two months ago, and I-I..."
"And you decided to use the information you got to become the family head then steal my girlfriend because why not, right?"
I’m not even mad, so why is he stumbling back from me like I’m going to hit him? I don’t just hurt people unprovoked...I think.
"Is there anything that can be gotten from that letter? Fingerprints? Hair samples? Anything?" Aunt asks, diving right into the heart of the matter.
"I-I didn’t get anything," he takes another step back, looking almost panicked, "I swear, I didn’t get anything! It wasn’t even handwritten or mailed! I don’t know how it got to my house— "
"But you used it." The moment he hears my voice, he flinches. "You must be an idiot, Cousin. What? Did you think this was your big break?"
I snort. "That you could finally win one over the cousin who’s been outshining you your entire life? Take his girlfriend, sit at the head, and look down on everyone? Was that your dream?"
Sometimes when I look at him, I remember how weak he was as a child. No, he’s weak now, then he was...nothing. Just a little fucker who was always in and out of the hospital for some illness or another.
Always small and too afraid of everything, even his own fucking shadow.
"You found out that classified information from the family leaked and the first thing you did was sit on it like an idiot. A fucking idiot." He’s just a sheep in wolf’s clothing.
He lowers his head, keeping his gaze on the rug, hands clenched into fists at his sides.
It’s pathetic.
"That’s enough, Orion." Why wait for me to finish verbally tearing into your son before you interfere? "This is a mistake that can hopefully be rectified, so speak Leon...tell us everything."
