Page 42 of Taking Chances

“They deserve the right to try.” My mother’s voice made it clear that she would not change her mind, that she wouldn’t hear anything I heard.

I hadn’t lost often in my life, but this felt like a loss. I’d never wanted to lead this family, but I’d relied on the power it gave me. I’d formulated my plans around the assurance of having that assistance. Without it…so much of my future fell apart.

If I didn’t have that backing, how could I force Hayden and the others’ hands into giving me Kenz? How could I ensure that I got what I wanted? What I deserved?

I had my own money, I had a reputation and skills, but power was different from that.

I looked across the desk at the woman who had birthed me. So many times I thought I might feel love, that I might feel some connection to her. It hadn’t come, but a part of me thought with time, it might. However, staring at her now, that emptiness grew like a black hole, so heavy it collapsed in on its own weight and pulled everything else in.

The fact we shared DNA didn’t matter in the least—she was here, throwing me awayagain.Choosing other children over me, content to betray me in exchange for the benefit of another child. Yet again I was nothing to her or to this family.

And before I knew what I was doing, I sailed over the desk at her. I wrapped my hands around her thin throat, surprised again by how frail she felt. For a woman who held as much power as she did, who had landed a blow to me like she had, it amazed me that she could be this physically weak.

I expected her to grab my wrists, to tug at them uselessly. That was what women did, fighting back in the dumbest of ways. She wouldn’t be able to remove my hands like that, of course, and if I got just a little more leverage, I might even snap her neck before I had to worry about strangling her. No doubt her bodyguard rushed forward as well, but if I had just alittlemore space and time, I’d end her.

A sharp pain in my wrist forced me to loosen my grasp, my hand refusing to obey my commands. I yanked backward to find a silver letter opener jammed into my wrist, blood escaping so fast that I knew something important had gotten cut.

My mother stumbled backward just as the bodyguard reached us, tugging her farther away, placing himself between us. At the same time, the door burst open and more security rushed in, telling me they’d waited outside.

I glanced at them, my lip lifted in a silent snarl. “So you expected this, huh?”

She didn’t reach up to touch the darkening skin of her neck, as though the injury didn’t matter to her. “I thought you might behave rashly, and I’m not so foolish as you seem to think. Do not underestimate me.”

“I should give you that same advice. So what now? You have your muscle kill me? Get rid of me like you probably wanted to do the moment you found out you’d had another son? You could have saved us all a lot of pain if you’d done that.” I thought my words would wound her, but she showed no reaction to it.

I had no idea if she was actually that strong or just pretending to save face.

Either way, she stood tall and stepped beside her bodyguard, as though she wanted to face me directly rather than hiding behind anyone. “No. Let me make myselfperfectlyclear, however. Your father was tough, but he was nothing compared to me. Any strength you think you have, you got it fromme.So before you even think about standing against me, about moving against me or anything I care about, know that every bit of viciousness you hold came from me. I suggest you do not test that.”

She turned her gaze to one of the security beside me. “Take him and deliver him to his house. No harm is to come to him. However, should he be spotted within a mile of this estate, or near either of my daughters, I authorize a lethal response.”

With that, the men on either side of me grasped my arms, and as much as I wanted to fight them, I knew better. Getting myself killed here would serve me no purpose. Besides, my hand still hurt, and I feared my left hand wouldn’t ever work quite right again. Resisting now wouldn’t help me at all, and this all wouldn’t stop me.

All it did was change my plans slightly.

Step one—get Kenz.

Step two—kill the men who dared keep her from me.

Step three—kill every person who stood in my way, starting with my turncoat of a mother.

I’d done everything I had thus far for beauty, for art, and I couldn’t think of a more beautiful color right now than red.

I’d paint the fucking world with it now.

* * * *

Char

The ringing of a phone in the other room made me groan. After the long night and the longer—and more enjoyable—morning, everyone had ended up falling asleep for a few hours.

However, the incessant ringing of my phone forced me to open my eyes.

I found a body a lot larger than Kenz in front of me.

Tor?I blinked slowly as I woke, sitting up to acknowledge that, yeah, I’d fallen asleep behind Tor and even had my arm tossed over like he was the weirdest body pillow.

I woke up with a man and I wasn’t even drunk.