She huffs at his reprimand, but she does shut her mouth.
“I was thinking one night that I never knew why you hated me so much. It just didn’t make sense to me that you could give birth to someone and hate them instantly with everything you had. I really don’t give a fuck what your reasons are now, but let me tell you a little fucking bedtime story this time. There once was a man who thought he was broken and unworthy. A demon that walked the Earth, causing nothing but pain to others with only a touch. Then he met an angel that was just as lost as he was, and he realized, with her help, that it was never him that was broken. It was never him that spread his villainous evil. You see, that evil that he was told he had been born with . . . It came from only one person—you. And once that man was free from the webs of her darkness, he realized he wasn’t some giant fuck-up. He had just been born from evil and it took a little longer to clean that bullshit from his skin.”
“Now you little—”
“You don’t fucking get to speak!” he bellows. “Let me ask you, Diana. How many years have you been afraid that I would show back up? That I would question everything you told me when I was at my worst? I should have thought about it sooner, but I’ve been a little busy since. It didn’t take long for me to sit at my computer and tap into your lives with just a few keystrokes. You made a mistake though. When you went to sell the company, I’m assuming because you were either drunk or had spent all of your worth, you couldn’t do anything without the one person who still holds twenty-five percent of Locke Oil, could you?”
I want to snap my eyes to his. The shock of what he’s saying is making my head spin. I didn’t even know about this.
“Ah, I can tell by your shocked and wonderfully terrified faces that you really did think I would never find out. Isn’t it just fucking good fortune that I showed up when I did? I don’t fucking want your company. I didn’t when you assumed I did and I didn’t when I was fighting to rebuild my life twelve years ago. But you can be sure of one fucking thing—I don’t care if it sinks you in the ground. You want my shares—take them. I know you need my signature to sell and you need to sell just to keep afloat.”
I can see the wheels turning in their heads. They think they’ve won.
“Just like that?” Mason asks.
“Just fucking like that. Oh . . . I forgot. I won’t accept a check since I’m pretty sure it would bounce to the fucking moon. You want them, then be prepared to bleed that money you don’t fucking have.”
“We don’t have that kind of money,” his brother fumes.
“Well, then, I guess I’m not fucking going anywhere.” He laughs.
“Is this what you think will intimidate us? Coming into my home with your slut and acting like we give a shit?”
My eyes narrow at Mercedes.
“That’s the thing, Mercedes. I don’t really give a shit what you think.”
“You loved me once.” It sounds like she is trying to talk herself into that one.
“I didn’t fucking love you. I’ll admit I thought I did, but that’s what happens when you have a bitch willing to spread her legs. You were easy, Mercedes. Let’s not get that thought crossed with any affection you might think I have left for you.”
“You were going to marry me.”
“Jesus fuck, Mercy! I’m right fucking here,” his brother yelps.
“Diana,” Maddox speaks, ignoring the domestic argument happening between his brother and sister-in-law. “Find your precious lawyer, Jefferson, and get this shit rolling. I don’t really give a damn if you have to sell this very house to be able to afford to buy me out. You want it that much, make it happen.”
She doesn’t look happy about it, but she stomps out of the room.
Before she can get too far, Maddox calls out for her. I watch has she walks back in with a little less supremacy than she had earlier.
“And you, Mason. You might think you’ve won. You have the girl you think I want. You have this shithole in Texas and a company six months from bankruptcy. But, brother, you will never have the world because I already fucking found it. I’m worth more than you will ever see in your lifetime and I’m not only talking about the money piling up in my bank. I have everything you wish you had. And the best thing? I have a woman who loves me for everything I am and ever will be. One who isn’t just with me because of some purse or shoe she wants at the moment. So . . . Check. Mate. Motherfucker.”
“I’ll fucking kill you,” he spits.
“You could fucking try, but even with my hands tied behind my back, I would snap you in two.”
Mason’s face goes pale before he storms out of the room, slamming the door in his wake. His mother hasn’t moved from her spot. She looks at Maddox with shock and maybe a little respect.