Chapter 37 The Merger
Sin
I didn’t know what the fuck possessed me to dare Lara like that.
Maybe it was the same sickness that had been eating me alive since the first night I laid eyes on Serena in her aunt’s house, looking at me and Saint like we were both salvation and damnation wrapped in one body.
I knew Lara would jump at the chance. I knew she’d salivate over the opportunity to drag my family’s name through the mud.
But the truth was simpler, darker, and far more selfish: I wanted the truth out.
I wanted the world to know exactly who I was.
Because hiding had stopped working the second Serena walked into our lives.
All night, the only thing running through my head was her. Kissing her. Tearing that sinful red dress off her body.
Worshipping every inch of her until she forgot her own name and only knew mine.
Even here, at this forced fucking circus my father called a “introduction to society”—I couldn’t stop imagining her spread out beneath me, moaning, begging, taking everything I needed to give.
“Hi, Sin.”
A sugary voice slithered in from behind me. “Me and my friends just want to know… are you truly a beast in the bedroom like Lara claims?”
Lara had been spreading all kinds of rumours since that stupid house party she'd thrown.
I resisted the urge to drive my fist through the nearest wall.
Instead, I turned slowly, stripping every trace of warmth from my face until it was nothing but cold stone.
The girl was pretty in that polished, empty way most ladies in elite settings usually were. She was wearing a low-cut dress, her hand already trailing up her own cleavage like she thought it would tempt me.
If she had any idea how close I was to snapping, she would’ve run.
“You and your friends should pick a life,” I said flatly, nodding toward the man droning on stage in Spanish for the last fifteen minutes. “Maybe learn Spanish or German so you can translate and help people understand what that poor bastard is trying to say.”
She blinked, taken aback.
“Oh…” she whispered, then muttered something about me being “really uncaring.”
I didn’t care. That was the whole fucking point.
I could feel the eyes on me from every corner of the hall, judging, whispering, waiting for the monster to slip. They had no idea it wasn't the monster living inside me but me living inside the monster’s body. How could it slip?
When my father’s voice boomed over the speakers, calling my name to the stage to “describe the purpose of the fundraiser,” my entire body locked up.
Wasn’t that Saint’s job? Was it really a good idea to put me in front of the very people who’d been clamoring for my arrest for years?
He’d lost his shit when he got back from Japan.
News of my existence had leaked even to the smallest towns.
The dark, secret heir. The murderer. The one the family had buried so deep the world thought he didn’t exist.
So why the hell was he forcing me up there now?
I didn’t move until Saint appeared behind Serena, slinging his arm around her waist and kissing the side of her neck. She relaxed visibly, her eyes watching me with a guarded look.
For the past six days since that party I'd done my best to give her some space. I wanted to let her choose, to let her make a clear-headed decision.
It was different when we were together in secret. Now that the whole world knew about me and my history, would she still want to deal with all that baggage?
Saint nodded once at me, a silent ‘I’ve got our girl’. I nodded back.
I walked toward the stage, every step feeling like I was marching to my own execution.
The moment I took the microphone, I locked eyes with my father.
He expected a sweet, polished speech. Polished was the last thing he was getting tonight.
“I understand you all want me behind bars,” I said, my voice carrying clear and cold across the silent hall.
Gasps rippled through the crowd like a shockwave.
“But let me remind you,” I continued, staring straight at my father, “those who live in glass houses… should not cast stones.”
I dropped the mic. The thud echoed loudly in the dumbstruck room.
Then I turned and walked off the stage with calm, steady steps, like I hadn’t just lit a match under the entire Rivers empire.
My father was the first to ambush me the second I stepped down.
“You foolish, ungrateful bastard!” he howled, face purple with rage. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I'm heading for my woman.” I answered briskly, turning a blind eye to the flashes of cameras.
My father’s hand shot out, gripping my arm with surprising strength for a man his age.
He leaned in close, his voice a venomous hiss meant only for me.
“I will not let you destroy everything I built in thirty years,” he snarled. “You will do your job as my second son, and you will step back in line.”
I stared into his cold grey eyes, eyes that had never once looked at me with anything close to warmth.
“No need wasting your breath, Father,” I said quietly. “I wasn’t born to step in. I was born to stand out.”
I shrugged his hand off like it was dirt and sidestepped him, cutting straight through the crowd toward the only light in this suffocating darkness.
Serena.
She stood between Saint and the chaos. Her lips were slightly parted, and her eyes were wide as she watched me approach.
For one brief, filthy second, I imagined those lips wrapped around my cock, warm, wet and soft, taking every inch while she looked up at me with that same wide-eyed mix of fear and hunger.
“This party bores me, Saint,” I said, stopping in front of them. “I’m in the mood for a change of environment.”
Saint’s eyes darted around the room assessing threats and calculating exits before settling back on me.
Between us two, he was the rational one. Always weighing the consequences before springing into action.
I was more about springing into action and forgetting about the consequences later.
“I can’t leave just like that.” He told me.
“I can.” I said quickly.
I looked at Serena, letting my gaze drag slowly down her body before meeting her eyes again.
“I’ll take Serena. I don’t like the way the other ladies are looking at her.”
She glanced up at Saint, who gave her one of those rare, soft smiles he reserved only for her.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked her.
She opened that perfect mouth. “I just want to—”
My father’s voice boomed over the speakers on stage, cutting her off mid-sentence.
I turned, wondering what he had to say.
“I am thrilled to announce the merger between our families, Fenway and Rivers,” he declared, his voice ringing with false pride.
What was he talking about?
“My son wanted to keep things under wraps for a while, but I wanted to announce it before the hungry bloggers sniffed it out. To celebrate the coming together of Rivers Corporation and Fenway Transport Corps, our children will be coming together in matrimony.”
The room erupted into gasps and applause, cameras flashing like fireworks to capture the moment he made the ‘big announcement.’
What the fuck was this joke? Was it me or Saint? He'd never talked about a merger before now.
Lara’s triumphant smile from across the room made my blood boil when my eyes wandered to where she was standing.
I felt the last thread of control I’d been clinging to snap clean in two.
My father had just sold me off like a prize stallion in front of the entire elite of New York.
I turned back to Serena and saw the shock in her eyes, the way her lips trembled.
She stepped out of Saint's grip. “You didn't tell me…” she said in that angelic voice of hers.
“I didn't know, I swear. I'm as surprised as you.” I tried to explain.
“I don't believe it.” She said before walking away.