Chapter 55 55. Daddy Will Reward Your Obedience
The front door was already open.
My footsteps echoed across the marble as I stepped inside. The house smelled like antiseptic mixed with old wealth. Every light was on, throwing sharp shadows across the walls.
"His bedroom."
I turned. One of Don's staff stood by the staircase, face neutral. She pointed upward and vanished.
I took the stairs quickly. I already knew the game. Choose the empire or choose her. The same tired threat. He didn't know I had already made my choice.
The door was half-open.
Don sat in a wheelchair with a small folding table attached to the armrest. Machines circled him. His skin had that gray tint that warned you the body beneath was failing.
But three days ago, he'd been walking.
Ronan stood by the window, tense from head to toe. His head snapped toward me, jaw locked.
"Lucien. Punctual as always." Don's voice carried its usual sharpness. "Close the door."
I did, eyes shifting over the medical equipment. "You planning a dramatic exit?"
"I thought I'd live to seventy." He pressed a button on the wall. A hidden panel slid open, revealing a vault. He pulled out a leather-bound folder. "Life had other plans."
He gestured at his setup. "Collapsed on the stairs last week. Degenerative condition. Won't kill me tomorrow, but it will."
Ronan faked a yawn.
"Ten years ago, we made an agreement," Don said. "Tonight, my part is fulfilled. It's time to sign Elysium Pinnacle to its rightful heir."
He opened the folder. Ronan straightened immediately.
My pulse picked up without my permission.
Don lifted a pen, hands trembling, and signed. Then he turned the papers toward us.
"Sign."
Silence stretched. Heavy, suffocating silence. Ronan and I looked at each other. His eyes held the same question mine did.
Which one of us?
The moment crystallized. Years of competition, of fighting for scraps of approval, of being pitted against each other-all of it came down to this single word.
Don seemed to be enjoying the tension, until finally...
"Lucien."
A triumphant smirk pulled at my mouth. Ronan went rigid.
"What?" His voice broke.
"You heard me. Elysium Pinnacle goes to him."
"No." Ronan stepped forward. "You can't be serious. Cosmic Veil secured multimillion dollar investors. Our films are successful!"
"And they are nothing compared to a billion dollar corporation."
"What more do you want from me?"
"Should I want something from a chronic failure?"
The pain on his face was almost art. I enjoyed every second. I moved toward the papers. Ronan's hand shot out, gripping my arm hard.
"You don't deserve this."
"Let go."
"Every sacrifice I made." His fingers tightened. "And you take everything. Like always."
"This isn't about what I take. It's about what you never earn."
His fist slammed into my jaw. Hot pain ran through my head.
"You're going to regret that."
He swung again. I caught his wrist, twisted, drove my shoulder into his chest. We hit the wall. A monitor crashed and alarms screamed.
Ronan fought like someone who had already lost everything, all wild and sloppy.
I blocked his next punch and drove my knee into his stomach. Air rushed out of him. Before he could recover, I swept his legs and he crashed down.
I pinned him. One foot trapping his hand to the floor, the other angled under his jaw, forcing him up.
He thrashed, but I only pressed harder.
"You want to know why you never win?" My voice stayed calm. "Because you spend all your energy looking for someone to blame instead of looking at yourself."
"I am looking at myself," he choked. "I see someone who was never given a real chance. Never trusted."
"You were given everything. Born legitimate and free. Opportunities handed to you. And you still threw them away."
"Because you were always there." His face twisted with old hurt. "How do I compete with the bastard son who does everything right?"
"By being better. By trying. Instead, you made me the villain so you wouldn't have to face what you are."
Blood ran from his lip. His fists curled.
"You don't understand."
"I understand perfectly, Ronnie. You are weak."
His eyes went wild at the name. The one his sweet mother used before cancer took her. The one I used specifically because I knew what bad memories it brought to him.
"Stop." His voice cracked.
I ignored it. I signed clean, sharp strokes across every page. When I set the pen down, Ronan looked gutted.
"Congratulations on inheriting my sixty billion dollar empire." Don sounded bored.
I stared at the papers. Something didn't sit right. Too fast and convenient.
"Why now?" I asked. "You expect me to believe you suddenly want peace? That you're dying and sentimental?"
"I told you. Time is short."
"Convenient timing." I stepped closer. "Right when the board is pressing me about Camila. Right when you think I'll break."
A flicker crossed his face. There it was.
"Well," I said, "now you know. I'm not leaving her. Not for this. Not for anything."
"Even if it costs you everything?"
"The only thing that costs me everything is losing her."
His silence cut the air.
"You raised me like a weapon," I said. "You made sure I never learned softness. You beat out every normal part of me."
"I made you useful."
"You made me damaged," I snapped, slamming my hands onto his table. "And you're not even sorry."
"Why would I be? It worked."
I scoffed. Of course. I turned to leave. If he thought inheriting Elysium made me his puppet, he'd learn fast.
"None of you will ask about my health?" Don called after us.
"I'm sure you can handle it," I said.
Ronan's answer was raw. "Go to hell."
He shoved past me and slammed the door.
\---
RONAN'S POV
My vision blurred. I gripped the railing as I went down the stairs, each breath jagged.
The nickname Lucien used. Don calling me a failure. Watching Lucien sign what should have been mine.
It all scraped against my skull.
I reached my car, yanked the door open, collapsed inside.
Nadia was there as well, laptop balanced on her knees. She turned, concern painting her features.
"How did it go?"
I didn't answer. The rage was too consuming, it filled every space in my chest until I couldn't breathe around it.
"Ronan?" Her voice grew smaller. "What happened?"
My hands wouldn't stop shaking. I stared at them, at the fingers Lucien had ground into the floor. At the proof of my weakness.
It echoed in my head again. His words from three years ago.
'It's either I win or we both lose.'
My vision sharpened.
I snatched Nadia's laptop and slammed it onto the floor. It cracked loud.
"Ronan!" she cried. "What are you doing?"
I grabbed her by the throat and pulled her to me. She gasped.
"It's time," I said into her ear, the anger scraping my voice raw, "to activate Plan CAMILA."
She froze.
"And we're making some changes to it." My mouth brushed her skin. "Big changes."
"He thinks he won." I kissed down her neck. "But he doesn't know what's coming."
I pulled back to look at her face. Wide pupils. Breath uneven.
"You're going to help me."
Her eyes flickered with fear. "Ronan, if it's dangerous again-"
I cupped her breast through her blouse. She arched with a soft sound.
"You're going to help me," I repeated. "Right?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes. Okay. Yes."
"Good girl."
Her breath quickened.
"After this," she whispered, "after you inherit Elysium like you promised... will you finally make us official and public? Our relationship?"
"Oh baby," I stroked her cheek, letting my thumb trace her bottom lip. "One thing at a time. Let's handle Lucien first."
"You said-"
"I know what I said." I gave her a light squeeze, right on that edge where thought became difficult. "Focus."
She swallowed hard.
"Good girl," I murmured. "Now you're going to kill all our CCTV feeds tonight. Can you do that?"
"Yes."
"And then you oil yourself for me." Her eyes glazed. "Daddy will reward your obedience."
"Yes, Daddy..."