Breeding and family name. That was all that mattered.
I sighed and leaned my head back. I wished for a second that I could be as free as all the people scattered around me. An old woman knitted on a bench across the path. Two young guys in business casual clothes drank coffee and laughed about a video one of them played on his phone. A kid with dreadlocks and ratty clothes played a ukulele and sang in a high-pitched warbling falsetto in front of a hat with a few dollars shoved inside.
I couldn’t imagine any of them thought about ruining hundreds of years of breeding and money-making.
What I wanted didn’t matter. I grew up thinking that the only important thing in my life was my family, but now I could see how empty it all was, just a beautiful vessel with nothing inside.
Stuart walked toward me from the opposite side of the park. I watched him come closer, and a smile spread across his lips when he spotted me. I felt a chill run down my skin, like a weasel winding its way through my veins, and I had to remind myself that Gian was somewhere nearby, watching for the first sign of problems.
“Hello, Ash,” Stuart said, looming over me. He wore boat shoes, khaki slacks, and a polo shirt. His hair was slicked back and expensive sunglasses blocked his ugly, empty eyes. He grinned at me, all white teeth and perfect dimples. It disgusted me.
“Thanks for coming,” I said.
He sat down and left space between us. “I didn’t think I had much of a choice when your new man reached out.”
“He’s not my new anything,” I said automatically, though I wondered.
“What can I do for you, Ash?” Stuart asked. “I thought we’d have nothing to do with each other after the last little incident.”
“You mean, when you were hurting me, and Gian stepped in to stop you?” I glared at him defiantly, and he slowly took his sunglasses off.
He smiled at me, showing all his teeth like a crocodile.
“Please, don’t be dramatic,” he said. “I wasn’t hurting you at all. If I wanted to hurt you, I would hurt you, Ash.”
I pulled my gaze away and had to control myself. He was baiting me, messing with me, because he knew he could. He was a sociopath and knew what buttons to press and how to look at me. He’d had years to learn how to get under my skin.
I didn’t have to let him in anymore.
“Are you messing with Gian’s business?” I asked abruptly, the words tumbling out in a breathless convulsion.
“Excuse me?” His smile didn’t falter. He tilted his head. “His business? I don’t even know what your friend does for a living. Garbage collector, perhaps?”
I gave him a look. I was willing to bet Stuart had never seen a garbage collector in his entire life—but that said so much about the sort of person he was.
Proper men worked in finance. Anyone else was a peasant.
“You hired three men to work a corner on his territory,” I said, keeping the words low as a group of teenagers walked past in school uniforms.
“His territory?” Stuart shifted toward me. “Now what could that possibly mean?”
“Stop playing games,” I said through clenched teeth. “We know you did it.”
Stuart watched me carefully and his smile slowly faded. He rubbed his eyes then let out a tired breath. “Honestly, Ash, this would’ve been so much easier if you had just married me,” he said. “We all would’ve been happier.”
“I’d rather kill myself,” I said.
He laughed softly. “That can still be arranged.”
“Did you send the guys or not?”
He shrugged. “I sent them,” he said. “They were cheap and I thought it would be funny.”
I gaped at him and let that sink in. He thought it would be funny to hire three thugs to come work a drug corner on Gian’s turf. He thought it would be funny to start a little fight, to spark tensions in a war.
“You almost got someone killed,” I said, hands trembling. “And you think that’s funny?”
“They’re not people, Ash,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. “They’re drug dealers and criminals. So what if one of them dies? They die every day. Drug overdoses. Gunshot wounds. Stabbings. Whatever. One more cheap body’s no big deal.”
“You’re sick,” I said and stood up. “You disgusting piece of filth.”
“Sit back down,” he said sharply. “I’m not done with you.”
“I’m done, though,” I said. “If you come near Gian again, if you hire someone to come near Gian, I’m going to find you and I’m going to cut your goddamn balls off.”
He grinned and squinted. “Sounds like a blast. I didn’t know you were kinky.”
“You sick fuck.” I shook with anger as my fists clenched tightly. I wanted to kick him, hit him the way I saw Gian hit those guys. I wanted Sturt to hurt like they hurt, like I knew Gian hurt, though he wouldn’t admit it. I wanted to break Stuart’s nose, his ribs, and kill him.