HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION (An Erotic Billionaire Romance) novel Chapter 71

Alaric’s POV:

“If I did, then there would be no reason for this meeting, would there?” she continued. “Because Meadow would’ve already left you by now.”

My jaw flexed, my grip still around her throat. I didn’t loosen it. Not yet. If anything, I squeezed even harder just to watch the color in her cheeks darken. But she wasn’t scared. She knew I wouldn’t hurt her.

I leaned in close, my nose brushing hers as I let my voice drop to a dangerous whisper. “You will not tell her.”

“Or what, Ric?” she whispered back. “Are you gonna lock me up in that same facility you held my niece? Wait.” She pulled back as if something just struck her. “Meadow knew about Juni being in there, didn’t she?”

I released Clarissa’s neck, examining my knuckles. It was easy to forget that I was injured. Before I left the house, I had Mel bandage my wrists up. It was the least I could do to cover just a little bit of the shame I felt about Meadow finding me down in the gym, seeking pain like a fucking lunatic.

Clarissa took my silence as an answer. “Why?” Her voice shook. “Why was Juni in there-”

I turned on my heel, walking away from her and toward the minibar. “You did a terrible job of raising her, Clarissa.” I poured myself a glass of bourbon. “Just thought you should know that.”

I could feel her anger radiating throughout the penthouse. “Well, excuse me for being a twenty–one year old who had to raise eleven year old twin girls who hated each other.” she spat, storming toward me. “Did you know? Did you know that the man you accused of murder had two daughters?”

“I did,” I answered honestly, taking a sip of my drink before I looked at her. “I also knew his daughters had a mother who would take care of them. Although I was wrong about that.” I shook my head.

“So what? That was some kind of sick revenge against me?”

My gaze narrowed. “It wasn’t revenge. It was fucking justice.”

Clarissa scoffed, brushing her hair away from her face. “Yeah, right. Real convenient that it all happened after you broke up with me.”

I stepped around the bar slowly, dropping the glass down on the surface. “I will say this once and only once, Clarissa. When I decided to get justice for my family, you were not in the back of my mind. I didn’t know that you were related to Clint Russell in any way. So don’t go around thinking I did that all because you fucked my brother-”

“It was a mistake-”

“I don’t care for your explanations.” My gaze narrowed. “All I care about is how to put Meadow’s evil twin in check.”

Clarissa’s mouth parted for a second as her brows drew together. “What do you mean? What happened?”

I wasn’t sure why Meadow wasn’t in contact with her aunt, but my gut told me it has something to do with Juniper. It was always her.

I fixed Clarissa with a blank state. “I’ll leave you to have that conversation with the monster herself. However, you should know that I’ll have no problem putting her back there if she doesn’t behave, or better still, stay away from my wife. And that goes for you too, Clarissa.”

The main reason I even let Juniper go wasn’t because Clarissa threatened to tell Meadow what I did to her father. I let her go for Meadow. All I wanted was to protect her in any way I could, and keeping her sister away and Tyler under my watch was a way of doing that. But I couldn’t keep her there forever.

And there was no way Meadow was going to learn to stand up for herself if her sister was locked up. No way Meadow was going to learn to live without her sister. Because from what I could see, no matter how many times she hurt her, Meadow would never stop loving her.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

Clarissa’s red lips pulled down into a sneer as her gaze moved to my drink and back to my face. “Why? Because she’s yours?”

I smirked. “Smart girl.”

As I took my drink again, Clarissa watched my every move. And then she stepped even closer. Her voice lowered to a whisper as she reached for my tie again. “Do you really think her father is guilty? You think her father would kill yours?”

My jaw clenched. “Fucking sure of it.”

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