A/N: Sorry for the wait but this chapter is a lot. For those of you who have been caught up for a while, I'm going to be updating the previous chapters with more detailed comments to follow me to get those announcements. I will be also posting some bonus chapters earlier in the book so be sure to check those out. S/O to BryannaGermanOfficial for coming into the DMs and encouraging me to finish because y'all wouldn't have gotten this chapter (yet) if it wasn't for her. Sometimes I get so caught up in perfection, I lose sight of what's important and I apologize. But I will post what I have left before doing any more major changes. Y'all deserve to see this to the very end.

TW: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

"I've killed many times before so killing a little shit like you won't even be worth remembering," Yves declared, causing both of their expressions to sober up immensely. "I'll ask you one more time before blowing your brains out. Where did you put the drugs that you stole?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Are you fuckin' retarded? Are you deaf? I told you that I'm not going to tell you where anything is, you―"

"It's the kitchen! We have them stuffed in bags of flour! Please, just don't kill him," Joyce pleaded, holding her injured husband tightly.

Ron smacked his wife across the face, exposing his dirt and mud covered fingernails. "How could you give up our hard work like that? I swear you're dumber than a doorknob. Is there anything up there in that brain of yours?"

Yves aimed again and placed a 9mm bullet right between Ron's beady brown eyes, causing his head to fall back, spraying blood into Joyce's eyes. As the blood dripped through her lashes and tear filled eyes, she stared at Yves, looking betrayed.

Yves shrugged. "I don't like people who love to run their mouth."

Joyce immediately got up and started to dart for the door but it was too late. Her fate was sealed from the moment that Yves walked through the door. No one could escape one of his bullets.

She reached the doorknob desperately as Yves shot one last time, at the center of the back of her head, right in the middle of her brain. Her flesh splattered prettily on the door. Her body slumped down before making one last thud. Yves stared at the remnants of her head. Her eyes were wide open in fear.

The sight of the both of them pissed him off. They reminded him of his stupid parents who sold him away to get a fix. He emptied his magazine by exchanging bullets between the both of them, firing back and forth, each of their bodies thumping one more time like they were still alive.

He dropped the gun to the floor and went to go check if the information that they gave was correct. The kitchen was as dingy as the living room. He could see roaches and ants crawling over week old pizza and burgers. The entire house already smelled of rot. The bodies probably wouldn't be discovered until much later.

He saw massive flour bags scattered around the floor. He took his pocket knife and cut open one of the bags. The woman had told the truth. The blue crystals sparkled once they were exposed to the moonlight.

"Son, that was amazing! Good thinking on your feet." Father's muffled voice came from the other side of the door. He knocked it down, stepping over Joyce's bullet riddled body. He clapped while he beamed at Yves. He looked down at the two of the bodies on the floor. "A little bit of overkill though."

"You said dramatic, sir," Yves bowed. "I was trying to comply with your demands." He hoped Father didn't press him on it further. He didn't want to talk about what his true motivations were.

Father nodded. "Yes, I suppose." He studied Yves curiously, turning his head slightly. "Tell me, Yves. What would you have done if the information that woman gave you was incorrect?"

"I would've had to turn the house upside down to find the packages, Father," he responded promptly. "Failure is not an option."

Father leaned towards him and ruffled his hair. "Good boy." He wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "How about some milkshakes to celebrate? There is a Sonic not too far from here."

It was Yves's turn to grin. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

☙

"But Father!" Robert whined, causing both Father and Alex to stare at him. "You said that you wanted him dead. You said that you went looking for different agencies to get him and kill him. None of them succeeded but I did and you still won't recognize me as a good boy!"

"Because you still aren't worthy of that phrase," Father declared.

Alex blinked. He couldn't believe that Father was so cold to a man who did nothing but love him. Alex had left and abandoned him but he was still so eager to help Alex because he was "perfect." Alex didn't want anything to do with this man.

Robert is a prick who deserves everything that's coming to him. Stop having a bleeding heart and look at the facts, pussy. Alex nodded to himself. This empathy that he was feeling for Robert was nothing more than pure nonsense.

Robert sighed. "Then what are you going to do with him now?"

Father shrugged. "I haven't figured that out yet. But if we're being honest, what I would love for him to do is take over the empire that I gave you. It's honestly what I've wanted for him all this time. He would do a fabulous job." He cocked an amused eyebrow at Robert. "Why are you in such a rush? I haven't seen this boy in over a decade and you want to push me along like this is a customer service counter. Are you that desperate to get back in your life of mediocrity?"

"I'm not the one who fell in love with someone else's girlfriend!" Robert shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Alex.

So what if I am? She's perfect. Who wouldn't be in love with her?

Alex struggled to keep his face from showing the fury that boiling inside of him. He had nearly forgotten that this monster called Virginie his "girlfriend" and still treated her like trash.

Father nodded. "Yes, Robert did tell me something like this when we spoke on the phone a couple of days ago. Why don't you tell me your side of the story?"

Alex took a deep breath. Please don't be outside the door, Virginie because you know I don't mean a single word. "There is no story to tell, sir. I am not in love with his girlfriend."

"Bullshit! Then why do you constantly come to her rescue, Mr. Save-Your-Girl?" Robert asked mockingly.

"What is the nature of your relationship with that woman?" Father inquired.

"I wouldn't need to come to anyone's rescue if he didn't beat her in public while he's drunk out of his mind!" Alex shot back accusingly. "Besides, I cannot have my employees walking around with bruises on their faces. It's not good for my image. We have lots of clients who come in for domestic violence cases. Who would believe that a woman who has a bruise of her own is unbiased?"

Father turned back to Robert who had turned crimson at the mention of his drunken tirades. "Is this true, Robert?" Father shook his head. "How many times have I told you that it's not good to beat a woman? You can beat your girls or people you were hired to kill but not your companion! It's a bad look! We have to be gentlemen. Having a drunk and disorderly on your record is not proper."

Robert let out a huff of frustration. "I only had to hit her because she wouldn't listen to me!"

Father smirked. "I have also told you that there are many other ways to make a woman listen to you."

Alex was curious. This was not something that he was familiar with. He had left before Father started teaching about sex or anything related to it. He had heard conversations that Father had about sex with other people but nothing direct.

"I tried doing that! That's actually why I hit her the first time...I had to force her to kiss me. She wouldn't let me touch her! It was like she didn't even want me. Who wouldn't want me?" Robert saw a flash of anger in Alex's eyes and decided it was best to change the subject. "Regardless, what kind of boss invites an 'employee' along with him to a luxury vacation to Jamaica?"

He...he...sexually assaulted her? I'm going to fucking kill him. I'm going to fucking kill him. I'm going to wrap my fingers around his neck and squeeze every last breath that's left in that pathetic body of his. How fucking dare he. Alex knew if he acted on this now, it would be obvious that Virginie wasn't just an employee to him. She was, in fact, so much more than that. But Father might turn on him if he found that out. He had to be patient and wait for the right moment.

"Do you have any more responses to Robert's accusations, Yves?" Father asked, amused at the sight of his two "sons" having their first fight. The look on his face was wistful and it made Alex sick to his stomach.

"She won a contest in the office to go on a luxury vacation and it just so happened that the trips were planned to go at the same time. We're friends so I booked us next to each other, it's not a big deal." Alex hoped that his nonchalant tone would convince Father of his innocence.

"Honestly, Robert, these pathetic ploys to get me to like you more are childish and getting boring. Maybe try following my..." Father trailed off as he noticed the gun trained directly at his forehead.

Robert's trembling hand pointed a revolver at Father. Alex wondered how he had gotten more bullets so quickly but he remembered that Robert had two guns when he kidnapped him.

"Now Robert, what are you doing with that?" Father asked. "Why don't you calm do―"

"Why don't you shut the fuck up?" Robert screamed, stomping his foot. "All you do is tell me what I do wrong! I'm tired hearing how great that fucking family is!" He rolled his eyes. "When I was with my other father, all I would hear about was Marcel this and Marcel that! They can do everything with such ease!" Tears began running down his reddened cheeks. "I try my best and yet that's never good enough. I have to be perfect. Just. Like. Them."

"Robert, keep your voice down! You don't want your help to hear what you're doing down here, do you?" Father shouted, his eyes darting towards the door.

Robert grinned maniacally at Father. "This room is soundproof! I had it made this way so no one could hear the screams but me. That's something that you taught me." He frowned at Father. "Besides, I thought that I told you not to interrupt me. Be quiet! It's my time!"

"Robert, as your Father, I command you to―"

Robert started firing blindly at Father's direction, emptying the entire cylinder into his body. Alex was stunned as pieces of flesh and blood rained upon him, seeing the man who controlled him for years fall to the ground without a heartbeat. "I said shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I am a good boy so let me talk for once damn it! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He screamed madly, his deadly yet childlike assault over. He covered his ears with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.

Alex blinked. He wasn't sad per se, but there was a nagging feeling in his heart. It was the ending that Father deserved given to him by a person who had suffered by his hand.

Robert opened his eyes and covered his mouth as he fell to the ground in shock. He crawled over to Father's body and took him in his hands, sobbing. "Oh no, what have I done?" He smacked what was left of Father's limp face. "Father, wake up! It's me. Your good boy! I'm your good boy, Father." He clutched Father's shirt so tightly that his fingers turned white.

"I never even got to know his real name," Alex murmured softly. He hadn't meant to say that aloud but he was just so taken aback by the events of the past couple of minutes that he had lost control.

"You!" Robert cried, pointing a blood-covered finger at Alex. "This is your fault!"

"I didn't empty an entire cylinder into Father so how is this my fault?" Alex wasn't worried about being the next target of Robert's rage because both of the guns in the room didn't have any more bullets. Robert would have to go someplace else to get them and by then, Alex could easily make his escape.

"You-You-You-You made me so angry! I had to do it!" Robert babbled senselessly.

Alex shook his head with a laugh. "You're not going to blame this on me. You're the one who killed him, not me."

"You didn't try to stop me."

Alex shook his head. "You're delusional."

"No matter," Robert asserted. "You're still a bystander. You're still going to help me burn and dispose of this body."