Addict (Hunter #2)(93)

I forgave my father. Not the shitty one. Not the one who’d tried to kill me. He could burn in Hell for all I cared.

But I forgave my dad. Lee Owens. I hadn’t realized how angry I’d been until this moment. It was irrational. My mother had been the one to walk away. She’d left him, but there was a part of me that thought he should have followed through. He should have come after her or made certain there hadn’t been a me to take care of.

I’d been told that he would have loved me, but for the first time I accepted it. My father would have loved me. He would have protected and taken care of me.

It was enough.

“He understands,” Matthew said. “Though he isn’t entirely certain you mean it. He wonders if you haven’t found a new family now. He misses you. Misses Gray. Misses everyone because he’s all alone. He’ll die alone. He’ll die without a wife or children because that’s his destiny, the path his father set him on long ago.”

“Stop it,” Gray said, his voice a low growl. “Leave him alone. You have no right to drag his emotions into this. I’ll sign a deal to accept the drugs. I’ll do my absolute best to become what you want, but I want Kelsey and Jamie safe. That is nonnegotiable.”

“And he wants his time.” He wouldn’t ask for it himself. “He wants his original contract in play. You can’t force him back to Hell before his time.”

Sloane’s lips curled up into a satisfied smirk. “Perhaps he won’t have to resort to rape. It sounds like she cares for you.”

“Do you accept?” I ignored the rest. I wasn’t getting into bed with Gray anytime soon, but I also wasn’t about to willingly let him go to Hell. He’d proven a valuable ally.

Yeah, I actually told myself that.

Winter and Sloane stared at each other, and for a moment I had to wonder if they couldn’t communicate on a level I didn’t understand. An evil, telepathic level, but one I couldn’t hear.

“Lucifer will be thrilled that we created one,” Papa Sloane stated. “He’ll forgive the transgression because we’re the only ones who can give him this gift. It doesn’t matter that Grayson might prove uncooperative. I’ve always found ways to make him help in the past. I’ll do it in the future. Sign the deal.”

“I will be signing away your best bet at making him cooperate. He loves the girl.” Winter stared at me as though he was thinking about all the fun stuff he could do to make Gray cooperate right that moment.

“He is unreasonable about the girl,” Matthew argued. “He won’t ever help you if he thinks it will hurt her. Your best bet is to give him the one thing he wants. My brother is far too attuned to the humanity in his DNA. Or I suppose it’s that bit of angelic DNA you managed to pump into his background. He’ll honor his contract. He’ll honor his word. Sign the deal and let us be done.”

I wasn’t exactly grateful for Matthew in that moment. I still wanted to strangle the bastard, but I was happy when that contract went in front of Gray and it seemed like we would leave this mansion with both our heads intact.

Gray gave it another pass. I’d argued he deserved a lawyer. They’d argued that was simply my excuse to bring a vampire into the discussion since I’d explained the only one I would accept was Hugo Wells. It was totally true, so I lost that argument. It was precisely why Gray insisted on simple language. The original contract had been twenty pages long. Gray had gotten them down to a few lines no one could misinterpret.

I hoped.

He seemed satisfied and signed his name quickly, as though he had to do it in that particular moment or he wouldn’t have done it at all.

I stood up and faced Matthew. “It’s done. Get out.”

I wanted my brother back. Every minute that * stayed in his body was a minute too long. What was Jamie feeling? Was he afraid? He was likely pissed as hell, and it would take a lot to keep him from immediately trying to hunt down Gray’s brother.

That was my job.

Matthew sighed. “I can’t until he transitions. I promised Father. I didn’t want this, Kelsey. I know you won’t believe me, but I’m doing this for him. And I’m not even doing anything to torture your brother. He’s angry, but he’ll come out of this as whole as he was when I took over. I vow it.”

There was absolutely nothing that demon could say that would make me believe him.

Gray stood beside me, his eyes blank as he looked to his father. “Let’s get this over with. What do I have to take?”

Winter snapped his fingers and Bellamy produced a goblet. It was easy to see this evening hadn’t gone the way the billionaire thought it would. His hands were shaking as he stepped back. He moved close to the curtains as though he could hide himself in their voluminous fabric.

He could try that all he liked. I would remember his face. I didn’t particularly care that he was one of the richest men on the planet. Or that he was human. He’d helped to do this to Gray. He would pay.

Jacob watched with patient eyes as Gray took the goblet in his hand. “Grayson, are you ready for this?”

Gray shook his head. “No.”

“It can be quite painful. While your physical form won’t change, parts of your mind will, shall we say, open in a way they haven’t before. You have to remember that much of the pain you will feel comes from various futures. Ones that will be, could be, are only the vaguest of possibilities. You will see them all.”