Joseph Fallen (The Estate Series) (19 page)

“That’s perfect, Aaron.
 
Very good!”
 
Arianna hugged
her son to her side after he played the song she’d taught him perfectly.
 
Pride shown in his green eyes,
accomplishment of a task he’d been attempting for over a year.
 
In truth, it wasn’t his lack of
intelligence or talent that had taken so long for him to learn – it was
that his developing fingers hadn’t been long enough to play, at least until now
that he’d grown enough to master the keys.

Laughter and the sound of two small hands clapping sounded
behind them and they turned to see Xander sitting on the couch in the room,
covered completely in toys, his small face delighted to not have to share at
that moment.
 
Picking her son up
from the bench, she placed him on the floor, her back protesting against the
added weight of the boy who’d grown rapidly in size.
 
They walked hand in hand towards where
Xander sat, Aaron immediately grabbing some of the toys when he approached his
friend. A small grimace broke out across Xander’s face and Arianna laughed at
his expression.

When the click of the door handle echoed across the walls,
and when the hinges on the door creaked as it was pushed open, Arianna turned
to look at the face of Emory, her eyes immediately traveling to the large,
angry scar that ran from his ear to his chin; a reminder left behind by Connor
on the night he’d attempted to help Arianna escape.

A sick smile spread across Emory’s face as his eyes slowly
traveled between Arianna and the boys.
 
Bringing his demented gaze back to her, he said, “Joseph would like to
see you.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at the request.
 
Joseph never asked to see her during the
day and rarely did he still visit her at night.
 
Dread crawled along her spine, but she
plastered on a fake smile when she turned back to the boys.
 
“I’ll only be gone a moment, I’m sure
your father just wants to check in and see how well the two of you are doing.

Aaron’s eyes darkened, a blank expression painted across his
small face when he walked to his mother and hugged around her waist, his little
arms squeezing her tightly before letting her go.
 
She leaned down and kissed him on the
forehead and turned to Xander to kiss him as well.
 
Xander laughed, he was such a happy
child regardless of the circumstances of his life.

Turning to Emory, Arianna nodded her head and walked out of
the room, replaced by two guards to watch over the children.
 
Their footsteps sounded rhythmically as
they traveled the halls, the large doors creaking when they entered the
ballroom.
 
The room was empty and
Arianna turned to Emory with a confused expression on her face.
 
“He waits for you in his suite on the
west side.”
 
Her eyes widened
impossibly more; Joseph had never allowed her into that wing since the year
after they’d moved in.
 
Her steps
faltered, but Emory roughly grabbed her arm, dragging her to the doors on the
opposite side of the ballroom.

When they entered the wing, her stomach roiled, fear and the
remnants of morning sickness causing her insides to cramp painfully.
 
The halls that were perfect mirrors of
those in the right wing were deserted, and Arianna wondered how a group as large
as the one she knew lived on this side could be completely absent.

Being led through the dead silence of the house bred more
dread in her small body, her path more like a death march than a quick trip to
visit Joseph.

Entering Joseph’s suite, she looked around at the alcohol
bottles and half empty glasses that filled the counters, tables and
shelves.
 
She winced at how a once
beautiful room that she’d decorated with loving hands had been turned into what
looked more like a bachelor pad than the family home she’d envisioned.
 
Much like the halls, Joseph’s suite was
a mirror of her suite in the right wing.
 
It was unnerving to step into a space so similar, yet so opposite to
hers at the same time.

“He’s in his office.”

She didn’t look back at Emory when he spoke.
 
She hated him more than Joseph, knew
that whereas Joseph had fallen into the state of insanity, Emory had been born
like that; not a single cell within his body carried goodness or purity.
 
Squaring her shoulders, she tilted her
chin up, knowing that whatever she walked into would be bad.

. . .

Joseph looked up to meet eyes with the wife who he knew had
never really loved him.
 
He
questioned her motives for having married him; a woman who came from meager
beginnings to find herself attached to a man who had it all.
 
He didn’t want to believe it at first,
didn’t want to acknowledge that she used him for the life he provided her.
 
And now, with the photograph of a child
that looked more like a man he’d known than himself, he had proof that there
was never love in the heart of his wife for him.
 
Anger slithered along his mind, his
nerves reacting, heat saturating his skin from the rush of blood.

“Sit down, Arianna.”

She sat down, her crystal blue eyes opened wide while the
skin on her brow furrowed in confusion and fear.
 
Yes.
 
Let her sit there quivering.
 
If she wouldn’t love him, she would at least submit to him – she
would know that her value only lies in the husband to whom she was
attached.
 
He laughed to himself,
the sad truth that he’d been stupid all those years a screaming realization
within his thoughts.
 
He’d provided
everything for her, had rescued her from a life where she had no one except for
a cousin who’d introduced her to the better members of society – to a
life she didn’t deserve.
 
And now
that the green eyes of truth shown back at him from the set of photographs that
sat on his desk, Joseph accepted that she’d failed in her only duty, the only
thing he’d asked of her in return.

It was a creeping embarrassment on the edges of his
thoughts, the idea that through the years he’d never fathered a child with the
woman who sat across from him.
 
He
thought he had, had pride in the son that he’d created.
 
But she lied.
 
His pride was shredded, his ego injured
by the realization that he hadn’t fathered a son, that he was somehow less of a
man than a lowly guard.
 

It ate at him.
 
Every time he saw her face, saw the flat expanse of her stomach despite
the thousands of times he’d attempted to get her pregnant.
 
It was a painful reminder, one he wanted
eradicated from his life, from his home.
 
He imagined her laughing at him, her knowledge of his failure a subject
that brought amusement and joy.
 
His
eyes took in every detail of her face and body.
 
The years had caused lines to cross her
forehead; worried markings also surrounded her eyes and mouth.
  
Her once shimmering hair hung
limply by her face, and her skin hung off her body, the once toned muscle, lost
over the years. It was a shame.
  
She’d let herself go; and it was another mark against her.
 

He settled into his chair thinking Emory had been correct in
his assessment.
 
She had no purpose
accept as a leach that fed off his efforts and his achievements.

Emory stepped into the room, walking towards the desk,
stopping once he stood at Arianna’s back.

With an expression that spoke of malice, Joseph said, “I was
looking at a picture of
our
son this
morning.
 
It’s his most recent
– I’m sure you’ve seen it.”

Arianna was silent but he saw her shoulders tense, her jaw
suddenly clench at his words.
 
It
was all the proof he needed that she was aware of what he was about to
say.
 
Body language, it was the most
honest thing about a person, it was the small hints that trickled from their
brain to the outside.
 
If a person
knew what to look for, they would know they truth to what a man said, or the
sincerity of the words they spoke.
 
Her body language spoke of betrayal, of guilt – of fear.
 
The fury that rolled through him was
painful, his muscles clenching through his torso, his shoulders and his
arms.
 
He wanted her dead, he wanted
to see the life drain from her eyes.

“Every time I look at my son, I’m reminded that the woman
who was supposed to be my wife fucked another man.
 
Not only did you dishonor me by fucking
him, you had his child and allowed me to raise it as my own.
 
You’ve managed to destroy me, Arianna;
slowly, methodically, you’ve embarrassed me to my network and you’ve made me
look like a fool for believing your lies.”

He stood up from his chair, walked around the desk and sat
against the wood surface so that he was directly in front of her.
 
“I wanted one thing, one FUCKING thing
from you for everything I’ve given you.
 
And what do you give me?!
 
Some fake bastard son?

“Joseph…”Arianna’s voice trembled as she tried to interrupt.

“No!
 
I do not
want to hear anything you have to say.
 
Everything that comes from that mouth of yours is a lie, a filthy
fucking untruth that you use to continue taking from me.”
 
He laughed, his rage clouding logical
thought.
 
The taste of violence
covered his tongue, his desire to punish, to ridicule and condemn.
 
Her was drunk on power, but he still
craved more.

With a bored expression, he leaned back on his desk.
 
“You’ve outgrown your use, Arianna.
 
You’ve become nothing more than a
walking reminder of how I was betrayed in my own home, that I was deceived by
the one person who should have loved me the most.”

“Joseph please listen to me.”
 
Arianna pleaded with him, moved forward
to place her hands on his knees and he backhanded her in response.
 
She fell against the chair, blood
splashing out at the corner of her mouth.
 
Her bottom lip swelled where he had struck her and a small bit of
satisfaction snaked its way through his veins.

Speaking over her sobs, he continued.
 
“I have to keep Aaron, you know. You
trapped me into raising the boy, hoping to God nobody notices that he’s not
mine.”

“Joseph…”

He struck her again.
 
“Stop fucking talking!”
 
She
cried harder and he groaned in disgust.
 
“You have no right to cry you stupid bitch!
 
You caused this!
 
So yes, Arianna.
 
I’ll keep your bastard son; and despite
his fucking crap genetics, I’ll raise him to be like me…JUST like me.”

She looked up at him suddenly, terror written across her
face letting him know that he’d struck a nerve with that comment.
 

“Oh?
 
You don’t
like that, do you?
 
Can’t handle
knowing that your precious little boy will be raised by a man you so obviously
despise.”
 
Another wicked chuckle,
this one low in tone, rumbling deep in his chest.
 
He smiled down at her, triumph written
across his expression.

Arianna stilled.
 
“What are you doing, Joseph?”
 
Her eyes looked up at him, one swelling at the side from where she’d
been hit.
 
“Please, I have to tell
you something…”

Lunging forward he grabbed her by the arms and lifted her
from the chair with such force that the chair fell to the side, hitting the
ground with a thick crack against the stone.

Forcing her up against Emory’s chest, Joseph wrapped his
hands around her throat, squeezed so tightly that her face instantly turned red
and he could see the blood vessels break across her skin.
 
In desperation to breath, her hands
clawed at his, but he was too far buried within his rage to care that her
fingernails tore at his skin.
 
His
eyes locked to hers and a smile peeked out from beneath the bored
expression.
 
Her eyes started to go
out of focus, the lack of oxygen sending her deep into an oblivious
tunnel.
 
But he wouldn’t kill
her.
 
No.
 
That would be far too easy.

When she finally went limp in his hands, Emory’s arms came
up under hers to support her weight.
 
Joseph released her neck, stood back admiring the marks left by the grip
of his fingers.
 
His eyes lifting to
Emory’s, he said, “She’s all yours.”

Joseph chuckled.
 
“I’m sure she won’t mind whatever you wish to do with her.
 
She has a thing for guards.”

A smile slid across Emory’s face and he dragged Arianna’s
body from the room, disappearing down a long corridor while Joseph stood by his
desk and watched her be delivered to her fate.
 
He was empowered again, rediscovered
pride settling within his body and mind for finally having conquered the one
thing in his life that had betrayed him the most.