Finally. That was the truth, but I needed more from him. I wanted to hear as much as I could before I hurt him.
I nodded. “You hurt them to hurt me.”
He said further, a soft sigh leaving him, “I was supposed to recruit you. That’s the kicker. I never wanted to use you for your power. We wanted to give you that power.”
He was in control now. That was fine. I could get more out of him like this.
More. I still needed to hear more.
I shook my head. “You’re wrong. I’ll be fine, no matter what I do. I’m a fighter. I don’t and didn’t need anything from you. It was the other way around. Isn’t that what you guys really do? You find people like me, Logan, Sam, and you latch on to them before they realize the game? You take from them. You don’t give them anything.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not. Even you know I speak the truth. It’s why you don’t want us in. Right? You don’t want us to have the benefits your network could provide us?”
Sebastian shook his head, looking down for a minute. His hands were folded together, and he stood like that before lifting his head again. “It wouldn’t have worked with you guys. You, Logan, even Sam. The three of you were wanted, but the program would’ve had to work where you trusted us. We needed to obtain dirt on you in order to hold that against you, to use you later in life. But it never would’ve worked because the three of you never would’ve let any of us in. The three of you don’t trust anyone.”
He was right.
“Trusting means being used.” I skimmed him up and down. I’d heard enough. I needed to take that control from him.
His head lifted up and down in a smooth nod, and he ground out, “I tried telling my grandfather that, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He kept insisting, even today, that I was supposed to bring you in. This has gone too far for that. I told Samantha everything, but I already knew that I was going to ruin her, so she wouldn’t have ground to stand on against me. I didn’t think you’d have the balls to come here with her.”
His eyelids twitched, and his gaze fell to the ground behind me. “I’ve underestimated all of you this entire time.” His eyes went to the bat in my hand. “You should know that it was me the whole time. The Network had nothing to do with the hit-and-run and when me and the fraternity went after you, Nate, and Logan. That was me. I used the fraternity against you guys, and I did it because…” He faltered now, lifting his head.
He was calming again.
No.
I chided softly, “Because I turned you down. Because I wanted nothing to do with you.” I moved closer and hardened my voice. “Because I decided that you were beneath me.”
“I hated you. Who are you to go against me? Who is Nate to think he’s better than me? Who were you to think you could take one of my fraternity brothers away from me? You’re nothing! You’re no one,” he ground out, spitting at the floor. “You are beneath me, Mason Kade.” Disdain sparked in his eyes. His mouth tightened, stretching at the ends, and his eyes narrowed to slits.
“No one turns you down, right?”
Because he was the best. Everyone else was less than him.
“Exactly.” He flared up. The coward was gone. The wounded animal side of him left. This was the real Sebastian. “Who are you? Who are any of you?”
He came toward me.
I’d fanned the flames, and he took the bait.
I murmured, “Your grandfather chose us over you.”
“He did.” He became like a statue. His shoulders grew rigid. His hands slowly curved inward, forming fists.
“Even your own sister chose us.”
His nostrils flared, but he didn’t reply. I was getting to him.
I added, “She slept with Logan—” I had more to add, but his head whipped up.
There it was. The anger was taking over him. I moved closer. Samantha was still between us, but I was in control.
“She told Samantha that she didn’t regret it.”
He sucked in his breath.
I advanced. “She was stressed about finals, and he offered to have sex with her as a joke. Screwing her was a joke to him.”
He was breathing hard now. He couldn’t look away from me. The anger was almost to a rage now.
I added more, “They went to a janitor’s closet, and they were back within an hour.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.” I shook my head.
He could read the truth from me.
“I’m not. She’d do him again, too. She invited us to call her up whenever we’re in New York. She wants to remain friends with Sam.”
“Shut up, Kade.”
His breathing was ragged now. His hands were pressing into his sides, and his head was bent down. He was trying to keep calm, but he was unraveling.
My hands gripped the bat. It was almost time. One swing—that was all I was going to do.
Act smart. Think smart. Be smart. All that was down the drain.
He was going to shatter Samantha. No one would walk away from that.
“What’s the worst insult to you, Sebastian?”
He stopped breathing, but he was still listening. His vein was throbbing in his neck, and his feet moved, so he had a wider stance.
I waited, ready. “The fact that I won or the fact that you underestimated us? Or is it that, even after today, we’ll still be welcomed into your family, and you can’t do a thing about it?”