The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 176 - One Hundred and Seventy-Six

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Six

Travis’ POV

The bottle was empty.

I stared at it, wondering when that had happened. An hour ago? Two? Time didn’t mean much anymore.

I reached for another bottle from the cabinet. My hands shook as I unscrewed the cap.

Everything shook these days.

Emily was alive. The thought kept circling my mind like a vulture. Alive. Breathing. Walking around somewhere plotting revenge while I’d spent five years mourning her.

Five years of guilt. Of self-hatred. Of drinking myself into oblivion because I couldn’t face what I’d done.

I hadn’t been there when she needed me. Hadn’t been there when she gave birth. When she died.

Except she hadn’t died.

She’d faked it. Let me think she was dead. Let me suffer.

I took a long drink straight from the bottle. The whiskey burned going down, but I barely felt it anymore.

The study door opened. I didn’t bother looking up.

"Go away, Malachi. I’m not in the mood."

"It’s not Malachi."

I raised my head. Pa stood in the doorway. He looked older than I remembered. Grayer. More tired.

"Pa. What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you. Maurice said you’ve been locked in here for days."

"I’m fine."

"You’re drunk."

"Same difference." I took another drink.

Pa walked in and sat down across from me. He looked at the bottles scattered across the desk. The glass that had fallen and shattered on the floor days ago that I still hadn’t cleaned up.

"This has to stop, Travis."

"What does?"

"This. The drinking. The self-destruction. You’re killing yourself."

"Maybe I deserve to die."

"Don’t talk like that."

"Why not? It’s true. I failed Emily. Failed our son. Failed Alicia. I’m good at failing. It’s the only thing I excel at."

Pa’s expression tightened. "Emily. That’s what this is about."

"Malachi told you."

"He did. Though I had a hard time believing it."

I laughed. It came out bitter. "Join the club. I saw her at the cemetery. Talked to her. And I still can’t believe it’s real."

"You saw her? When?"

"Few days ago. She was waiting for me at her grave. Told me she was coming for the family. For all of us." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Pa went very still. "She threatened the family?"

"Not just threatened. She has a plan. She’s been planning it for five years. And she’s going to destroy everything we’ve built."

"That’s impossible. Emily was sweet. Kind. She wouldn’t—"

"She’s not that person anymore, Pa. She’s different now. Harder. Colder. She calls herself Ghost."

Pa stood up and walked to the window. His hands were clasped behind his back, but I could see them trembling.

"This is my fault," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Hong Wei. The hospital fire. All of it. This is my fault."

I set down the bottle. "What are you talking about?"

He turned to face me. And for the first time in my life, I saw fear in my father’s eyes.

"Hong Wei didn’t die of natural causes. I had him killed."

The words hung in the air between us.

"You... what?"

"He was a threat. To the family. To the business. He was getting too powerful. Making demands I couldn’t meet. So I eliminated him."

"When?"

"Six years ago. Right before Emily got pregnant."

My stomach turned. "And the hospital fire?"

Pa’s silence was answer enough.

"No." I stood up too fast. The room spun. "Tell me you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t kill our son."

"It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. The fire was meant to destroy records. Evidence linking us to Hong Wei’s death. I didn’t know the baby was still in that wing. I didn’t know—"

"You killed him." The words came out as a roar. "You killed my son."

"It was an accident—"

"An accident?" I grabbed the nearest bottle and threw it. It shattered against the wall inches from Pa’s head. "You set a fire in a hospital and you’re calling it an accident?"

"Travis, calm down—"

"Don’t tell me to calm down. You killed my child. You killed Emily’s father. And now she’s back and she knows and she’s going to destroy us and it’s all your fault."

Pa’s face had gone pale. "She knows about Hong Wei?"

"Yes. She knows everything. And she’s not going to stop until we’re all dead."

"We need to find her. Stop her before—"

"Before what? Before she tells the world what kind of monsters we are? Before she exposes everything you’ve done?"

"I did what I had to do to protect this family."

"You did what you had to do to protect yourself. To protect your empire. You didn’t think about the consequences. Didn’t think about what it would cost."

"I thought about it every day. Every single day since that fire, I’ve thought about it."

"But you never told me. Never told anyone. You let me think it was an accident. Let me carry the guilt for not being there when all along it was you."

Pa sat down heavily. He suddenly looked every one of his seventy years.

"I’m sorry, Travis. I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Sorry doesn’t bring back my son. Sorry doesn’t fix what you’ve done."

"I know."

We sat in silence. The weight of Pa’s confession crushing the air between us.

"Emily’s going to kill us," I said finally. "All of us. And honestly, maybe we deserve it."

"No one deserves to die for my mistakes."

"Don’t they? You killed her father. Killed her child. What did you think would happen when she found out?"

"I thought she was dead. I thought we were safe."

"Well, she’s not dead. And we’re not safe. And now we have to deal with the consequences of your actions."

Pa looked at me. Really looked at me. "When did you become so clear-headed?"

"I’m not. I’m still drunk. But even drunk, I can see that we’re fucked."

"Language."

"Really? You’re worried about my language right now?"

He almost smiled. "Old habits."

I picked up the bottle again. Stared at it. Then set it down without drinking.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We find Emily. We talk to her. We make her understand—"

"She’s not going to understand. She doesn’t want to understand. She wants revenge."

"Then we stop her."

"How? She’s been planning this for five years. She knows our weaknesses. Our secrets. She has help. Zhao Wei mentioned an insider. Someone in the family feeding her information."

Pa’s eyes sharpened. "Who?"

"I don’t know. But someone close enough to know things they shouldn’t."

"We need to tell Malachi. He needs to know everything."

"He already knows Emily’s alive. That she’s planning something."

"But does he know about Hong Wei? About the fire?"

I shook my head. "I don’t think so."

"Then we need to tell him. Tonight."

"He’s going to lose it, Pa. He’s already obsessed with finding Alicia. Add this to the mix and he might actually snap."

"Malachi doesn’t snap. He calculates. Plans. Executes."

"You haven’t seen him lately. He’s different. Darker. More unstable."

"All the more reason to tell him now. Before Emily makes her move."

Pa stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To call a family meeting. Everyone needs to hear this. Everyone needs to know what’s coming."

He left, and I was alone again with my bottles and my guilt and the crushing weight of everything that had just been revealed.

Pa had killed Emily’s father. Had killed our son, even if it was unintentional.

And Emily was coming for revenge.

I should have felt something. Anger. Fear. Something.

But all I felt was tired.

Tired of the lies. The secrets. The endless cycle of violence that defined the Blackwood family.

Maybe Emily destroying everything wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Maybe we all deserved what was coming.

I picked up the bottle again.

This time, I drank.