Tyrannized (Kingmaker Series #1) | English Version

Chapter 1 | Riat

Present 

A year ago I was firmly convinced that this day would be nothing but pure satisfaction. Had I known back then what reality I would be facing, I would have put a bullet in my head a long time ago.

The silence that was filling the car was deafeningly loud. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be the first to fill it. Not because I didn't have anything to say but because I didn't have anything to say to him. Instead, I kept my eyes fixed on my childhood town that was passing by the windows of the luxury car and ignored his existence. 

I didn't need to look his way to know that Clifford Malvaine was doing the same. After all, disregard was the only thing I knew from my father since I could remember. Father. The word left a sour taste in my mouth. If he was what a father was supposed to be I would gladly pass on the opportunity. 

Only once had I managed to get his unshared attention. And the attention of the rest of our town. Exactly one year ago. A mistake he'd done his hardest to make me regret. Or at least that's what he thought. My jaw strained into a straight line as I fought a bitter laugh. If he thought that he could neutralize the threat that I was to his pristine life with one year at an elite school for rich troublemakers he couldn't have been more wrong. If he considered me a blot on the family tree, I had to at least live up to that, didn't I?

For one year I planned my return but if we could assemble the broken pieces of the kingdom we left as easily as we destroyed it would show soon. Prior to that, I had to survive this much-dreaded family reunion. The thought had my hands balling into fists hard enough that my knuckles turned white. 

The chauffeur slowed the black car as we reached the main street and turned onto the street that led us up to the gated community of the town's elite. In my peripheral vision, I watched my father pull the keycard from his wallet and hand it to the driver. In front of the electrical gate, the car stopped and the driver rolled down the window to provide us access to the richest part of town. 

When I was a child the gates made me feel safe. Nowadays I wondered if their only purpose truly was to keep unwanted visitors out or if it was truly meant to cage the monsters that roamed on the inside. Behind the splendid facades that the elites of Asterviles Falls fought to keep up, hid a dark side and a scandal from about a year ago had threatened to crumble them for the first time since I remembered. And I wasn't even done with this town yet. I wondered if the others still felt the same. 

With a mechanical buzzing the gate rolled to the side and gave way to the most pretentious estates. Left and right one villa outdid the next and artfully constructed waterspouts greeted the visitors privileged enough to set foot on their properties. 

In the center the dark building that I spent the first seventeen years of my life in towered above all else. Its black stone facades were reminiscent of a gigantic shadow. The asymmetrical form of the Victorian-style villa fascinated me as a child. It seemed to be the only imperfect thing my father allowed in his life. How many hours did I spend putting the two-story house with its sharp rooftop extensions, the wrap-around porch, and the small tower on the right on paper? Never did I succeed in truly catching the aura surrounding it. 

Today I tensed at the sight and sharply sucked air into my lungs. For a year I couldn't stop thinking about coming back here. Now I abhored the uncertainty that awaited me. Every second spent sitting in this goddamn car made it harder for me to play nonchalantly. 

As the car slowed to a stop at the curb I almost felt relieved. I acted bored nonetheless as I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the car door. To my surprise, I was the only one that left the car. 

Even though I wanted to avoid it, I threw a glance over my shoulder to Father who hadn't moved one bit. Instead, he held firm onto his phone and kept typing some messages as if he hadn't even noticed our arrival. Only his protruding cervical artery betrayed that he noticed my eyes on him.