Chapter 305
Chapter 305
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Sofia’s mocking gaze was like a needle stabbing straight into Xavier’s heart. It hurt. The pain was so sharp, it made his mind clearer than ever before.
Sofia, apparently thinking her mockery wasn’t enough, went on, “Compared to Jackson, you’re hopelessly stupid. Good thing I chose to keep you back then. If it had been Jackson, he wouldn’t have been so easy to handle.”
Xavier clenched his fists tighter but didn’t argue. Instead, he asked, “Back then, you always talked to me in private, gave me gifts, and told me to keep it from Jackson.
“Was it because you saw I was easier to control than him, and you wanted to use me as your tool to get rid of him?”
Xavier might not have been as smart as Jackson, but he wasn’t stupid. When Sofia approached him all those years ago, he’d already had a hunch about what she was after.
But the allure of wealth and power was blinding. In the end, he hadn’t been able to resist the temptation Sofia dangled in front of him, and he’d ended up turning on the brother he’d depended on all his life.
Emma raised an eyebrow but said nothing, which was as good as admitting it.
Hearing the answer he’d always known deep down, Xavier couldn’t hold back his laughter.
The more he laughed, the louder and crazier it got, until tears streamed down his face. Seeing him like this, even Sofia, who’d been sitting across from him, enjoying the show, suddenly had a bad feeling about all this.
Sofia frowned and asked, “What are you laughing at?”
Xavier wiped away his tears. “I’m laughing at myself for being such an idiot. I could see right through your tricks to turn us against each other, but I still fell for them so easily.
“Jackson had already set everything up, hiding that video backup somewhere you’d never find. But I thought I was being clever, took it out, and hid it somewhere I thought was safe, only for you to find it without any effort at all.”
He continued, “I had a winning hand and still managed to ruin it all. So ending up like this? I brought this on myself.”
Everything he said was true, but Sofia couldn’t shake the unease creeping over her.
She glanced toward the door and saw it was tightly shut. A sudden wave of regret hit her. ‘Why haven’t I brought my bodyguards in with me?’ she wondered.
Of course, Sofia wouldn’t show her true feelings. She sank a little deeper into the sofa and said impatiently, “I’m not interested in your confessions. Where’s the thing you said you had for me?”
Xavier messaged her, saying he had dirt on James and wanted to strike a deal.
If it were just Xavier’s doing, Sofia would never have believed him. But he claimed it was leverage Jackson had prepared
years ago.
Jackson’s smarts and talent had made Sofia complain more than once that he wasn’t born to her. So, of course, she believed
Xavier’s story.
Xavier was still laughing at her words, though the madness had faded from his voice.
“You’re right. I’m not as smart as Jackson, and I’ll never be as accomplished as he is. But there’s one thing he’ll never beat me
at,” he said.
Xavier stared straight at Sofia, his unsettling gaze sending a chill through her.
When Xavier stood up, she instinctively tensed, her whole body bracing in alarm.
But instead of making a move on her, Xavier grabbed the lighter from the table and strode over to the window, where the curtains were tightly drawn.
With Sofia watching Xavier, tense and on edge, he flicked the lighter to life, his grin twisted and wild. He said, “Jackson was a genius, but in the end, he lost to me because he just couldn’t be ruthless enough.
“He wasn’t like me. I can be merciless to others, and to myself, too.”
As soon as he finished, Xavier hurled the lighter straight at the curtains beside him.
