salute [h.s]

chapter 35 - coerced coding & selfless sacrifices

"What do you mean I didn't give you anything?" Samson shouted, completely ignoring Piper. "I gave you the syndicate."

"Oh, you gave it to me? Is that right?"

"I'm the one that got Dad out of the way so there was an open spot at the top."

"You only did that because you wanted to be the head of Shoreditch and you thought that with Dad out of the picture, you'd get the job."

"I would have been head of the syndicate too, if you hadn't stolen it from me."

"Stolen it?" Clive scoffed, throwing his hands up and letting them fall to his side. Piper cleared her throat, shaking her own gun so Clive would get the picture and raise his own so she had some backup, but he was too focused on his half-brother. Piper wasn't even on his radar. "I was voted in, you shit. I never wanted any of that. I was happy."

"Oh sure, real happy." Samson's sour tone made it clear that he was mocking Clive and when Piper glanced over warily, the expression on Clive's face was practically murderous. "Such a shame about Jill, wasn't it?"

"Don't say her name."

Piper felt a shiver right up her spine at the dark undertone in Clive's voice but Samson hardly seemed to notice, a wicked smirk slipping onto his face instead. "She was such a lovely lady, wasn't she? It's so sad that she passed like that. Car accidents are so tragic."

"Don't say another fucking word about her!" Clive whipped his gun up once more, his hand shaking around it. "I know it was you, you son of a bitch."

Samson pressed his hands to his chest innocently in a who me? sort of manner. The gesture was offset by the evil glint in his eyes. Piper felt her whole body go cold just from the look. She knew that no matter how bad Clive was, there was still something redeemable in him. His pain over Jill, whoever she was, was genuine. So was his hatred for his brother.

The only emotion Samson seemed to have was rage. And a sick pleasure at watching their pain.

"You couldn't have everything, Clive. That's not how it works." Even Samson's voice made her sick to her stomach. Everything about him just felt like blackness and evil, a miasma that seeped into her and made her feel all dark inside. "You got the Shoreditch Syndicate and I got stuck in MI6. Although," he said as he sent a lecherous grin in Piper's direction, "it occasionally had it's perks."

"You're disgusting."

"Oh, I'm gutted," Samson said sarcastically as he pressed a hand to his heart dramatically. "You might be changing your tune soon, Stoner."

"Not likely."

"I've always liked that attitude of yours, Piper." His eyes skimmed down her body, over the Kevlar vest and down to her fitted trousers where they lingered on her legs before flicking back up. "I'll like it even better when I manage to tame it. It'll be nice watching feisty Piper Stone submit for once in her life."

"This is why I got the syndicate," Clive snapped. "Because you're too fucking distracted by pretty red hair and a pair of tits."

"Watch it," Piper growled over at Clive. He might be on her side but that didn't give him permission to talk about her like that.

"I knew what I was doing," Samson shot back.

"No, you had your little obsession with Stone the moment you saw her and it corrupted your tiny brain. The only reason I was voted in as head and got roped into this mess is because everyone knew you were a fucking psychopath and that you'd get us all in trouble because of your sick perverted end game."