By My Rules - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 I finally went to see Drake, not because I was soft, but because Twanted to see with my own eyes what else he had to say. The federal detention center's meeting room was cold. Drake wore a gray prison jumpsuit. His hair was shorter, stubble heavier, and he looked nothing like the man who had stood at the wedding altar just months ago. However, when he saw me, that familiar possessiveness and that unwillingness to let go were all still there. "You came after all." He smiled, his voice rough.

"gay what you need to say." He stared at me, as if trying to see if I still had feelings for him. "Violet, we were together for ten years. Don't you miss me at all?" "T do." [looked at him calmly. "I've never forgotten." His eyes flickered with a spark, but I continued, "I remember pulling you out of that pile of bodies. I remember giving youa name, an identity, and your first gun. And I remember how you took everything I gave you and stabbed me in the back with it." The smile on his face faded. "You weren't like this before.

You played the part too convincingly." The room fell silent for a few seconds. Then, Drake leaned forward, the handcuffs clinking softly against the table. "What if I told you... I didn't do all this just for power? Would you believe me?" he asked. "No." "Don't you want to hear me out?" "No, because there's nothing you say that's worth listening to." He fell silent, choked, and finally muttered, "hated you." llifted my eyes. "T hated how you always towered above everyone. I hated how, even though you're only a few years older, you always treated me like a child who needed to be taught.

You pulled me out of the alley, but you also made sure I'd never forget I was always just a dog in the mud, waiting to be stepped on." By the time he finished, his eyes were red. "T clawed my way up. I did everything I could perfectly. But when people talk about me, the first thing they say is always... that's the guy the Consigliere groomed." "So that's why you betrayed me?" I asked. "That's why I wanted to beat you to it once." He fixed his gaze on me. "I wanted everyone to see me first before they saw you." Ilooked at him and couldn't help but find it a little ridiculous.

"Drake, you still don't understand, huh? You can't beat me, not because of your background, not because you started lower, and not because everyone saw me first. It's because you have no sense of decency or moral boundaries. You want power, yet all you do is steal. You want recognition, yet all you do is take. You want to be seen, but all you do is climb your way up by stepping on the very people who should be protecting you." The muscles in his face twitched. He said, "Easy for you to say. You were born at the table.