Finally, something he could use to pull himself out—he concentrated on the word ‘father’, concentrated on how it made him feel, concentrated on the rage and frustration he felt at Liu Baiyan’s death, at the inheritance that would never be his, at the way Weiran had looked at him with those eyes and said those things. His breathing slowed.

You’re the perfect tool, Xiaokai.

You’re the perfect monster.

“Your brother wants to take the role, I’m assuming?”

Xiaokai held onto that rage and frustration, held onto the desperation at never catching up to Xingyu, at the flood of emotions he’d felt when Xingyu stepped off that airplane and back into his life, held onto all the hatred and anger he had coiled up inside his heart. He looked up, right into Bai Xue’s eyes, and he made himself see that they were empty. “He trained for years for that position,” he said. “Why wouldn’t he want it?”

There was a small smile on Bai Xue’s face, like he was finally pleased that Xiaokai was answering him. “Do you think he deserves it?”

This is exactly what Sun Yue had warned him about—Bai Xue digging for information from Xiaokai just has he’d been doing in that interrogation. The threat was still there. His interrogator was the same. The only thing that had changed was the environment. If this had occurred before he’d agreed to help take down the List—even if Sun Yue had still warned him that he would never have the position—he would have told Bai Xue that, no, of course Liu Xingyu didn’t deserve the position—he’d left for ten years. He must have forgotten at least half of his training, if not all of it. He didn’t know how to navigate in their world. He didn’t fit. He had a clear and obvious weakness. Of course he didn’t deserve it. But who did deserve it? Obviously—obviously it was Xiaokai. Xiaokai, who had stayed, who had learned business just as Xingyu had and excelled at it, who was good with people, who understood the world, who knew both sides of the List and could handle them with ease—Xiaokai, who wanted the position; not Xingyu, who had abandoned it.

But now he was armed with the knowledge that the List could be taken down—that it would be taken down—and that he would never get Liu Baiyan’s position no matter how good he was, no matter how dead Liu Baiyan was.

He said, “Liu Xingyu will get the position as long as he remains on the board’s good side, which he has managed to do so far.”

“And what do you think?”

“What do I think? What does that matter?”