Dad’s eyes lift straight to me. They move over my face, no doubt reading the horror, confusion, and disappointment etched into my expression, and I see something inside him crumble.
“He wanted ten percent of the land value, plus interest, over the next ten years.” I’ve never seen my father cowed before, but that’s exactly how he looks right now as he lays out the terms of his deal. Utterly defeated. “It was a good deal. Fair. With the amount of revenue the new condos would bring in…” He swallows. “I’d still walk away with well over my bottom line.”
Money. This was about money.
Nausea churns in my stomach. I feel Boo settle at my feet, perhaps sensing I need moral support.
“But then…” Milo drifts off.
“He changed the terms,” Nate guesses. “Wanted more.”
“Twenty million, on top of the millions I’d already paid him for access to the land.” A spark of anger shoots through my father’s eyes — a flicker of the uncompromising CEO that’s built an empire on trade agreements and business mergers. “He tried to con me.”
“That’s what criminals do, Dad,” I snap, voice shaking. “They extort and cheat and bribe and kidnap people when they don’t get their way.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, eyes dropping back to his desk. “You’ll never know how sorry I am. If I knew how to fix it…”
“Pay him,” Parker says, all playfulness stripped from his tone. “Pay him the fucking money or I swear to god, I will kill you myself for putting a target on my baby sister’s back.”
“He can’t,” Nate says, eyes alert as they watch my father. “It’s not that simple.”
Dad jerks his chin in response.
“What?” I gasp. “Why?”
“He’ll just keep asking for more, don’t you understand?” My father’s voice is shaking. “It’ll never be enough. Ten million, twenty million, fifty… it won’t end. He won’t stop. Not until we’re bankrupt and the company’s gone under. He’ll take everything.”
“Pull out of the project,” I say immediately. “We haven’t even broken ground yet.”
“I’ve sunk millions into this development.” His hands find his temples and he suddenly looks every bit his age. For the first time, my father looks old. “I can’t just pull out now. And—”
“And money is more important than your family?” Parker snarls. “Guess that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.”
“Dad.” My voice breaks. “Please.”
His eyes lift to mine and this time, they’re red and watery with unshed tears.
Holy frack.
I’ve never seen my father cry.
Not once.
Not when Parker took off. Not at my graduation from MIT. Not when the crash of ’08 made stocks plummet. Not even the day we found my mother, or when we lowered her casket into the earth.
But he’s crying now.
I wish that somehow made all of this okay.
Nate turns his head to look at me. “Even if your father pulled out of the development, Mac won’t let him walk away — not now that he’s got his claws in him. He sees your father as a cash cow, his personal piggy bank to fund the mob. He’s not going to give that up. Not easily.”
“So…” I swallow. “He’ll keep coming after us until he gets what he wants?”
Nate’s jaw clenches tight. “Yes.”
“What about the police?”
“No police.” Nate’s words are clipped. “Can’t be trusted.”
“The FBI then.”
His eyes cut from me to my father, a knowing look in their depths. “I’m guessing if your father admits what he knows about Mac, it’ll incriminate him, too.”
Parker snorts. “Great. Fucking perfect.”
My stomach clenches. I hadn’t thought of that. Hadn’t considered the possibility that my father’s corruption might extend past shady bribes and business deals to actual criminal activity. Fraud. Extortion. Collusion.
White-collar crimes that could land him in federal prison.
“So we can’t do anything.” My words are shaky and so soft they barely make it past my lips.