“Watch your mouth, boy. I am still your father.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re someone else’s father, too. Care to take a guess?”
“What are you saying, boy? Spit it out.” I smiled into the phone at the visual of my father’s ruffled feathers and smooth demeanor cracking.
“It seems that when your men put my brother in the hospital after you ran like a coward, it was discovered that John and Sophia’s blood wasn’t a possible combination match.
A brief silence descended before he laughed into the phone.
“So the little bastard is mine. I might have known…” I could imagine him stroking his chin as an evil leer spread like poison on his face. “All the better—more money for me.”
“Why don’t you come out of hiding so we can handle this man to man?”
“Man to man?”
“I’m not a little eight-year-old boy anymore, Mitch.”
“No, you’re not. You’re all grown up, and you even got yourself a lovely piece. I can tell you really like her. A smart man would keep her close. Tell me, son, are you close to her now?”
Fuck. Lake.
“Stay away from her, old man, or you’ll be wearing your balls around your neck at your funeral.”
I’d already done a one-eighty and was in my car before I finished the threat. His humorless chuckle filtered through the line as I clutched the phone to near breaking. I listened for background noise to gauge where he might be but didn’t hear anything past his slimy voice. I cranked my car and peeled out of the lot.
“We had a great conversation the last time we talked… She’s a good listener.”
“She’s inconsequential. I’m sure you know where I am, so why don’t you tell me where you are, and we can settle this once and for all.”
“The only thing needed to settle is your death certificate so I can collect my paycheck.”
“Then come fucking get it. What are you waiting for?”
“The opportune moment. I’m desperate, but I am not foolish. I like to think you got your brains from me,” he chuckled as if we were old friends. I never before felt the pressing need to watch the life fade from a person’s eyes.
“The only thing you gave me was a wasted existence.”
I jammed my finger on the end button and sent out a quick text to Monroe all the while weaving in and out of the thickening five o’clock traffic: Where are you?
Just a couple more miles, and I would be able to calm my racing heart and still the pounding in my ears. My phone flashed less than a minute later with an incoming text: Shouldn’t you be practicing?
As I turned onto her street, I replied with one word: Mitch.
Seconds later, I was in her driveway and exiting the car just as her front door flung open, and she exited with a bewildered look. I wasted no time bounding up onto her porch and whisking her back inside.
Monroe fired off endless questions filled with panic as I quickly checked the windows and doors of her house.
“Will you stop for one second and tell me what is going on?” She wore a crazy look on her face as she followed me into her aunt’s bedroom. I didn’t give a fuck about intruding on a stranger’s privacy.
“Mitch called me about you.”
I heard her suck in a breath before she asked, “When?”
“A few minutes ago. I think he was watching us.” I exited her aunt’s bedroom and took her hand in mine, leading her into her bedroom. I sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her down onto my lap. I couldn’t explain the strong, unfamiliar emotion I was feeling, but all I knew was I needed to hold her close. She didn’t object to my handling. Her gaze was fixed on my face, and I could tell she was overwhelmed. “Will your aunt be home soon?”
She blinked a few times, seeming to come out of her trance and shrugged. “She’s usually home by now, but she may be out with Jackson.”
“Jackson?”
“The PI guy she hired to investigate my parent’s disappearance. Remember?”