“Frankie?” He furrowed his brow. “Cute name. Anyway, I’m afraid Torrie and my grandson are my business. So, I do need to know about anything that destroys their happiness. When someone comes along and disrupts my family structure, hurts the people who are important to me, it does matter greatly to me.”
“Since when is your family important to you? You’re just getting involved in this to fuck with me because you’re disappointed that you can’t control me anymore. And Frankie’s done nothing to hurt anyone. My relationship with Torrie wouldn’t have lasted. My happiness with someone else is none of anyone’s concern.”
“You think you really know this woman? You’ve turned your entire life upside down for someone you know nothing about.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I know everything there is to know about her. She’s a kind, beautiful human being and a phenomenal teacher. And I knew her years before any of you ever found out about her.”
“What if I told you that I have proof that you have no real clue whom you’ve been getting involved with all of this time?”
Anger was penetrating my bones. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I did a little research on her.”
That was code for a thorough investigation.
“You had no right to do that.”
I seriously wanted to injure my own father. His connections meant that he could get access to almost anyone’s most personal information very easily. I knew he was full of shit, though. There was absolutely nothing he could have dug up on Frankie that would have come as a surprise to me. But the very fact that he even tried to do that was disturbing, to say the least.
“You might want to take a look at this.” He handed me a manila envelope.
I snatched it and looked inside, finding a series of articles from a Philadelphia newspaper. The dates were all from the 1990s. One headline read: Freddie Higgins Charged in McCabe Murder.
“What the fuck is this? What does it have to do with her?”
“It’s your girlfriend’s family album.”
I sat down, staring at the papers. “What are you talking about?”
“Francesca O’Hara is the illegitimate child of Karen O’Hara and Freddie Higgins, a convicted felon currently serving life in a Philadelphia penitentiary for murder.”
“Frankie doesn’t know who her father is. She doesn’t even know his name.”
“There’s a copy of her birth certificate there as well. You can see Frederick Higgins is listed.”
“She was born in Boston not Philly. How do you know this is the same Francesca O’Hara? There are probably many people with that name.”
“Do you really need to question my ability to verify information, Mackenzie? You know I have my ways. This has been authenticated by multiple sources. I can tell you everything you need to know about this girl, whom you’ve thrown away your family for. She currently lives on Cambridge Street in Boston, went to South Boston High School, graduated from Boston University. What else do you want to know? I’ll tell you.”
Filled with dread, I now suspected that there could be truth to this; I just didn’t want to believe it.
“Okay, so what if this guy is her actual birth father? She’s had nothing to do with him. What’s your point? What are you gonna do?”
“I’ll do nothing if you do the right thing, do right by your family. This will stay between us.”
“You’re blackmailing me?”
“If you continue to see her, continue to live your life separately from your family, this could go public—that you’re dating the daughter of a reputed mobster. He’s a convicted murderer, Mack. These people are dangerous.”
“You’re lying. You wouldn’t let this get out. You wouldn’t allow something like this to come out and ruin your precious reputation.”
“You’re missing the point. It’s not my reputation that would be at stake if this came out. It’s Frankie’s life. Do you realize how many people Freddie Higgins must have pissed off? Karen O’Hara had to flee Pennsylvania with her family to protect, not only them, but the life of her newborn child. I don’t think you want to take the risk of this getting out. If these people find out that he has a daughter and figure out her whereabouts, she immediately becomes a target. The crime family of Freddie’s victim is still very much active today. It’s a huge criminal network, spanning from southern New Jersey to northern Philly. In fact, it’s larger today than it was back then. You talk to anyone on the streets there, and they know who Freddie Higgins and Timothy McCabe are. All the information is in that envelope. I wish I could say I was making it up, but I’m not.” He pointed his finger at me. “No one will find out about her connection to Higgins if you stop seeing her and focus on your family.”