“Right now I really don’t give a shit what day it is. Why are you curious about your father?”
“Why did he work for you?” Paige asked, evading the question.
“You father was a good soldier. For a long time I really thought he was loyal to me, but I was proven wrong about that.”
“Dad, what’s going on?” Donnie asked, coming into the kitchen.
“I gave you more than enough time to find out everything I needed to know. You failed, and now I’m taking matters into my own hands.”
What the hell? Was Donnie only nice to her so that he could get information at her?
“What are you talking about?” she asked, looking at her stepbrother.
The mask he used to keep his emotions at bay came down. She’d watched him doing it the last two years, and now, she saw him doing it again. What was he hiding?
“Your father used to work for me. He was a rather loyal soldier, always aiming to impress, and always trying to become part of The Family. When he failed to move up the ranks, he decided to go out on his own.”
She really didn’t want to know this. Whatever Anthony had to say about her father, it wasn’t going to end well. “What did my father do?”
“Everything we told him to. We asked him to take care of a shipment of women, he did it. Guns, drugs, the casino, he handled it all, and we all trusted him. Then, all of a sudden, a shipment of coke worth over forty million fucking dollars went missing, not to mention the entire payment we’d given him to make the payment for the drugs.” Anthony stepped closer to her. “And you’re going to tell me where it is.”
“Why do you think I know where it is?”
The card and Dad told me not to say anything. Holy shit!
“Sharon told us that you and your father were pretty fucking tight.”
“So? A lot of daughters love their fathers.” She glanced over at Donnie, and she watched as his jaw clenched. He’d used her. Their friendship wasn’t real. It was fake. All the time he’d tried to get her to talk about her father was just to find out what she knew. It wasn’t real; it wasn’t concern. She wanted to hate him, and to also believe what she was saying to herself. Donnie hadn’t done anything wrong to her, and she hated it.
What about the kiss?
He’d only been using her to get what he wanted. What his father had ordered him to get from her.
“No, I want to know where The Family’s money is.” Anthony reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. Her heart stopped. It had to have stopped. There was no fucking way she could think right now, staring down the barrel of a gun. Fear gripped her. From the way he was holding that gun, he was used to using it. “Now, you’re going to fucking tell me what’s going on.”
“Anthony, she doesn—”
“Shut the fuck up, cunt.” He cut Sharon off, pointing the gun at her.
“I don’t know anything. My father didn’t tell me anything.” She couldn’t tell him about the bank card. That one card was her only hope of getting away from this nightmare, or they could kill her.
“You’re lying.” He put his gun away, grabbing hold of her arms, and drawing her close. She cried out as his grip tightened on her arms. “I’ve always found there are ways to make bitches like you talk.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. She couldn’t handle this or the pain.
“Anthony, let her go. She’s my daught—”
He released her long enough to backhand her mother. She watched Sharon cry out, holding her face. “Shut your fucking filthy mouth. You want to continue living the good life, you’ll keep your disgusting mouth shut, and do exactly what I fucking tell you to do.”
Her mother wasn’t going to help her. If the past few months had taught Paige anything, it was the fact her mother loved living the good life, the high life, and no one was going to take that from her.
“I don’t know anything.” He shoved her back against the wall. The pain was instant, shocking her from the impact. She screamed out as Anthony slammed her against the wall again.
“Tell me what you know!” He yelled the words in her face.
The pain was about to go beyond anything she could take; she sensed it. Anthony didn’t give a shit about her. He never had. She was merely a means to an end. An end that her father put in motion when he stole from The Family, and gave her the bank card filled with the money that he stole.
Her own father had put her at risk.
“I don’t fucking need you around,” Anthony said.
The tears that were in her eyes spilled out. Happy Birthday to her.
“Dad, stop.” Donnie’s firm, calm voice broke into the snapping of his father. She didn’t look away from Anthony, too afraid to take her gaze off a monster.