Page 52 of Forbidden Girl

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, man. I’d put my life in your hands, and I know my secrets are safe with you.”

“I know. Thanks for saying it.”

“Here’s good.” I make him stop the car at the top of my block. I don’t want him any closer to my house or my dad than he needs to be. I tug my bag from the back seat. “If you can run Jules’s suitcase to Rose, I’d appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

“I’m not sure how all this is gonna go, or how long it’ll take to orchestrate. All I can say is I’m hoping that I get to stay after it’s done.” And maybe that the world will be safer with two treacherous men removed from it.

“Same.” He wraps his arms around my shoulders, pulls me into a hug. “You’re hella brave and hella smart. You’ve got this.”

I don’t wait for him to drive away. I have to move before my determination starts to waver. It’s a 500-foot stroll to the brownstone that, a handful of days ago, every part of me was determined to never walk into again.

The march is automatic. My body functions without conscious thought. Before I realize it, I’m up the front porch, one hand on the brass filigree doorknob, the other sliding my key into the lock. The click it makes as it turns is strident—louder than a gunshot.

The house is still. Eerily so. It’s not normally teeming with excitement, though there does tend to be a predictable flow of my dad’s associates coming and going. He’s showy, likes to entertain, likes to flaunt the promise of excess to his underlings, like, “Work hard, kill a few people, and someday you too can have a two-million-dollar manse stocked with expensive liquors in crystal decanters.” There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with wealth; it’s the way he and Patrick Calloway went about attaining it that is all sorts of fucked up.

“Dad, are you home?” I check the living room and the kitchen, head up to his study. The door is closed, per usual. I give it the shave and a haircut knock. It’s his signal that it’s me on the other side of the door. He responds with two bits before opening. Or he used to. Not today. The door flies open sans ceremony.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the pup running back to the leader of the pack with her tail between her legs.”

You smug bastard. I ball my fists but stave off the impulse to lash out, or to turn around and saunter right the fuck back out of his miserable life.

“In case you were unaware, I took care of Teague Calloway. He’s alive but won’t be giving me any more shit.”

He squinches and his glacial demeanor thaws. It was a test. He was goading me to see how I’d react, if I was in fact a scared puppy seeking the big bad wolf’s protection. He understands now that is not the case. I am not here because I need him. I’m here because I choose to be. He welcomes me into his scared space, leads me to the familiar leather chair. Instead of sitting on the opposite side of the desk, he takes a seat beside me.

“I was sure I’d never see you again.”

“I was pretty damn sure of that, too, after you fired a gun at the woman I love. You have Juliet to thank for me being here. She reminded me that you’re the only parent I have left. You should more than thank her, you should kiss her ass in Macy’s window.”

He goes hmm. “She’s a discerning girl.”

“Don’t mistake her sensitivity for forgiveness. She hates you for what you did at the funeral. I hate you for it, too. I don’t care what happens to Calloway or Teague or any of their shitbirds, but if you ever try to hurt Jules or her mother again, I will ruin you. Do you understand me?”

He’s not a man who takes threats lightly. Nor is he a man who shows fear. But I am the last person he ever imagined he would have to fear. “I do. You love this girl the way I loved your mother. I would’ve burned this city to the ground for her. But you know you can’t be with her, right?”

Unaccustomed as I am to it, I have to lie and make it beyond convincing. “No, I can’t be with her. You showed me how unrealistic it is to want a fairytale ending in real life. Don’t expect a thank you.”

“I accept that. But your lapse in loyalty needs rectifying. Are you willing to help me sort things out with the Rossis? Elisa was very hurt to hear that you were with someone else. Alfonso was none too pleased, either. He’s a romantic. You know how Italians are.”

“Yes. And if I do, can we forget all of this ever happened? I don’t want to do menial tasks for you anymore. I want to see the books; I want to know about every single cent and all the inventory we have. I want to be ready for the reins when you hand them over to me.”

He’s surprised and a touch impressed. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I don’t want your business, I’m just all you have. When it’s mine, I’m going to run things very differently. I do like the money, and I’m going to clean it up.”

“When it’s yours, you can run it however you want.” He grins. “We can move forward if you answer one question honestly. You warned Alistair I was coming for him, didn’t you? He’s gone off-grid. Ben, too.”

I was waiting for that. I have a prepared response. “Did you think I wouldn’t? There were times he was more of a father to me than you were. Remember all the back-to-school nights and basketball games you missed that he showed up for? I couldn’t stop caring about him. You had my loyalty by default. He had it because he earned it, and because you encouraged it.”

He folds his arms across his chest and taps his left bicep. “That is a fair point. He stepped in a lot when I couldn’t be there.”

Wow, an acknowledgment of weakness. “You’re still hunting him though, aren’t you?”

“I gave you the leniency you asked for with Ben because he never wronged me. Alistair has. Egregiously. I am who I am; don’t ask me to be someone else.”

There’s the Callum Monaghan I know. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Tigers can’t change their stripes, but their teeth can be removed. “I have some information for you that I think will help me make amends for Alistair. But, before I give it to you, set up a meeting for me with Alfonso and Elisa. I want to take them to dinner.”

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