Page 65 of Fragile

And BOOM! WTF? I felt like someone had just lit me up with a match and my eyes darted to my old man who had suddenly gone even paler.

“What is he talking about?” I snapped, pushing to my feet. My father too did the same, now looking deathly white.

Gerard’s annoying yet sinister chuckle rolled over my bones. “Oh dear. He doesn’t know, does he.”

“Know what?” I barked over the table, my eyes never leaving my father’s sallow face.

The Don’s words drew my eyes back and what he said next felt like someone had kicked my feet from under me.

“Why that your father is a dying man of course.” And just like that, the wind was dragged from my lungs.

I watched as Garrett swayed slightly on his feet. “I’ll speak to you later Gabriel,” he said. His eyes held a silent warning that I wasn’t to lose my shit in front of these guys.

“Fine, whatever, I assume I can see myself out?” I snapped, my head whipping towards Gerard’s muscle.

“Of course. By all means, unless you want a lift back to your apartment?”

“No, I’ll walk, thanks. It appears I have a lot to process.”

“As you wish,” Gerard replied with a smile.

I left the office, almost holding my breath, the shock that my father was unwell, and I hadn’t been made aware of it was like a kick in the face. Did my mother know? Asher certainly didn’t and why hadn’t Garrett told us?

Weakness. That’s what it was about. He never showed weakness. I wondered how Gerard had found out, probably by having him followed.

As I forcefully closed the office door behind me, Kai had Gerard’s stepdaughter against the wall. He wasn’t holding her there, he just stood in front of her delivering some type of lecture. She was leaning back against the concrete, in his huge shadow with her arms crossed over her chest and a strange smirk on her face, clearly not giving a shit. Good for you sweetheart.

“Looks like you’ve got your hands full there Kinlan,” I mocked as I passed by them.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, Knight.”

Then paying them no more attention, I left my father’s building with the stain of my mafia confrontation eating into my gut.

Now what?

I caught a taxi; it had started raining and I didn’t do rain. I shoved Gerard's paperwork under my arm so it wouldn’t get wet. I would still read his shitty offer, not that it would make a lick of difference.

Thoughts of my father bloomed in my head. Was he going to die, what had he got, how long did he have left? I didn’t really care that much for me or my brother, but my mother would be upset.

As the cab pulled up and I swiped my card to pay, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I climbed out of the vehicle and swiped the screen.

I had a message from an unknown number.

Did you get my package?

It was cryptic but it didn’t take a genius as to who it was from. I keyed in my reply. Yes. I have it right here.

Have you decided what you are going to do with it?

FFS. I’d literally just left the premises twenty minutes ago and already the fucker was pressurising me. I blocked the number out of principle and set off for the lift to my apartment.

I suddenly felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I just made it home in time as the heavens opened and a crack of thunder lit up the sky.

The sound echoed the chaos going on in my head.

I was fucked.

When I got back to the apartment, I felt an urgency to see Leonie. Hear her sweet voice and check she was OK after the attack, but she wasn’t there. I felt like a shit for leaving her when she was still considerably dazed, but I’d needed to calm the hell down. Ash wasn’t in either, so I plonked myself at the table and opened my laptop. Maybe he’d taken her out for supper or something. He wouldn’t have just left her alone, surely?

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