Page 120 of Snitches and Serpents

For a few seconds, all that makes it out is a series of stuttering noises as he trips over his tongue to get the words out.

“You… you,” he splutters. Raising a hand, he shakes his finger in the air with angry, jerky movements. “I get woken up late last night by a fellow mayor colleague who tells me that my daughter has been arrested during his charity event. And you… you… dare to ask for money right now! Do you have any idea how much embarrassment you have caused me?”

“Probably lots. But I don’t really care. You either transfer the money or I will embarrass you further by becoming a true drug dealer.”

Lightning flashes in his eyes. “I will disown you.”

That age old fear and panic rises inside me. But this time, I manage to shove it back down. I am not a people pleaser anymore. If he is disappointed in me, then that’s his problem. His opinion of me does not affect my true worth in any way.

“Go ahead,” I reply, managing to keep a shockingly nonchalant tone in my voice. “But what do you think will sink your career faster? Having a disowned daughter who works as a drug dealer, which the public will know all about, or being privately disappointed in a daughter who is studying political science at Bercester U, who the public still sees as the perfect little daughter you raised?”

He opens and closes his mouth several times. Hesitation blows across his features. It’s followed by a considering look. I just keep staring back at him.

Because I already know that I have won.

The moment that I realized that my reputation is worth more to him than it is to me, I knew that I could make him do whatever I wanted.

Anger and indignation still crackle in his eyes, and he grinds his teeth for several seconds as he glares down at me. Then, at last, he breaks. Just like I knew he would.

“Fine,” he grinds out. “What’s the specific amount?”

Victory pulses through my whole soul like sparkling light.

God, I feel like I could climb mountains.

If I had known how incredible it would feel to stand up for myself, I would’ve done it years ago.

I grin. This was the best case of two birds with one stone I could ever have dreamed of. I stood up to my dad. And I now have enough money to pay off Rob Bracken so that neither Tristan nor I will ever have to work for him again.

We will never be trapped again.

42

TRISTAN

After everything I have been through, I thought I was above feeling nervous at this point. But as Elle and I walk into Bracken’s office, my heart is slamming against my ribs. We’re so close now. So close to being out. Being free. So close to having it all.

What if he refuses?

What if he says no?

What if, even after all that we have overcome together, even after all that we have become to each other, even after all that we hope for each other, what if it’s not enough?

Dread rolls through my stomach at the thought of it, but I swallow it down. Regardless of what happens, I will make sure that Elle is safe. I will give Bracken whatever he wants, as long as he swears to keep Elle firmly out of this. She deserves a life of only freedom and joy from now on.

Watching her stand up to her dad back in that parking lot was one of the most satisfying things I have ever seen. I wanted to beat the son of a bitch into an unrecognizable pulp for how he spoke to her, and for how he has treated her all her life, but I also know that she would’ve been furious with me if I interfered. That was her fight. Her moment to finally push back. And she needed to be the one to do it.

Now that she has done that, however, I might pay Mr. Summers a little visit on my own. I need to make it clear to him exactly what I will do if he ever dares to speak disrespectfully to my Elle again. I don’t care that he’s her father, if he makes her cry one more fucking time, I will break every bone in his body and then make him grovel on the floor for her forgiveness.

No one will ever again make her feel like she is anything less than utterly fucking perfect exactly the way she is.

Electricity shoots through me as Elle’s hand brushes against the back of mine. The soft touch jolts me back into the present. And suddenly, even though we have just come to a halt in front of Bracken’s grand desk, all I want to do is to slip my hand into Elle’s and hold it tightly.

Bracken would see it as a silly and weak gesture. But in that moment, I realize that I don’t fucking care.

Lacing my fingers through Elle’s, I give her hand a squeeze.

She flicks a glance at me, looking surprised. I just give her a small smile. Then I turn back to face Rob Bracken.

---