Page 47 of Heartless Sinner

“Maybe so, but I’m not leaving you. I need to find a way to get some money, then we can leave town.” I messaged Lucy earlier and she said she’d call me later. I know she’ll loan me the money, but I won’t ask for too much. She’s already given me money and refused to take payments when I tried to pay her back. “I coulddo my cleaning job in the morning then work at the diner for the whole day and ask if I can get paid early for the week. That would be a grand in our pockets if I get it. Then we could head to Louisiana. To the farm.”

That’s the best idea I can come up with, but going to that farm is a risk on its own. It was Grandma’s. My uncle runs it now.

He and Dad fell out over the inheritance. He worked things so Dad got next to nothing after Grandma died and he took the farm.

“I’m not going to the farm. Your uncle would sooner see me dead than inside that farm.”

“We could try.”

“And what do we do when Anton finds us? My brother and I may not see eye to eye but I’m not taking this kind of danger to his doorstep. He has kids in that house, Scarlett. Anton won’t hesitate to kill everyone.”

Shit… he’s right. And now I feel absolutely awful that I didn’t think of the children. Uncle Miles has four kids. The eldest is thirteen. The youngest still in nappies. The other two are eight and ten. Realistically, they’re all babies.

A car drives past outside, its headlights sweeping across our living room windows. I freeze, holding my breath until the sound of the engine fades into the distance. When I look back at Dad, his expression has shifted from worried to calculating.

"We can't just sit here waiting for Anton to come back." My voice sounds small, even to my own ears.

"No," Dad agrees. "We can't."

“We need something to buy us some time,” I rasp, bringing my hands together.

"I think we already have that," Dad speaks slowly. "Micah Delarosa’s presence here seems to have kept Anton away. At least for the moment."

My chest squeezes but a little spark of hope flutters in my heart. "Do you think so?"

“Yes. I think that’s the only reason he’s not here yet. I don’t know much about Micah, but I know he’s powerful. Whatever was supposed to be on that chip would have been worth millions. It would have been worth enough for the Nexxus guys to give us a big payout. I sense that he’s way above Anton in the food chain.”

A chill runs down my spine as I remember the way Micah said if I’d known who he was, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near him.

The thing is, I still don’t truly know him. But I think Dad is right. You wouldn’t just stop chasing a three-hundred-and-forty-thousand-dollar debt if nothing was stopping you. "Anton’s scared of Micah.”

Dad nods. “He’s wary, at the very least. But that fear will only last for so long. I think he’s checking things out and seeing what connection we have to Micah. Then he’ll be back. When he comes back, I don’t want you here.”

“Dad—”

“Scarlett, don’t argue with me. You know this shit is exactly why your mother left me.” He bites down hard on his bottom lip.

“How on earth can you say that?”

“Because it’s true. I’m not powerful like these men who think they rule the world and she knew I was never going to make it big the way she wanted. She was right. Look at me—fucking useless.”

“Dad, that’s not true.”

“I couldn’t even protect myself or you. Men broke into our home and beat me up in front of my daughter. We’re just lucky Micah let us go.”

Lucky.

No. I think I had something to do with Micah’s decision to let us go.

The answer was in his kiss. But I can’t talk about that.

“Dad, Mom was… not a good person. You stayed and took care of Johnny and me. You were a real father. A real parent. She wasn’t.”

Nothing will ever remove the memory of my mother leaving. I will always remember the day with perfect clarity. How she lied and said she was going to the market. How she looked as she lied.

The first inkling that she was lying or about to do something horrible came with the lie. She wouldn’t normally leave Johnny and me in the house by ourselves, but it was like she stopped caring that day.

I remember the car that picked her up and the man inside. She hugged him and kissed him, then they drove off. It wasn’t until Dad came back from work that night that I realized things were never going to be the same again.

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