Page 56 of Mine, Forever

“Ebony best not find out.”

“Keep her busy,” I said. “She needs to learn the business anyway. Use that as an excuse.”

York nodded. “Sure. One more thing… Nic is back in town and wants to meet.”

I turned to York. “When?”

“Tonight.”

I sat back in the chair. This couldn’t come at a worse time, but that was Nic’s M.O. She lived to inconvenience me.

“Set up a meet. At a restaurant… away from Ebony.”

York nodded again, standing up. “I’ll take her to the clubs tonight and introduce her to the business we do there. It should wear her out enough not to ask where you are later.”

“Good, are you picking her up from the prison?”

“In an hour.”

York left closing the door behind him. If there was one person I didn’t want to see, it was Nic, and now she was back. Something she had always promised, and yet this was still a surprise. Her arrival could mean only one thing.

EBONY

My heart was in my throat. The prison doors opened, and I was escorted past wired fences where men were working out in an outside gym on one side. On the other, I copped leers and jeers from men offering disgusting actions to me. It was to be expected. This prison was home to the worst of the worst. These men would never see a woman again. Of course, they’d be excited to see one walking through the gates, but it still made me feel filthy.

Finally, I was led into a building with guards stationed everywhere. Not one of them paid attention to me which I liked. I’d always been anonymous around my family. Since meeting Jett, I was never anonymous which was great, but I missed being a ghost. Sometimes I just want to blend in.

The guard taking me around, Pierce, opened the door to a room with a table and chairs in the center of it. I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it. It was all so cold and bland, just like Serenity had been. The table was steel with little loops on one side for handcuffs to be looped through. The chairs were basic and cold. A two-way mirror was on one wall and a window in the door.

“You have an hour.”

I looked back at Pierce who closed the door behind me. I could see there was another door by the mirror. Was that where he would enter? Moving into the room, tensing when he closed the door, a distinct click telling me it was steel, and I was locked in here to face my situation. I was about to see my father for the first time in a decade.

My stomach was fluttery as I took a seat and brushed my fingers through my hair. What if he didn’t want to see me? What if he wasn’t the man I remembered? I felt sick to my stomach. Luckily I hadn’t eaten today, or this room could smell worse than it already did.

The other door opened, and a man walked through fully dressed in an orange jumpsuit and chains connecting his cuffed hands to his waist and shackled ankles to the long chain connecting from his waist. He was gray-haired, something I hadn’t been expecting. Last time I saw him he had a full head of black hair. The guard leading him into the room wasn’t nice about pointing him in the direction of the table. His face was haggard and worn, stress lines marred his forehead, and his bare arms were poorly tattooed. I could clearly see the saggy skin around his elbows and wrists where he had once been fit and healthy. It was almost like looking at a complete stranger, definitely not my father.

The guard unshackled him and removed the cuffs allowing my father to rub his sore wrists as he looked over at me. Those same black eyes I had inherited shone back at me with recognition.

“Jesus, you look like my mother.”

Just that one sentence had me shaking with unshed tears for the past decade. He recognized me and didn’t look like he was going to shun me.

“Daddy.”

He took my hands in his and squeezed. “Don’t cry, Eb. It’s okay. I’m so glad they let you see me.”

“Me too,” I sobbed. “I’ve wanted to see you for years, but they never let me before.”

“Yeah,” he said, a frown crossing over his features. “About that… why did they let you see me? No one is allowed to see me, part of my punishment and all that.”

“I have friends,” I told him, drying my eyes, knowing I needed to be a hardass. That was who Jett had turned me into, and this behavior was fucking disgusting. “One in particular.”

“Who could get this for you? Ebony, are you being stupid with your life?”

The concern in his eyes was heart-warming, but the tone in his voice was aggravating. I pulled my hands back, anger mounting inside of me.

“What I do with my life is my choice.”

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