Page 19 of The Associate

I glare at him. “Who are you anyway?” I ask, my eyes narrowing.

“I don’t have to give you my name, little girl,” he begins, but then I hear the movement of Mason stepping closer. To intervene or to get a better vantage point, I’m unsure.

“Atlas!” I hear my father call from the door of his office. “What is all this goddamn commotion out here!”

I smile as his eyes widen at the sudden voice of Sal, his body going stiff. “Well, you better tell him, Atlas,” I spit his name.

“Nothing Sir, nothing that is of your concern,” he responds, still blocking my view of my father. “I will resolve the issue and remove it.”

There is no sound of my father moving and the big guy in front of me stays put, feet still planted in the same spot. All Mason can do from behind me is laugh. “Viper?” my father questions. “Why are you here and where is Genevieve?”

“She is right here, Sir,” he responds.

I raise a brow at Atlas. “Are things starting to ring a bell to you now big guy?”

“Genevieve?” My father makes his way down the hallway.

“I am right here, Father,” I say, smiling as Atlas’s cheeks go red and his head dips ever-so-slightly. “I was on my way down to see you but Atlas here is blocking my way.”

As my father nears us, his body shakes with the red-hot anger that possesses the majority of his life boils through him again. He raises his hand, striking Atlas across the face, and, if I am ever going to see a grown man cry, it’s today.

The emotion in the air is so thick you could cut it with a knife — my emotions aimed at my father are not helping the situation. Atlas’s jaw bobs up and down, as if he is trying to say something but the words won’t come out. My father just glares at him until he turns and retreats.

As my father turns towards me, his stare softens slightly and he tilts his head, leading me towards his office. I follow, my shoes staccato against the floor. Mason starts following too but my father holds his hand up, telling him to wait outside. He grunts in disapproval but leans against the wall.

I hear the click of the office door closing into place. The click that signifies me alone in this office with my father, unprotected.

“Why all the commotion out in the hallway?” he asks as he walks behind his desk and sits in his oversized chair.

“Well, I don’t need to use the hidden passage anymore.” I shrug. “And it’s not my fault that half the dimwits in the place don’t know who I am.”

He only nods, then glances down at the papers in front of him, reading over the words. It makes me feel more at ease around him because it means that his focus isn’t fully on me.

“But the main reason I am here is to get information,” I continue, keeping the shaking out of my voice. Being in the same room as this man makes me uncomfortable and I hate that I am in here alone.

“Ok, what information do you need?” he asks, his features calm and unreadable.

“Firstly, who have these threats come from?” I lean forward, my elbows resting on my knees. “If you don’t tell me now I will find out eventually and I’m pretty sure there are ways to persuade your men into telling me.”

He blinks once, considering what to say. “Blackmere.”

“Why would Blackmere be after me?” Knowing that Blackmere are the ones who protected my mother and me, I find it hard to believe they would be threatening my life. Unless the threats aren’t about me and more about taking me back from my father.

I sit up straighter, eyeing my father, trying to see if there is anything else behind his cold eyes.

His left eye twitches slightly. The old man is becoming more paranoid by the day. I know that the Blackmere Mafia has a new boss. He is only in his thirties. He is young, fresh. So maybe they aren’t really threats, but more the new Blackmere boss wants me for himself? Combine the two most powerful gangs and rule both Blackmere and Murwood as one? It isn’t a bad idea, but it isn’t a great one either — my mother signed a contract stating that we would always be protected by Blackmere regardless of who is running the organisation.

Tonight I will have to sneak in here to find those letters. I know this level is always quiet at night, from my nights of sneaking in. I’ve always heard everyone on the next level up either partying or fighting. There is never anything in between the two.

“They have their reasons, which is why when you are outside of this property line you are to be accompanied at all times.” He coughs. “Preferably by Viper. He is the one I trust the most.”

“But why, Father? What do they want with me?” I glare at him. “I feel this is vital information.”

He just shakes his head. “You will find out in due time, child.”

When he calls me a child it makes me feel like I am ten again. Always being told what to do and that children should be seen and never heard. It pisses me off and he knows it does.

If I said a word when I was younger he would hit my mother for not keeping me in line, but it would always be behind closed doors, never in front of company, and this meeting with him right now is giving me a sense of déjà vu. “Well, then can you do one thing for me?” I fold my arms across my chest.

---