Page 130 of Rear View
I stretched my neck and straightened, readying myself, ’cause I didn’t goddamn well know. “The hell’s going on, Peter?”
My father stepped forward, Derek hot on his heels.
“Thought I should introduce myself to your friends.” My old man pivoted, angling sideways to gesture at the cameras.
I tried to pull air, but my lungs seized, refusing to work. Bad. Real fuckin’ bad. My glare locked on him. “What’re you playin’ at?”
He shrugged. “I told you, didn’t I?”
Told me about that payback he’d promised, and he’d called in the media. Christ. I flicked my gaze toward the Parc Ferme. Ryah stood in the entrance, Zoya at her side. My girl’s eyes were wild as they slid between my old man and me like she wanted to do something but had no clue what.
I put a hand out, telling her to stay back.Please, darlin’, just stay back.
One of the reporters shifted. “Your father claimsyou’re withholding information from the WRC that could be detrimental to your career. What do you have to say to that?”
My hands locked into fists.Fuck me.
Alec shook his head. “You’ve got no idea what you’re playing with here, Peter.”
“I’d mind myself if I were you, Alec,” he said. “Don’t want to crash and burn together, now.”
I cleared my throat. “Step off, old man.”
Derek crossed his arms over his chest like he was some prick-faced enforcer.
My father laughed. The kinda laugh that was confident, as if he had the goods to back himself up. ’Cause he did. He stuffed his hands in his pockets like he wasn’t aiming to cut me at the knees. His eyes creased with his grin. “You’ve been pretty tight-lipped around your past. Like maybe you forgot where you came from.”
Rolling my shoulders, I squared to him. “I know exactly where I came from, asshole.”
Derek chucked his chin toward my crew and the cameras. “Do they?”
My mouth clamped shut, jaw ticking. I inhaled a harsh breath, then flexed my hands.
As if I’d given him that answer, the old man’s grin widened farther. My fist twitched, begging to wipe it off his face.
The eagerness in his stare had my gut torquing. “There seem to be a few things missing from your bio, son.”
“Don’t call me son.”
My girl’s copper eyes slid from my old man to me, then to the media circus around us. Her body tensed, that gaze widening like she was exposed. Scared. I needed to get her outta there, away from the cameras and the fallout. Working to keep my voice level, I told her, “Why don’t you go back inside, darlin’.”
Her hair vibrated around her paling face. She shook her head and didn’t move, her small feet rooted to the ground. For me.
My father laughed when some thought hit in those soulless goddamn eyes of his. “None of them know you, do they? Not therealyou.” His face lit up like a kid’s on Christmas. Cameras clicked, lights flashing as he shook his head. He gripped his hand at the wrist. “Not what you’re capable of.”
My adrenaline spiked. I loved what I did, didn’t wanna lose it, but right then, all I could think of was Ryah and how she’d been dragged into my mess. Forced to deal with my old man. Fuck.
“I think it’s only fair they learn, right,son?”
Jesus.Don’t do it, old man, don’t fuckin’ do it!I shook with the savage need for violence as I edged into his space and warned, “Keep your mouth shut, asshole!”
He didn’t budge, no doubt feeling tough since he had backup and an audience. Thought he had me back on my heels, ’cause he did. Then he went straight for my throat when he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Did you tell them you went to prison for framing me?”
Silence dropped like a lead weight.
Ryah’s hands flew to her mouth.
Alec cursed and the media went wild, circling behind me as they shoved their mics in my face and called their questions over one another.
