Page 129 of Clean Slade
I might be able to pretend for a while when I was with Slade or Mac, but at the end of the day, my life was still a chaotic, bloody mess.
“Results is what I want,” he snapped. “And I’m not getting them.”
“What are you talking about? Everything’s going according to plan.” I looked to my brother for help, but he stared at our father with his arms crossed.
“Plan? What plan? It’s taking forever. I need Salieri now. I’m sick of waiting.”
I wanted to tell him that wasn’t my problem. I wanted to tell him tough shit. I wanted to tell him if he didn’t like it, he could do this himself. But in the end, I went the kinder route, even though I felt anything but.
“Taking it easy is the only way he’ll ever come out of hiding. If we rush things—”
“You need to call him,” he shouted. “You need to pick up that phone and convince Salieri’s guy that you have to meet the boss.”
I shook my head, and it only darkened his expression.
“I can’t do that. It will put everything at risk.”
“I don’t care,” he barked.
“It will put your granddaughter at risk! Are you telling me you don’t care about her either?”
Not that if he told me he did, I would believe it, but maybe this madness that had taken over him would stop if I tugged on his heartstrings. If he even had any.
“You don’t want to call…” He hummed, and I shook my head. “Why? Are you working with him? Have you made a deal with Raymond and plan to stab me in the back?”
I didn’t need a deal to plan on stabbing him in the back, but I had a feeling he didn’t need to hear that right now.
Not when his face was as red as my accent wall behind him.
“Don’t be stupid. Why would I make a deal with another one of you? I’m trying to get rid of you. I don’t need more headaches in my life.”
“Father, you’re being irrational—” Nino started, but our dear father put his hand up, and Nino stopped talking.
“Don’t tell me what I am. No one tells me what I am, or…” He glared at me. “…what to do. Call him.”
“No way. I’m not. I can’t. He already got agitated when I pushed him earlier. I don’t know what he might do if I push again.”
Sometimes it felt like I was talking to a kid. A very dangerous kid, but a kid nonetheless. What was it about Raymond Salieri that brought out this irrational, impatient, unhinged man?
“What he might do?What he might do? I thought you already knew what he was capable of doing. Don’t you think he already knows about you? Why else would he send someone to take Mac?” Tony Sr. asked.
I grimaced. “How do you know about that?”
No one knew about that. Slade had ensured we weren’t seen, and the app on my phone had been paused so my father couldn’t follow us.
“You sent him, didn’t you?”
It had been tugging at me since the incident. I hadn’t believed Salieri would do that. I couldn’t make sense of why he would, but my father? Now that made sense.
“You needed to see what he’s capable of. And don’t think for a moment he wouldn’t do that. I know him better than anyone.”
If there wasn’t any bile in my mouth before, there was now.
“So much for change, huh? You were willing to put your granddaughter in harm’s way to get what you wanted.”
I was so angry that I couldn’t even control my voice anymore.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the disappointment I would have felt if I’d actually believed him.
