Page 43 of Clean Slade
“I’m not getting mixed up in your world again. I’ve got a daughter to consider.”
“This used to be your world too,” he said as if that made a difference.
“That doesn’t count. I was born into it. I didn’t know how wrong it was until you took my best friend from me. I’m not doing it. I’m not gonna be your pawn.”
He crossed his legs and hands and smirked.
“If you do this, I’ll let you live.”
I opened my mouth to tell him to shove his offer down, but I paused.
“Do you mean it?”
I knew he didn’t, but I needed him to think I did.
“You think I want to kill my son? Just do as I say, and you won’t force my hand.”
I got up and walked over to him.
I’d love to reach for his gun in its holster, to kick him to the ground and put a bullet through his head, but I knew trying it meant certain death.
“You got yourself a deal,” I said.
At the very least, this gave me more time to devise a plan to bring my father down, something I hadn’t had before.
“Great. It’s good to have you back.” He seized my hand and squeezed it so hard I was sure he’d break my bones, but I’d be damned if I let it show. “The boys will take you back to Mayberry Holm. I’ll send for you when I need you.”
I nodded and turned, unable to believe I was walking away from him with my life intact.
“Oh, and one more thing.” I stopped. “I’d like to meet my little Alessia.”
“Over my dead body.” I snapped around. “Her name is Mackenzie, and you’re never meeting her.”
My father stretched his hands and smiled.
“Those are my terms. Take them or die.”
Fucker.
“Fine,” I said.
I turned my back on him again and vowed to get my revenge. Maybe it was always meant to happen this way. Maybe we’d never be safe until I rid the world of this scum of the earth, and this gave me the opportunity to do that.
I just had to be smart and play my cards right.
And brush up on some old skills.
ELEVEN
SLADE
“Where are we going? Where is my daddy?” Mac hugged the stuffed crocodile and watched me in the rearview.
She was getting more and more agitated, not that I could blame her. I just needed more time. More time to think.
I had to ditch the car somehow and worry about the rental company later. If they’d followed us to the retreat or spotted me in town, we couldn’t keep the car.
I still had no idea how they’d found us. We hadn’t been tailed. I knew we hadn’t been. I’d taken every precaution in the playbook. It had to be something else, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think what that was.
