Page 21 of Point of Infinity
“No,” she blurted. “Well, not really, but he knew about me. I assumed he knew about my mother’s death.”
She paused and studied my face. I gave nothing away.
“He could have come for me, but he didn’t.” She looked down at the table. “I recognized him before he announced himself the other night. The only picture I had of him was from when I was born. I had no idea who he was, or you or Patrick, either.”
“You never looked him up.”
“It’s not like the Infinity Kings have a website with the officers’ bios.” She giggled and picked up her drink. “Believe me, I checked.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t have found anything.” I shifted in my seat to face her. “We pay someone a lot of money to make it that way.”
“I tried arrest records, criminal court records, Morristown community watch—nothing. It’s like you guys don’t exist, but here you are.” She sighed.
“Yeah, here we are.” I shrugged. “So, what do you want?”
“What do you mean?” She sipped her drink and blinked those beautiful eyes. When I was being lied to, it pissed me off. Why did this woman’s lies make my dick hard?
“You came all this way. What are you after?” I leaned in. “You need money; all you have to do is ask. You looking for family. I’m not sure how open Sonny is to meet his estranged daughter, but Patrick would love more family. He and Dana are tight.”
“She lives in Jersey?”
“Naw, upstate New York. Her mother won’t let her have anything to do with us. We can only go out and see her.”
“Sonny, too?”
“No, Sonny doesn’t even acknowledge her.”
“Wow.” I exhaled. “Glad to know I’m not the only one. What happened between her mom and Sonny?”
“Uh, I’ll leave that for Patrick to tell you.” I held my hands up. “Some things are family business, and I’m not family.”
“I thought you and Patrick were tight.” She shifted to face me. “Like brothers. Sonny called you his son the other night.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t need a substitute father. Mine was great.” I downed the rest of my drink. “Besides, Sonny doesn’t treat his own children right. He only says that because he needs Patrick.”
“What does he need from him?”
“Blind loyalty.”
“Doesn’t he have that? Isn’t that what the ‘club’ is about? Loyalty, family.”
It irked me that she used quotation marks with her fingers to make her point.
“Is that what you’re looking for? Family?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she whispered and wiped her eyes. Maybe the tears were real. The loss and pain in them weren’t part of the act. Maybe she wasn’t playing me. She’d played this role for so long, she couldn’t drop it. She didn’t know when to stop.
That pissed me off.
“Like I said, it’s not a good idea for you to come to the Halloween party, but if you want to meet Patrick for real, I’ll arrange it.”
“What about not getting involved in family business?” She had me there.
“Yeah, well, sometimes I don’t take my own advice.”
“You don’t have to get in the middle of this. It’s fine.” She went to stand up. I grabbed her arm. We both looked at my hand. An electric shock sizzled and threw us in opposite directions, figuratively, of course.
“Please don’t leave.” I patted the seat next to me. “I want to know more about you.”
