Sheryl is looking at me as if I’m going to help her. What she doesn’t understand is the fact that her grandson is a monster. What she doesn’t understand is the amount of bull shit he has put this woman through and the fact that she’s in a hospital bed because of him.
I don’t say anything to her since it isn’t my place. I want to tell her to leave, but I shouldn’t. Her family is here.
However long he is here is up to him. It is up to him if he continues to be a little fucker.
“Have the police been here yet?” I asked Audrina’s family.
Andreas nods and points off to the side of the waiting room. I follow his directions, and he immediately changes. I can tell he was trying to remain calm around his parents.
“What the actual fuck?” Andreas growls at me with rage dripping from his words.
“Look, bro, this is fucking crazy. He has to be dealt with or he will keep coming back,” I state the obvious.
He’s pissed, and I am, too.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we’re going to have to talk outside the hospital,” I inform him.
Chapter Nineteen
Stavros
We’ve been in the hospital for a little over an hour, and I’ve already received a phone call from one of my father’s trusty lieutenants. I knew from the beginning that going back to the family meant I was in it.
I resigned to my fate and would only have done this for Audrina.
In junior high school, I started realizing my father wasn’t like the other dads at school. He wore suits a lot, always had his hair coiffed, and liked his appearance as someone in control. Most of the other dads of the students worked in blue-collar work and would come to school to talk about what they did for work. My dad refused to go, and there was no way around it.
It was ninth grade when some kids were fucking with me because I hadn’t hit the growth spurt yet the others were getting. I came home from school with a black eye, bruised ribs, and a fractured hand. I didn’t want to tell my dad what happened because I knew he would have been off if I let something get this bad and didn’t handle my business.
Instead of spending the time to talk to me about it, he kicked my ass. He kicked my ass all over the house because I let someasshole kids jump me without putting up much of a fight. After he kicked my ass, he excused himself.
I remember waiting for him to come home; it was about midnight when he did. His knuckles were banged up, but the smile on his face told me he had handled something. He told me the guys wouldn’t be fucking with me anymore.
The next day at school, I was given a wide berth and a lot of apologies from the kids who jumped me. After that moment, I realized my dad’s name must mean something. He did something for me that helped me grow, and I did appreciate it.
The following year is when things changed. Only a couple of people, who were his trusted lieutenants, would come to the house. I always found it interesting when they would show up in the newspaper the next day, either killed or in prison.
A lot of the kids at school would tell me rumors about my dad, and I ignored them until my Uncle Tony was murdered outside of our house.
“We’ll see you later, Uncle Tony!” I yelled from the kitchen while stuffing chips in my mouth.
“Let me know if you need anything from the store, Stav. I’ll be back in a little bit to help your dad,” Uncle Tony called back.
As he walked out the door, I heard the screeching of tires and the noticeable sound of gunshots being fired. I’m jumping out of my seat and running toward the door to see Uncle Tony lying in a pool of blood outside my door.
“Dad!” I scream. “Dad! Come quick!”
My father ran over to us, and I could see the blood vessel in his neck pulsate from where I was kneeling. I tried to touch my uncle to see if he was still alive, but there was something inside of me that told me not to.
“Stavros, get inside and go to your room. Lock the door and don’t come out until I tell you to. If the cops come, you didn’t see anything or hear anything. You got me?”
I nod.
“No, you need to answer me.”
“Yes, Dad.”