Viper nodded, then took out his burner from his back pocket. He looked down at the screen, then pressed a few numbers before he offered it to me. “He uses a different line for cleaning calls. It’s ready when you are.”
My hands were trembling as I took the phone from him and pressed the button. Grayson and the rest of the brothers were watching as I stood there waiting for him to answer. Seconds later, my father’s voice came on the line, and he said, “Hey there, Viper. It’s pretty late. I’m guessing that means you’ve got a job for me.”
The words were right there on the tip of my tongue, but I felt like my throat was closing up, and I couldn’t speak. I suddenly regretted telling Viper that I would be the one to call my father. I was trying to think of what I should say when I heard my father ask, “Viper, are you there?”
“It’s me, Dad.”
“Kiersten?”
“Yes.” Having everyone’s eyes on me was only making it harder to talk, so I stepped away from them and started walking down the hall as I said, “It’s me.”
“But this is Viper’s number. How did you get his phone?” Sounding utterly confused, he asked, “Is he there with you?”
“Yes, but that’s not important right now.” I glanced over my shoulder, and just as I expected, everyone was still watching my every move. I tried not to think about it as I continued, “Right now, I need you to listen to me. I’m in serious trouble here, and I need your help. I need you and your men to come here and do what you do.”
“What do you mean by ‘do what we do’?”
“I know, Dad. I know all about ‘your work.’ I’ve known about it for years, but right now, none of that matters. Right now, I need you. There’s been trouble here tonight, and I was hoping you could come and make it go away. Can you do that for me?” I heard my voice tremble, and I feared I might break out into tears again. I didn’t want that to happen. Not now. I swallowed hard, pushing back all the emotions that were raging inside of me as I asked him once more, “Can you come and help me?”
“Send me the address, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay, thank you, Dad.”
He didn’t respond. He simply hung up the phone and ended the call. In all the years I’d known my father, he’d never once fussed at me or told me I had disappointed him. I’d never really given him a reason to—until tonight. I feared once he’d seen the Manor and all the mayhem that had ensued, he might never look at me the same. Feeling completely lost, I carried the phone back over to Viper and said, “He’s on his way.”
Seventeen
Country
As soon as Billy and his crew arrived, he put on his hazmat suit and went straight to work. He didn’t speak to anyone—just Viper, and even then, it was all business. Cut and dry. He wouldn’t even look in Kiersten’s direction. I wasn’t exactly surprised by his reaction. The guy had to be pissed that his daughter had kept this part of her life a secret from him, but he’d done the same to her. They’d both made a mess of things, but in the end, they loved each other and that trumps a few secrets—or at least I hoped it did, for both of their sakes.
When Riggs showed up with Shadow and Blaze, Kiersten knew we had things to discuss with them, so she went to the kitchen to give Doc a hand with Braylon and Lynch while we met with Fury in the old church. We brought them all up to speed on what had gone down with Drake and all his bullshit and how we’d called Billy in to clean up the mess. After hearing us out, Riggs shook his head and said, “I gotta say, I’m surprised this Drake kid had the means to pull all this off. When I looked into him, he just seemed like your average college kid.”
“You looked into him?” Viper asked, sounding just as surprised as I was. “When?”
“He came out to the Manor a few weeks back and was snooping around. When Braylon caught him, Drake said he was there looking for Kiersten.” Riggs shrugged. “She thought him coming out to her place was just part of his fixation with her, and I found no reason to believe that wasn’t the case.”
“And you didn’t think to tell us about him coming here?”
“I know it looks bad, Viper, but I assure you that I thought the matter was resolved. Otherwise, I would’ve come to you with it, or the very least, dug a little deeper and found out more about him.”