The man stops walking and I find myself scrambling to stop behind him to avoid running into his back. “Please make yourself comfortable in the study. Mr. Mathers will be along shortly,” he tells me before holding his hand out and indicating towards a room that looks like it’s come straight out of a movie.
An old wooden desk sits before three, massive bay windows with couches and a bar. This room is his study? Holy shit. It’s bigger than my fucking house. I mean, who needs a fucking bar in a study?
I pace the floor nervously. What was I thinking coming here? Thinking something and actually doing it are two very different things.
I should bail. Definitely bail. Nothing good could come from this. I’ll find Ari another way.
I walk across to one of the massive windows and look out. It’s a long fucking drop if I was to jump. “I wouldn’t,” comes a deep voice from behind that has my skin crawling with memories of being dragged off into the woods of Maxen’s property. “If the fall doesn’t kill you, the dogs will.”
I turn around to find Anton Mathers striding towards me and he really doesn’t look too pleased to be seeing me standing in his home, uninvited. I find myself unable to speak but it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t really give me a chance to shoot anything his way. “Henley Bronx. I would like to say it’s a pleasure to see you here standing in the middle of my study in your dirty boots, but it’s not. Why are you here? I thought we had handled our business.”
“We did,” I tell him. “I’m here for an unrelated matter.”
“Let me guess – your little sister. Aria, is it?”
My eyes narrow on the bastard. “How do you know about my sister?”
“Do you forget who you’re talking to? I have connections everywhere, including the sheriff’s office. I know about your sister the same way I know that you lied about my gun. Lucky for you, I was able to get it back before your boyfriend’s little stunt could cause any damage.”
Well, shit. I wasn’t quite expecting that.
“I…um.”
“Spit it out, Henley. I have an empire to run.”
“I need you to find my sister,” I say, rushing it out. “I know you have all the connections and I don’t doubt your people could find her a lot faster than the cops could.”
Anton arches an unimpressed brow. “You’re right about that,” he says, “but no. I’m not interested.”
I stand my ground, clenching my teeth for how this monster before me could simply just say ‘No, I’m not interested.’ This is a little girl’s life in the balance. How could I possibly be related to this animal?
“You couldn’t even do one tiny favor for your daughter?”
That gets his attention. Anton straightens as he studies me closely. He’s quiet for a moment before raising his chin. “How the fuck do you know about that?”
“I found an address listed for my brother and checked it out. It was Gina’s home before she went away. I found birth certificates and DNA results confirming that you’re my father.”
Anton leans against his massive study desk, crossing one leg over the other as he rubs his jaw. “I sent my men searching for those documents. They tore that place apart yet you just stumble across them?”
“Not really,” I tell him. “Your men are just fools. They were in a false drawer hidden within her bedside table. I mean, it’s not exactly rocket science. You need to train your men a little more.” Anton narrows his eyes, clearly not enjoying my lack of respect when it dawns on me. “You’ve known all this time? Even when Gina gave me up to my dad. You knew I was never his.”
“Of course, I knew. You think Gina could possibly run a DNA test on me without my knowledge. I knew the results of that test even before she did. That fool. She could have had it all. She could have had my protection, but she proved to me once and for all that she’s nothing but a whore.”
Hmmm, I guess I could kind of agree. After all, she’s in prison due to her prostitution ring, not to mention she cheated on her husband with my father in a rundown bar.
“I’ve been keeping a close eye on you all these years, Henley,” Anton tells me. “You wouldn’t have believed my surprised when I pull a gun on my errand boy only to find my daughter launching herself at me to protect his worthless ass.”
“He’s not worthless,” I shoot back at him. “Noah is twice the man you’ll ever be.”
“I don’t doubt that,” he mutters. “Why is it you think I let him go?”
“You told me it was because you realized how wrong you’d done by him. His sister was very sick and you used him.”