“Bitch,” he roars, holding his dick. “Get in that room and do what you’re told. Your father will expect payment to be made.”
I rush out of the room and stand in the hallway. What the fuck! That’s what the phone call was about this morning. That bastard wanted to make sure I here, to once again pay a debt he isn’t willing to pay. My stomach turns and I rush to the bathroom. I make it to the sink just in time for my coffee to come back up. I splash water on my face and look in the mirror. The woman I know stares back at me. Angry, sad eyes look back. To say I hate my father is an understatement. I want to see him dead, watch him gasp for his final breath. Hear him beg for his life, all at my hands.
“Hurry the fuck up,” Sal shouts, banging on the door.
I never should have come back.
Disgust, anger, and guilt. That’s what I feel as I stand in the shower. I’ve scrubbed my body three times and I still feel as dirty as I did an hour ago, when I walked out of the room. The room, as it’s called is a fucking room with a bed and nothing else. It’s where I’m sent to pay off the debts. There are no windows and the door is locked from the outside. When I was a kid, it was the scariest place in the world. I feared nothing more than being locked in that room, waiting for a man to take his payment. They always came, always took what they were promised. No different from what happened today. Only now, I feel like Zane will know. He’ll know and it makes me sick to my stomach.
After spending a good hour trying to get myself clean, I get dressed in jeans and a tight black sweater. I brush my wet hair, thinking about what happened today. Thinking about how my father uses me like property, and how Sal was so excited to see it happen. The more I think, the more pissed I get. I twist my hair into a bun, and slam the brush down. I grab some clothes, throw them into a bag, get my keys and rush out the door. I drive right to Club Kingsley and I smile when I see the parking lot is empty.
I go inside and lock the door behind me. I’m grateful that everyone has left and I only turn on the light in my office. If anyone drives by, they’ll think I’m busy at work. I use a flashlight to go into the back, into my father’s office. I begin going through everything. All the drawers, all the file cabinets, coming up short. There’s nothing. He literally has paperwork for the employees here and that’s it. Fucking smart man.
I look around the office and notice his safe. Getting up, I grin because I know the combination. Not because that prick gave it to me, he’d never do that. One day when I was a kid, I was listening by the door and he told it to one of the girls he was banging. She was killed shortly after, so I decided I’d never open it. It scared me to think of the secrets and lies in it. But right now, it makes me smile.
I get the safe open and I pull out the first folder I see. I open it and my hand flies to my mouth. Picture after picture of me. Not just me, but me in the room. All the horrible things that have happened to me, staring right back in my face. File after file it’s all the same. I feel sick to my stomach and anger grips me tightly around my neck. What kind of sick son of a bitch does this? Why the fuck would he keep these? Everytime I think it can’t get worse, it does.
As I put all the files back, I shine my flashlight around the room. That’s when I notice a bag stuffed behind the filing cabinet. I go to it and when I reach inside, I pull out a mask. A mask just like Adalyn said the men had on. I fucking knew it.
I hear something and I rush to close the safe, stuffing the mask down my shirt. I go out and toward my office and I notice the noise I heard was Zane driving by. Fuck. I grab my phone and call him.
“Hey,” he answers, with a coldness to his voice.
“Hey, I’m finishing up here. I need to meet Ivy and switch cars and I’ll meet you at Souls,” I rush out.
He’s quiet for a minute and with everything stirring inside o
f me, I’m losing patience. “Yeah fine.”
He hangs up and I feel defeated. There’s no one on my fucking side. My father is a cold hearted sick son of a bitch, that doesn’t care about me, clearly. Zane is pissed because I’m not rushing back to him, but what the fuck does he expect? If he had any idea what happened today, what I’ve been through he might change his tone. Although, maybe it would just disgust him and he’d treat me like the trash I feel.
I drag myself outside and call Ivy to do the car exchange. I can’t even be bothered to talk to her, I just change the keys and go. My head is a mess, my body feels violated, and my heart is becoming more jaded.
When I put my seatbelt on, I realize I still have the mask in my shirt. “Fuck,” I yell. I take it out and throw it in the back seat. I’m done with everything, I need to get drunk. I need to do something that will make me forget, even if it’s for a little while.
Chapter 11
Zane
I’m sitting in the chair smoking a cigarette watching Harper sleep. Something is going on with her. I’ll admit I was pissed I didn’t hear from her all day and even more pissed when she was still at her club when it was almost midnight. I was ready to go at it with her, but when she walked in with a bag, looking more defeated than I’ve ever seen her, I kept my mouth shut.
She didn’t say a word to me. She changed into one of my shirts, climbed into bed, and went to sleep. I’m certain she was awake for a long time, but I didn’t bother asking. She felt the need to hide and I gave it to her.
I want to push her, ask her what the fuck happened, but I know better. She’ll unleash her anger on me and I won’t get anything from her. Brooks is furious. He wants results and he wants them yesterday. Between him and Harper, I didn’t get any sleep. I have so much shit I need to figure out and neither of them are making it any easier on me.
I decided today Harper and I are getting the hell away from here. We’re going to have dinner with my mom and we’ll spend the night at my house. She needs to be away from the club, maybe that’s the problem. I know I need to be away from Brooks before I put a bullet in his fucking head.
A light knock on the door grabs my attention and I open it. “We need you at the table,” Porter says, glancing in at Harper.
I nod and close the door on him, grabbing my smokes and kneeling down by Harper. “I don’t know if you’re awake or not, but I need to go take care of some stuff. I’ll be back soon,” I whisper and kiss the top of her head. She doesn’t move, but I’m still not sure she’s asleep. With a sigh, I walk out, locking the door behind me.
I get to the table and we sit around waiting on Kace and Reid to get here. “What’s up?” I ask Brooks.
“Reid said they need us at the table,” he says, leaning back in his chair.
Reid called him and Kace didn’t call me. What the fuck is going on? I’m starting to feel like I’m being left out of something and it’s pissing me off. Before I can say anything, Kace and Reid come rushing in.
“This better be good, I need to meet with the realtor,” Brooks says.