CHAPTER9
For the restof the meal, we eat in silence. Father talks to the waitress, but I don't utter another word. Once I finish my last bite, I stand.
“I’m surprised you didn’t order dessert,” he says.
“No thanks. We’re done here.”
“Are we?”
I nod. “And if you show up at my dorm room again, I’m going to call the police. I mean it. I’m even going to see if I can get a restraining order on you. If not, we’ll I’m going to try.”
“I haven’t done anything that you can claim that would make the police willing to do the paperwork.”
I shrug one shoulder. “Maybe I have my ways.”
“I doubt that very much,” he says dryly.
I flare my nostrils. He can go ahead and underestimate me. That won't change the fact that I'm willing to do anything and everything to protect my mom and myself. Kyle, too, of course, but I will lie if that's what it takes to get the restraining order.
Hell, could we have gone that route with Mom? Sure would’ve been a lot cheaper and easier than relocating to Europe.
But honestly, my father’s a mobster. What makes me think he’s going to listen to a restraining order? He might have the police in Sinking Springs in his back pocket, but his realm of influence can’t extend all the way up here, can it?
“And as for my computer…” I lift my chin.
“Do you honestly think I would do something so trivial as to mess with your report to cause you to get a terrible grade?”
“I do believe that, yes.”
“Perhaps I did, but you can’t prove it.”
“I don’t need to prove it. I know you did it, and that just shows you—”
"It should show you that I can do anything that I want and not have anything done against me."
“Oh? Because I’m that much more willing to cooperate with you.”
He snorts. “I will get what I want.”
“You can convince yourself of that, but it’s not true. Mom is forevermore out of reach for you.”
“So you think, but you don’t have a crystal ball.”
“And you do?”
“I do.”
“Because money.” I roll my eyes. “Money only gets you so far. What about happiness?”
“Don’t you see? That’s why I want your mother back.”
“Likely story. If you truly loved her, you wouldn’t want her anywhere near the war.”
“You think you’re so smart.”
“Guess I get that from you because you think you’re so damn smart too,” I mock.
My father smiles, and honestly, it looks genuine. "I do appreciate your wit, Katie. Believe it or not, and I know it's not, but I have missed you. The house is so quiet without you. More than anyone else, your voice, your laughter, you used to fill the house with so much light. I loved that. I miss it."