I grab the vase from Mateo’s hand. He lets me take it. “Here you go, Father.” I throw the vase as hard as I can at his feet. The sound of it shattering is as gratifying as the strangled scream that comes from him.
23
Mateo
It’s like déjà vu. Ceramic shattering. Milly’s eyes open wide. But now it has the addition of Howard Rutherford looking like he’s just been struck with a lightning bolt.
I pull Milly behind me, and she presses her forehead against my back. “I can’t believe I did that,” she whispers.
“What have you done?” Howard Rutherford is still staring at the mess around his loafers, his mouth wide open.
“I’m marrying Mateo. I’m leaving. And you are going to leave us alone.” Milly’s voice shakes, but there’s still power in her words.
“You are doing no such thing!” he bellows. “I never should’ve let you go to college. This is what happens when a woman gets an education. She makes a goddamn mess!”
“Whoa.” A younger man, whom I presume to be Henry, opens the door and strides in, the henchmen at his back peering inside before he slams the door in their faces. “What’d I miss?”
“I broke his vase.” Milly leans over and accepts a side hug from her brother while Howard and I engage in a staredown.
“Oops.” Henry laughs and walks over to the minibar, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.
“You’re going to pay for that.” Howard steps toward me, the antiquity crunching beneath his feet.
“No, I’m not. I’m never working for you again. Your contracts are for shit.”
“I could have you killed. Right here. Right now.” Howard glances at the door.
“Yikes. It was just a vase, Dad.” Henry pours his drink down his throat and makes himself another.
“That wasn’t just a vase, you idiot. It was priceless!”
“Your daughter is the only priceless thing I’ve ever found in this world. The fact that you don’t realize that makes you far more of an idiot than your son.”
Milly squeals behind me, then steps out so she can look at her father. “Do you hear that? Do you hear what he thinks of me?”
“He’s only using you to–”
“No. He’s not. You’ve made me believe that no one would ever want me. You were wrong. You’ve been wrong this whole time. And maybe you did it on purpose so I wouldn’t ruin your plan to marry me off to the highest bidder. I don’t know, but Mateo has shown me that I’m a strong, smart, beautiful woman. You’ll never take that away from me.”
Howard narrows his eyes. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I can’t take those silly ideas from your head, but I can certainly kill the man that put them there. Tony!”
The door bursts open and a handful of men with guns file into the room. Milly’s grip tightens on mine.
“You’ve destroyed the one thing I wanted. Twice.” He grits his teeth, and I can’t tell if he’s talking to me or Milly. Not that it matters.
“This seems to have gotten out of hand quick. Am I right?” Henry sidles up to his father. “Maybe we should all go outside and take a breather before we–”
“Shut up, Henry!” Howard booms, his face red. “Go back to your whoring and drinking and leave the real work to me.”
“Ouch.” Henry takes a gulp of his whiskey. “Unnecessary but point taken.”
“Milly is mine. You’re never getting her back. She’s free of you.” I hold his gaze, challenging him.
“Tony, take this piece of shit out back and put a bullet in his head.”
“No!” Milly tries to grab on to me as Howard’s men pull me away. Henry wraps his arms around her and holds her back. “Wait, Dad!” he starts yelling as Milly screams for me.
I don’t fight. Not even when Tony jabs the barrel of his pistol against my ribs. I thought it might come to this. I hoped it wouldn’t, but Milly’s father is a complete piece of shit. Nothing can repair what he’s done or the way he’s treated her.
“You can kill me!” I yell over the din. “But then you’ll never get the real Mesopotamian vase!”
“Wait!” Howard stalks to me, his men still firmly gripping my arms. “This one wasn’t real?”
“Of course not.” I glare at him. The old fool. He’s about to trade me something beyond worth for a piece of clay.
“Where is it?” he snarls.
“Somewhere safe. Let me use my phone.”
He eyes me for a long while, then jerks his chin. The grip on my right arm lets up. At least three guns are trained on me as I reach into my pocket and pull out my cell to FaceTime Mrs. Verne.
She answers right off. “How’s meeting the parents going?” She smirks as Scarab presses his whiskered face into the camera.
“Just as well as I thought.”
“That bad, eh?” She scoots Scarab from my desk.