“Good.” She kisses my collarbone. “You still have to earn that.”
“I look forward to trying.”
Chapter27
Brice
Carmine drives us back to the manor after we make sure Cassidy’s okay, but we didn’t even need to bother—she was already awake and enjoying a nice, leisurely room service breakfast on her little balcony.
“I messaged my friend Lanzo before we left,” he says, staring grimly straight head as we wind up the manor’s long driveway. “He’s the hacker I told you about before and he has proof that your father’s been in touch with the Russians.”
“What are we going to do with that?”
“I don’t know,” he admits and glances at me. “I think that’s up to you.”
“I want to talk to him first.” I stare straight ahead as the manor comes into view. It’s enormous and splendid and a testament to my family’s strength, and I hate it so much. I wish I never had to see this place again, and yet here we are, making one more pathetic trip back to see my family. “I want to know why he’s doing it again. Why do something he knows is going to get him in trouble?”
Carmine parks and looks at me. “He’s an addict.”
My eyebrows raise. “He’s what? Seriously?”
“He’s like a gambling addict. He’s addicted to the rush of getting close to the jackpot but never quite reaching it. He’s addicted, and he’ll do it over and over and over again until someone breaks that addiction. He’ll never do it himself.”
I lean back and blink a few times, trying to make sense of that, but it matches. The Daddy I knew back in the day wasn’t the best father in the world, but he wasn’t a selfish egomaniac like the guy is today. Carmine’s right, Dad’s addicted to the thrill of power and the risk that comes with it and there’s no way he’s going to change his mind.
This is a farce. I know it’s a waste of time, and yet I’m still so brainwashed by my family that I have to at least talk to him one last time before I let Carmine’s friend Lanzo pull the trigger and send Daddy to prison for good.
We get out and head up the main steps. The housekeeper lets us inside and directs us toward the sitting room but I brush past her and head toward Grandpa’s office. He looks up with alarm as I pull the door open and hesitates, his hand over the receiver of his phone.
“Where is he?” I ask.
Grandpa knows who I mean. I feel Carmine looming behind me.
“Out back,” Grandpa says. “By the pool. Wait, what are you—”
I don’t wait to hear what he has to say. I stalk off down the hall and Carmine’s heavy steps follow after me. He catches up and touches my elbow but doesn’t try to slow me down. “Are you sure about this? We don’t have to go down this road at all. Give me the word and I’ll text Lanzo and this can be done.”
“I have to talk to him,” I say and stalk forward, my stomach an ugly mess, but determined to do the right thing.
It’s been me and Daddy forever, ever since Mommy died, and some stupid part of me thinks I can salvage whatever it is that we lost in the years since I went to college and he went over the deep end. I know he doesn’t care about me and I still want to try because there’s still a shred of me left that wants to be a part of the Rowe family.
Daddy’s sitting in his usual spot next to the pool at the little table under the umbrella. He squints over as we approach and this time he lowers his laptop lid without having to be asked. He’s in a polo shirt and slacks and leans back with a smile as I slow and stop a few feet away with Carmine right behind me.
“I’ve got to admit I’m surprised to see him here,” he says, nodding at Carmine. “You’ve got some nerve bringing him around.”
“Daddy, I know what you’ve been doing, and I want you to stop.” I blurt the words out and regret it almost immediately but I can’t try to be soft about this. If I’m soft then he’ll write me off the way he always does, and I’m done being walked all over. I’m very aware of Carmine, and his presence gives me strength.
“Do you?” He squints and tilts his head. “What do you think I’ve been doing, daughter?”
“The Russians. The schemes. Daddy, please, I’m here to beg you to stop. I know that going to jail is scary but you won’t have to do too much time and once it’s done, it’ll be all done. You can come back to the family, go back to work at Rowe Oil, you can have your life back. Just please, stop this.”
He sits there and stares at me. His smile doesn’t slip like he really thinks this is amusing. Carmine’s a big bundle of nerves and energy behind me, and I get the feeling he wants to burst over and beat my dad to a pulp. Some part of me wants that to happen too.
“Honey, with all due respect, I still don’t think you know what you’re talking about.” My heart sinks as he looks at Carmine. “You know all about prison, don’t you, gangster? You have more than a few friends behind bars as we speak, I bet. Would you go to jail?”
Carmine only says, “Talk to her. Not to me.”
Daddy laughs and holds his hands out. “Come on, sweetie. You can’t be serious, right? If I go to jail, they’re going to kill me in there. I’ve got enemies, hon, lots of enemies, and I won’t survive being locked up, but I can fix things. If I can get the money—”