A bit smugly, I announced, “I have an ultimatum for you. Both of you.”
Ford’s parents sat back, clearly annoyed.
“Here’s the deal,” I went on. “You can get my family out of trouble with the mob, or I can do it myself. Either way, Ford and I are staying together.”
I reached over and took my husband’s hand. “That’s nonnegotiable,” Ford added.
Mrs. Malone was speechless, for once. They both looked incredulous that I had the nerve to show up at their house and make demands. Ford’s father was the first to respond.
“Why would we help you out if you stay with Ford?” he asked, clearly confused. “You know that was the price of our assistance. No divorce, no assistance.”
I was nervous, but I lifted my chin, trying to be brave.
“Because if you don’t help us out, then you’ll be even further connected to the mob. Because I’ll have to give my shares of the modeling business to the Russians. It will replace the money they want from us, but it will also permanently tie them to my family.”
“How is thatourproblem?” Mrs. Malone asked sourly.
“Because as long as I’m with Ford—”
“Which will be forever,” he interrupted, fixing his parents with a stare.
“—then that means your family is tied to mine,” I finished.
I let those words sink in before I continued, the senior Malones eyeing each other uncomfortably. They were smart people—manipulative and sly, yes, but clever—and I was pretty sure they were connecting the dots on their own, but I was going to make sure they knew exactly what would happen if they didn’t agree to our terms.
“Right now the Zoric family and Danica Rose Management have very shiny PR. If someone finds out, years from now, that these payments to the mob have been happening, it will look like business as usual—that is, the kind of business that my father ran under the KZ Modeling name—was still going on.”
I fixed my stare at Father Malone.
“And everyone will assume that you knew all along.”
The plan wasn’t ideal—my familyhadgone clean and I didn’t want to force them into a partnership with the mob—but I was counting on the Malones to have a change of heart after they heard us out.
“There’s more,” Ford added.
His father gave him a look that could have peeled wallpaper. I smiled sweetly.
Ford had told me that morning about his Hail Mary. Because now that we’d figured out a way to be together no matter what, he’d felt his backup plan was something he could share.
The Malones were going to be furious once they heard it.
“I’ve been collecting information on you,” Ford continued. “The documentation I have is somewhat sketchy, but it’s enough proof to turn you in.”
I saw the color in Ford’s father’s face drain away. Mrs. Malone was clutching the arms of the chair she was sitting in as if she was afraid to let go.
“It’ll never hold up in court,” she said, but her voice was squeaky with panic. Obviously, she understood the trouble they were in. I wasn’t sure Ford’s father, with the stubborn set of his jaw, was thinking as clearly as she was.
Ford shrugged. “It doesn’t have to. At the very least, I could leak enough to make things look very scandalous. Enough to ruin your reputations for good.”
That seemed to snap his father out of his daze. “You turn us in, you’re only hurting yourself,” he said, drawing himself up straighter in his chair. “This whole empire I’ve built would be destroyed. All your inheritance, gone.”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Ford said. “I’ve built my own empire, completely separate from yours.”
He was proud of that, and he should have been. He’d worked hard to separate himself from his family name and he would be fine if he had to walk away from MREH for good. He had all the contacts and connections he’d need to start his own business. Maybe even in New York.
That realization was clearly a blow to the Malones, but we weren’t done with them yet.
“There’s still one more thing,” I said.
