As much as I care about my mom, my personality is like his, not hers. The cold ruthlessness. The complete disregard for emotions.
And maybe it’s better that way. After all, it takes a monster to fight a monster.
Mom clears her throat and Dad finally looks up from his phone.
“Marcus,” he says with that voice of nothingness.
And I nod back. “I thought I told you not to come here again.”
He narrows his eyes as Mom elbows me.
His face relaxes in an instant. “Too bad I don’t take orders from you.”
“Can you not fight the moment you see each other?” Mom sighs. “Just give him the keys and leave, Andrew.”
Dad pulls the keys from his pocket. “Heard you lost your ride due to theft, which wouldn’t have happened if you’d moved to the house I gave you in Graystone Ridge, June.”
“And live amongst people like you?” Mom scoffs. “Not in this lifetime.”
He lets out a breath and hangs the keys in the air. “You can have this one, Marcus.”
“But only if I agree to come to your side?”
He throws a dismissive hand as he stands up, buttoning his jacket. “You’ll do that eventually, whether you like it or not.”
“We’ll see about that.”
He walks into my space until we’re toe to toe, his dead eyes boring into mine. “Is this confidence coming from whatever nonsensical deal you made with Serena?”
I remain quiet. It doesn’t matter that he knows, he was bound to anyway, but he won’t be able to stop it.
Mom, however, is eyeing me closely.
“I’m your father. Hers and yours. If you believe your little games will work on me, you don’t seem to know who you’re dealing with.”
My spine tightens. That’s almost the same sentence Preston used before he burned down my bike.
Then he proceeded to text me like a maniac.
Preston
If you want a new bike, say you’re sorry you overstepped. I can be benevolent and forgive you.
Hey.Are you listening?
Come to Vipers Arena now.
I blocked him.
The next day, he got a new number.
Did you fucking block me? ME?
Are you ignoring me right now?
This bitch. If you don’t reply to me immediately, I’ll cut you into tiny pieces and feed you to your teammates.
I blocked him again.
