The asshole swallows.
“She’s dead now, Dad.”
He stays silent a moment before rising from the sofa and collecting his empty bottle. “You want a drink?”
“No, thank you.”
His sudden departure to the kitchen doesn’t sit right—not when I’ve struck a nerve. This man has never backed down from a fight, and now after one unsettling word from me he’s turned tail to gather himself? I don’t think so. Is somebody else here? Does he call someone to come get me?
I slide the burner phone free underneath the jacket and lift the lapel to see the screen.
My obligatory sperm donor appears oblivious to what I do as he re-enters with a new drink. “Way I see it,” Dad announces, settling down again, “is that the ongoing debt means we’ve got a bit of an issue.”
“Youhave an issue, you mean.”
His glare cuts. “Wehave an issue. She was your family too.”
“But it was your debt, Dad. I didn’t ask for you to borrow money from the Devil’s Breed.” My heart flutters in my throat, adrenaline the only thing keeping me alert at this point. “That was Mom’s arrangement, not mine.”
“Maybe so, but you couldn’t do shit to help her without me, so the way I see it is you’re as much at fault.”
Bastard.
“What made you think running to them crowned fuckers for help was a good idea?”
I glare at him. “How did leaving me in a human trafficking system help?”
“It would have got the debt gone and both of us off the hook, but you’ve gone and fucked it all up now.”
And there it is.“How?” My thumb holds the edge of the jacket closest to me a little higher so as not to obstruct the phone. “Why is me sitting here, free, such an issue? What did you do?”
I backed him into a corner, and he knows it. The moment the realization that his daughter outsmarted him crosses my father’s face, I feel a sense of relief I haven’t in a long time.
For once, I’m on the winning side of this bullshit.
“Tell me, Dad. Why can’t I just walk away from this and leave you to pay them off?”
He looks toward the front window, jaw working side-to-side.
He was handsome in his younger days, still is. I can see why my mom was attracted to him. But all that brawn and good looks mean nothing when you allow your heart to be corrupted.
“You sold me, didn’t you?” I prompt, frustrated he’s too much of a coward to say it. “That’s how you cleared the debt. You never wanted me there to spy. Me working in their bar was part of the deal, wasn’t it?”
“It was fucking easier than dealing with Smoke for the next however many fucking years,” he gripes. “That asshole loved to lord the goddamn debt over me, and I’d had enough.”
“So you sold your only child to be trafficked to save your ego?” I fight to keep my words level.
Fight to stay upright. To keep the phone unobstructed, hoping like hell this wasn’t all for nothing.
He needs to say it. He needs to say the actual words.Yes, I sold you.
“How much did they give you for me?” I ask, hoping the details are enough to cement his guilt.
“Enough.” He huffs. “But it don’t matter if you’re no longer there, does it? Because they paid for nothing. Without you, they’ll reinstate the debt and probably add tax for the fuck around.”
My head swims. “Do you feel bad at all?” My voice is as small as I feel in the moment, nearly as insignificant.
“I learned a long time ago to take emotion out of my decisions, Jenna.” He meets my eye. “Maybe that sounds cold toyou, but it’s the only way a man like me can hope to keep it all together with the things I’ve done. Been made to do.”
