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Understanding arrived on Ash’s face as he took in the drinking, the clothes, and the fact that we were standing in Las Vegas. “You gambled it.”
The dismissive shrug his father gave him made my stomach turn.
“Had a bad run.”
“All of it?”
“What fucking difference does it make?”
Ash’s face changed.
It wasn’t the money. For years he’d handed over payment after payment because he’d convinced himself each one purchased another month of safety. Friday night he’d paid five times the usual amount because his father had threatened me.
Less than two days later, all that fear had become chips on a casino table and disappeared.
Ash took a breath that seemed to hurt. “I’m not giving you anything else.”
His father laughed as though Ash had made a joke.
When Ash didn’t join him, the amusement slowly disappeared.
“You don’t tell me no.”
“I just did.”
Quiet.
Steady.
I had never been prouder of him.
His father lurched forward, and security immediately blocked him. The movement seemed to remind him of my presence because his bloodshot gaze shifted toward me.
“Well, look at this. Captain to the rescue again.”
Ash went rigid.
His father noticed. Of course he did. He’d spent years learning exactly where Ash was vulnerable, and alcohol hadn’t dulled that particular instinct.
His mouth curved unpleasantly as he looked between us. “This why you’ve suddenly grown a pair? You think because you’ve got him now, you don’t need to worry about me?”
“Stop.” The quiet desperation in Ash’s voice snapped the last thread of my patience.
I looked at security. “Get him out of here.”
The guard reached for him, but Ash’s father twisted away and started laughing.
“What? He doesn’t know?”
Ash stopped breathing beside me.
His father saw the reaction and understood immediately that he’d found something he could use.
“You haven’t told him, have you?”
I stepped closer to Ash, but before I could say anything, his father looked directly at me.
“Ask him about his mother.”
