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I expected her to go inside and go right to bed. That was the singular comfort I had when I allowed her to walk back into the shithole of a house that I frequently fantasized about burning down.
J: Go to bed.
I watched the chat bubbles dance on the screen but after a few seconds they went away, and she never replied. When my cell chimed again it wasn’t Mia or Rhiannon, only Ben sending me the location for tomorrow’s meeting spot.
“Girl problems?” Owen asked.
“Just drive the car.”
He grinned, wisely keeping his mouth shut. I returned my focus to Marcus as he slipped into his vehicle, barely catching the contrite look on his face.
Owen pulled away from the curb seconds after he did. He remained two to three cars behind so as not to be obvious. I’d half expected Marcus to head home now, but his house was in the opposite direction. He was definitely up to something, and we’d need to move quickly to find out. It was the last kind of deviation I needed.
Instances like this made me wish I could kill him here and now. There weren’t any guardian angels keeping Marcus alive. The girls he and his wife stole, and the unknown location of their warehouse wasn’t a factor either. With my padre’s call a week ago and the texts I kept receiving, both girls were confirmed to be alive, and we’d have their building’s location within the next forty-eight hours.
None of these revelations came close to absolving him of all he’d done. He and the few others arrogantly brandishing his surname had pissed off almost every single one of the collective core families over the past few years.
My famiglia promised to eliminate them that had spared their lives for this long. As one of three hidden heads, it was time for his to roll. Rhiannon would probably be a little pissed at me for this, but she’d eventually get over it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I slept like the dead.
Three alarms beyond snooze along with multiple texts from Audrey and I was rushing around like a madwoman, voice texting her I was running behind.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had such a decent night of sleep. I’d come into my room and locked the door, stripping down into nothing but a tank-top and underwear. I must have attempted to concentrate on homework after texting Judas about Erin. I woke up with titty sweat on top of the literature textbook crushed beneath me.
Suffice it to say I would be bombing the quiz scheduled for today and with how things were going I didn’t have the mental capacity to do any extra credit.
Whoever was truly responsible for the Pesadilla transfer could eat my whole ass at this point. Street smarts were more my thing than books. I’d done alright in public school. This elite prep bullshit was not meant for people like me.
After swiping on some lip-gloss, I exited the bathroom and checked my cell. I had three missed calls from Judas.
Shit.
All of them were exactly ten minutes apart. Mr. punctuality was probably having conniptions right now. I shoved my feet into my shoes and grabbed my bag, flying down the stairs two at a time. I nearly crashed into my dad, not expecting him to be waiting at the bottom.
“Woah.” He reached out and caught my shoulders to prevent us from colliding. “In a hurry?” he teased.
“Dad?” I looked up at his familiar smiling face and felt my heart clench as I registered how tired he looked. I felt an overwhelming urge to hug the hell out of him, so I did. “Where have you been?”
He returned my embrace, wrapping an arm around me and fluffing my hair. “At work. Where were you this weekend, lil lady?”
“I think you and mom both know the answer to that. Since when does work make you ignore all my texts?”
He glanced away. It was quick and almost imperceptible but because I knew to watch for signs of deception, I caught it. This was bullshit. I stepped away from him and crossed my arms.
“You’re going to lie to me too?”
Unlike my mom, he at least had the decency to look genuinely ashamed.
“I never wanted--.”
“Marcus!” The she-devil’s harsh voice cracked through the air like a whip as she power-walked into the room, high heels clicking loudly on the hardwood. “Don’t say more than you need to.”
Dad’s jaw clenched. This was a sure sign he was pissed and uncharacteristically his anger was directed at her. That never happened. Actually, no, if I were to comb back through my memories over the years there was always an underlying tension between them.
It was the same as with me, I’d been convinced they adored one another unconditionally so I never paid much attention, chalking it up to normal marriage woes. Now I knew better. The cute family image I held as a shrine within my mind was beginning to slowly burn away.
