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“Nope. And it probably won’t be the last.”
“So it’s true, then? Money can’t buy everything?”
“I won’t lie to you, Brad. Money can buy a damned lot of things. But when it can’t, a threat to a person’s life will get the job done.”
“You wouldn’t have…killed him. Would you have?”
“I haven’t had to take a life yet.”
I haven’t had to take a life yet.
Interesting words. They seemed to imply that he would take a life if he had to. I hoped like hell I was wrong in my interpretation.
“I meant what I said. I am sorry you had to see that, but you did have to see it. Do you know why?”
I shook my head. “I can’t even begin to imagine.”
“I won’t be around forever, son. You know my health situation. When I’m gone, you’ll be responsible for this family. Not just for your wife and kids, but for your mother also. My legacy will become yours.”
“I know that. I’m prepared to take all of that on.”
“I believe you are, which is why you had to see what happened at the good doctor’s office.”
I gulped down another drink of the burning liquor. It clawed down my throat, scorching a trail of ash in its wake. My father’s use of the words “good doctor” was blazingly sardonic. A good doctor wouldn’t have pulled strings with Wendy in the first place. When you’ve already sacrificed your integrity, it’s easier to do it again.
And again.
I regarded my father.
How far had George Steel gone? Doctor, I assure you I’ve gotten away with worse. Yet he said he’d never taken a life. What was worse than taking a life?
I suppressed a shudder.
“Are you saying I’ll have to do that someday?”
“Why do you think I taught you how to handle a gun?”
“Because it’s a good skill to have.”
“You’re right about that. I think I just proved it.”
“I want to be able to defend myself. Defend my family. I don’t plan to use a gun to threaten someone.”
“Don’t think of it as threatening,” Dad said. “Think of it as protecting your loved ones. That’s what I did. Wendy is a threat, and I protected you, Daphne, and your unborn child from that threat by making sure she’s kept drugged. You know as well as I do that she’d find a way out of that place if left to her own devices.”
I nodded. In a warped way, my father was making sense, which was scary as shit. What was scarier was that I could totally see his point—especially where Wendy Madigan was concerned.
She was volatile, and she was skilled with weapons—thanks to me.
I might have to defend my father’s legacy the way he did, but I’d do better for my own children. I’d teach them the way to make a living honorably, without the need for guns.
This fucked-up situation would end with me. I’d bury all my father’s ghosts once he died, and I’d leave a life of peace for my wife and family.
I’d succeed, no matter what I had to do.
Which meant I had to put an end to the Future Lawmakers once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Daphne
“Excuse me,” Mazie said. “I need to get that.”
I left the family room. I didn’t want to intrude on her phone call.
“Daphne,” she called me back in a few minutes later. “It’s for you, dear. It’s Brad.”
A smile split my face. “Doesn’t he want to talk to you as well?”
“Goodness, he told me that he and his father are fine and then asked for you.” She smiled. “Makes perfect sense to me.”
I took the receiver from her, and then she walked out of the room.
“Hello.”
“Hi, baby.”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you too. Is Mom treating you and your mom okay?”
“Of course. She’s great. She’s already put together an amazing little wedding for us.”
“That’s Mom, all right.”
“I think she’s really happy about all this, Brad. I know our timing kind of sucks, but it seems to have made your mom happy. She’s already talking about us having a houseful of grandkids.”
“We will.”
“I’ll tell you what I told her. I’m only eighteen. There’s no hurry.”
“Oh, Daphne,” he said, “I forgot to tell you.”
“What?”
“The house. It’s ours.”
My mouth dropped open. “What house? This one?”
“Yeah, the ranch house. My father deeded it to me. We’ll live there. With that houseful of kids my mom wants.”
I looked around the vast family room. This was ours?
“Think about how you want to decorate it,” he said. “You can have it any way you want.”
“Brad, that’s silly. It’s beautiful the way it is. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Like I said, whatever you want. If that’s what you want, we won’t change a thing.”
“Good. My parents are paying for the wedding, by the way.”
“Daphne…”
“My mom insisted. Your mom offered to foot the bill, but my mom gets pretty stubborn sometimes.”
“I can’t imagine that,” he said sarcastically. “Her daughter is nothing like that.”
