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Adrian paused for a long moment, then nodded. “Yes,” he said definitively. “I do.”
“Good,” his father replied. He took a step forward and looked over Luke’s shoulder so what’s all this about?”
“It’s the new place,” Warren answered. “We’re crunching numbers, trying to make it work.”
“Ah that,” the man said. He stared some more, before adding casually: “Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“Don’t have to what?” I asked.
“Move.”
Luke scoffed. “And why not?”
“Because I took care of things, just like I said I would.”
Fifty-One
KAYLA
In the silence that followed Adrian’s father moved to one side of the room, then settled back into the comfort of the leather couch. He hoisted one leg up over his opposite knee and sighed. “Got anything to drink? Water or soda, or—”
“What exactly did you take care of?” Adrian demanded.
“I talked to John Payne,” his father shrugged. “Not the little snot-nosed whelp he sired, but the big guy.”
“And he listened to you… why?”
“Because we go way, way back,” Adrian’s father replied. “All the way back, to before any of you were born.”
The news was astonishing to me. Judging by the looks on the other’s faces, it was the same for them too.
“I pulled his ass out of the fire once, too,” the man went on. His gaze unfocused for a moment, as he called up a old memory. “A reallybigfire. He still owes me for that and he knows it.”
Silence followed, bridging the gap between decades. For several long seconds, it stretched uncomfortably out before us.
“W—What did he say?” Warren eventually stammered.
“Well for one, he had no idea what his son was doing over here,” the man said. “When I told him, he nearly shit a brick. More like a cinder-block, really. Then he called Junior into the room and backhanded him so hard I think he went cross-eyed.”
“Wait,WHAT?” Adrian demanded. “He hit him?”
“Likereallyhit him?” I pressed.
“Yup.”
“With hishand?” Luke trailed off skeptically.
“Yes, with his hand,” Adrian’s father continued. “Knocked him flat on his ass. Made him tell him exactly what he’d been doing to you, and therealreason he bought the property. He signed off on that, by the way.”
Warren opened the mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. He handed it to Adrian’s father, who smiled graciously.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Why would he sign off on buying the property if he didn’t know Junior was pushing us out?” Luke asked.
“Because he thought you were selling the place,” he replied. “He was told you were looking for a buyout, and you’d agreed to lease the land from them a few years more while finishing some projects. Then Junior planned on opening a second garage and expanding. Or that’s what he told his father, anyway.”
I shook my head in disgust. “He lied.”
