AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I bet.” He crosses his arms and, with his sleeves rolled up, I get a glimpse of the same burn mark currently hidden underneath the bandage on my wrist. The Porterson’s family crest. He must have been branded with it when he worked for August. “But what I really need to know right now is what you’re good at besides being interesting. Because, while you’re entertaining, I can’t see any use for you that would help pay your dad’s debt to me.”
Use for me? Like he wants me to work for him too?
No, I can’t work for two mobsters. I’d lose my ever-loving mind and probably eventually get killed. Sure, I’m tough, but I have some sanity left.
Then again, what’s the other alternative? Because I really doubt I’m just going to be let out of here if I don’t convince him I’m awesomely useful.
“Entertaining can be useful, Daddy,” Amelia chimes in, sliding off the sofa and lowering her feet to the floor. “In the right circumstances.”
Axel’s gaze sharpens as he glances at his daughter. “Why are you even here, Amelia? I’ve been wondering that since I walked in the door.”
“I came on behalf of Hadley,” Amelia explains, inching toward him. “Please don’t be mad, but there are a few pieces of the story you’re missing.”
Axel looks bored and annoyed. “This isn’t a storybook, Amelia. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“I promise I don’t think it is anymore,” she swears, sketching anXacross her chest with her fingertip. “I swear on my heart.”
Anymore? Does that mean she used to think we were living in a storybook?
“I’ve told you to stop saying that shit,” Axel says. “It makes you sound like a child.”
“Sorry, Dad.” She lowers her hand to her side and wrings her hands in front of her. “But if you’ll just hear me out, I think you might reconsider punishing Hadley.”
Axel stares her down with such hatred I actually pity her. “Very well.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” Amelia rushes toward him, stands on her tiptoes, and whispers something to him.
As she does, Axel’s attention zeroes in on me, his expression undecipherable, but nonetheless, still unnerving. They remain that way for a while, with Amelia whispering who knows what to him and him simply staring at me. No one in the damn room so much as makes a noise except for Austin groaning. I almost get up to go check on him, but my gut instinct begs me to stay put.
Once Amelia is finished whispering, she steps back and turns to me with a grin on her face. Then she walks back to where I’m sitting and takes a seat beside me, close enough that our shoulders touch and I can smell the scent of her perfume. Cherries with a splash of vanilla.
Cherries and vanilla …
Blurry memories surface again.
“You want something to eat?” a girl asks, and the sound of her voice makes me cringe. “I’ve got some cherries.”
“Don’t feed her that,” a boy replies, and a calm sweeps through me. “She’s got to be starving by now.”
“Oh, Blaise, you’re always so sweet,” the girl says through a cheerful squeak.
I blink from the memory.
Blaise.
Blaise?
What the hell was that?
What happened to me?
I want to force my mind back to the past, force myself to remember, but Axel speaks and draws me back to reality.
“Tell me, Hadley.” He steps toward me with his hands in his pockets. “How much are you aware of the mess your dad’s gotten you into?”
“I know a bit,” is all I say, way off my game as fragments of memories swirl through my brain. I try to make sense of it, of what happened to me, but they’re all voices and dark shadows, nothing I can interpret.
“You understand that he double-crossed me when he chose to work for me and August?” he asks, and I nod. “What about the bags of money and drugs he stole from me?”
