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I shove the images in my mind aside and tell myself tofocusbefore I don’t have any memories at all other than taking my last breath. “I may know of a bag.”
“Only one?” he questions.
I nod. “That’s all I’m aware of.”
He exchanges a silent, unreadable look with the redhead then focuses back on me. “And do you know where that bag is now? Or perhaps where your father is?” He holds up his palm before I can answer. “And think very carefully about everything your father has done to you before you answer that.”
“I don’t need to think about it,” I assure him. “I know what my father’s done, and if I knew where he was, trust me, I’d tell you and August and anyone else looking for him.”
“You’d hand him over so easily?” he doubts. “Amelia despises me and even she’d offer herself up to be tortured before she’d stab me in the back like that.”
Yeah, because she’s scared to death of you.“My father stabbed me in the back when he took off and left me here to deal with this shit.” I rise to my feet, and the redhead starts to step toward me, drawing a knife. But Axel holds up a hand in her direction.
“She’s fine.” He turns to me. “Go ahead and finish what you were saying. I find it interesting to hear what it takes for a girl to stab her father in the back.”
“I’m not stabbing him in the back.” My temper rings in my tone, and I curl my hands into fists, stabbing my fingernails into my palms. “He deserves everything headed his way for bailing on me and my sisters and leaving us with this mess. He’s a coward and a bastard and every other asshole-ish word that exists. And if he just did it to me, I might let it slide, but he got my sisters taken away and put their lives in danger.” My composed façade is crumbling into a pile of dust.
Get your shit together, Hadley. Don’t lose your cool.
“So let me get this straight,” he says. “You believe your sisters are more important than you?”
No, no, no, I’ve screwed this all up.
“No,” I lie. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then, what are you saying?”
“That I’m pissed off at my dad.”
“And that you care about your sisters more than yourself.” His grin is sickeningly sinister.
I want to punch him in the face, but yeah, I also want to keep my hand. “Of course I care about them. They’re my sisters. And I’ll do anything to protect them.” My nails cut deep into my palms, blood seeping out. “Even if it means I have to take on some emotionless mobster dude.” My breath is trembling from my lips, my entire body shaking. I’m so riled up and scared, and honestly, I want to cry. But I won’t. I’ll stand here right in front of him and keep going until he either agrees to stay away from my sisters or puts an end to me.
He smashes his lips together for a beat and then busts up laughing. “You’re so feisty. It’s …” He shakes his head, laughter still tickling his voice. “How is it that one of the biggest cowards I’ve ever known created you?”
“Most people learn everything from their parents.” I remove my fingernails from my palms. If I make it through this, I’m going to have five crescent-shaped cuts in each of them. “I just chose to learn what not to do from mine. Or well, my dad.”
His laughter fizzles. “And what about your mother?”
My pulse pounds deafeningly. “What about her?”
He carries my gaze. “What did you learn from her?”
He saiddid,which means he knows she died. How? Did my dad tell him?
“How to be strong,” I say. “And how to protect everything I care about.”
He nods understandingly. “She sounds like a smart woman.”
All I can do is nod.
He rubs his hand across his lips, fleetingly examining me before turning around, walking back to the counter, and pouring himself a drink.
After he downs the vodka, he sets the glass down and faces me again. “I’m about to do something I rarely do, Hadley. I want you to remember that and remember this.” He takes measured steps toward me. “There are no second chances with me. You’re a rare and only exception to this. You are to tell no one, especially August Porterson. If you continue to work for him, I won’t stop you. I understand you believe you don’t have another choice.”
The way he says it makes me wonder if I do. But how? If I do, he’ll hurt my sisters.
Maybe that’s the choice Axel sees. That if I stop caring about my sisters, I’d be free.
