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And yet her old daddy still has a long way to go to be a real father to her.
I guessthe least I can do is try to shape him up, maybe fix up the whole ordeal to at least make the situation a bit more… livable for him.
“Fuck it.” I stand up before giving my little girl a kiss on the lips one more time, no longer caring for the decency that her father is lacking in only being focused on the money, that of which he’s barely able to process as is. “Little one, grab his shit and let’s get the ball rolling. I doubt he has anything that we actually need to move out other than a day or two of clothes.”
“Yeah, I think so too,” my little one says, going over to her father. “Is there anything else that we need to get before we leave, dad?”
“The safe,” Hammond replies. She whips her head to me, sharing the same look of confusion on my face.
“The safe? Dad, what do you mean?”
“In the basement, there’s something that I need from it,” he says flatly, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. I walk over, stabilizing his weight as he nearly falls over backwards, apparently in a near-coma state from whatever he’s taken earlier.
No wonder this place is such a mess. Damn. This is going to take a lot of work.
“39… 82… 19,” he mumbles. “That’s it.”
“I’ll stay up here with him, you go grab it and I’ll see if there’s anything else around that we need to bring with us.” Camilla is a jumble of emotions, but she walks over to her father. “Do you need to go to the hospital again, dad?”
I shrug and leave them, heading downstairs into, quite possibly, the darkest basement I’ve ever seen.
Pulling the cord light, I look around as it flickers an orange light, seeing a large safe embedded in the brick wall, a thin layer of dark brown water covering the entire basement floor. My fingers grasp the dial, just as I turn it left, then right, then left, clicking the door open…
Epilogue
Cassio
“Good morning, Mr. Cardozzo,” a voice calls, just as I enter another dealership across town. A familiar voice. A voice that I’ve heard quite a few times before, one that I’m more than happy to hear again.
“Hammond. Good to see you.” I shake the other man’s hand as I walk inside. “Your numbers are up on the branch this month. Just wanted to check out the operation for a day, see what the whole deal is.”
“Of course, of course!” He’s far better off than he was before, having completely shaped up his act over the course of a little over a year, the strict regimen of being under my control working wonders to break his addictions, clean up his hygiene, and get a couple of his medication problems adjusted. And now, he’s a fully functioning member of society. I decided it would be best for him to live in the same house that I had kicked another member out of not too long ago—the day I met his daughter, if I recall correctly.
How times have changed.
He looks at me once over, waiting for me to say something. Just like an obedient dog.
He’s subjected to the same rules as everyone else. All that I care about is that I see results, and, at the end of the day, he has delivered—so far.
A far better result than I expected.
“I mean… It's just thanks to you that I got all of this covered.” Hammond speaks up again, breaking the silence. The dealership hasn't opened for the day yet, but we’re most certainly getting close to the time in question.
“I want to meet your repo team before I go,” I reply. “It’s simply what just works out best for everyone, and it just so happens that you’re my wife’s father. I don’t want to leave you behind, although I will say I wasn’t pleased to have to deal with you when I first got you that car, but I’m happy to say that I’m dealing with you now, that’s for sure. Are you coming by to watch the baby after work tonight so Camilla and I can go out?”
“Oh, for sure, absolutely!” he says, clasping his hands together. “Although I do want to ask. Do youreallyneed her wearing that collar all the time?”
“The one that says Property of Mr. Cardozzo?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure how I feel about you ‘owning’ my daughter.”
“Part of your leasewasyour daughter.”
“Fine, but just remember I’m not a huge fan of it.”
“Yeah, yeah…” I wave him off. “Look past it. I think you’ll come to understand how much I did for you in due time. Once you actually get your whole life together for real, that is, and pay off your second car through some other dealership that you got like a fuckin’ idiot.”
“Whatever, Mr. Cardozzo. I’ll figure it out. ‘Long as I’m making you money, you don’t care, right?”
