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I’m used to my dad’s crude language and surly attitude, but I’m not accustomed to him making zero sense. Does the hospital have him on medication that is making him delirious? I want to ask, but I can’t imagine I’d get a straight answer out of him, anyway.
“I don’t, actually. But it doesn’t matter, Dad. Because I’m calling to tell you I’m done—”
“Your boyfriend came to see me. He made it clear that we weren’t supposed to be talking anymore.”
“My boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend.” Even when I did, I never introduced them to Dad. That would have been a surefire way to end a relationship. Though, in most cases, that would have been to my benefit. I haven’t had many men in my life worth keeping around.
Until now.
He snorts and the effort sends him into a flurry of hacking and coughing.
“Don’t pretend you aren’t giving it up to that man you brought to my fucking deathbed. You take after your mother that way.” He mutters something along the lines ofjust another no-good whore spreading itbefore I cut him off.
“Are you talking about Timofey?”
“Hell if I know his name! There wasn’t a lot of time for chitchat. He marched in here after the two of you left and told me to leave you alone.”
The last two weeks have been a blur. Getting Benjamin to the hospital, surgeries, arranging nurses to care for him at home, the shooting, the motorcycle. It’s been one thing to the next, and the days have all run together.
But I remember that night.
Timofey stood in the elevator and told me he wanted to give me everything.
Then he took the elevator back upstairs.
When he returned, I was so anxious to tell him I was coming with him to the penthouse that I didn’t even consider where he’d been. I didn’t care.
“He just walked into your room and told you to stay away from me? And you listened?”
There’s hesitation on his end. I can tell, because Dad has never been shy about spouting off the first vile thought that crosses his mind. If he’s pausing now, it’s for a good reason.
“Dad!” I snap. “Tell me what happened. Now.”
“Well, he threatened me within an inch of my life, that’s what happened! He walked into my room and scared your poor, sick dad nearly to death, kiddo.”
I press my hand to my face and squeeze my eyes.Kiddo. He’s putting on his “poor, pitiful me” act. He’s trying to guilt me into forgiving him for whatever is coming next.
“Dad,” I say more gently. If he thinks I’m already angry, he’ll clam up. I have to ease it out of him. “What did he say?”
He sniffles like he might actually have a heart soft enough to cry. “He told me he’d kill me unless I accepted his deal. He didn’t give me no damn choice.”
“What was the deal?”
“I was in the hospital bed. I was weak,” he says. “He came in here and there were no nurses—not that they could have stopped him. He’s a big man.”
I don’t respond. Waiting.
Finally, he sighs. “He told me if I stayed away, some money would find its way into my account. I don’t know how he got into my bank, but the next day, I opened the account and there it—”
“How much?” I grit the words out between clenched teeth.
It doesn’t matter how much. I can imagine my father jumping at the chance to trade me in for a few hundred. And Timofey is good for a lot more than that. He gave me a motorcycle worth God knows how much and called it “nothing.”
How much does Timofey think I’m worth?Hopefully more than nothing.
“Fifty thousand,” he admits at last. “But we can still talk in secret. I need you, Piper. You’re all I have left. Fifty thousand doesn’t get a man far in this day and age. I need—”
I hang up before he can finish.
