AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My father has a presence. It’s like he can suck the light from a room with a gesture. I’ve heard the soldiers describe him as a monster behind his back, not because of his temper, but because of the way he draws every eye nearby and effortlessly directs the emotional tenor of a room. I’ve seen him whip a group into a frenzy and terrify hardened criminals with nothing more than his voice. I’ve seen him silence powerful businessmen with only a shake of his head.
Now he turns all that weight onto me.
But this is my father. I’ve been dealing with his disappointment for years now, and I won’t let him break me.
“You should have done better,” he says, exhaling more smoke.
“I had a deal with McLaren. I gave him everything he wanted, and in exchange, he was supposed toforgiveme. Now he’s saying that never included the vote.”
“Did it?” Dad asks, glaring. “Did it include the vote?”
I work my jaw. “It was implied.”
“God damn it, Finn.”
“I can fix this. Give me time to come up with a solution. At the very least, I’m going to make that Clive piece of shit suffer for humiliating the family. Give me time.”
“For you to do what? Start a street war with a politically connected man? You going to break into his house and cut his throat? You gonna kill his daughter?”
“Yes,” I say and mean it.
“Then you’re stupider than I thought. You know why I wanted to work with McLaren?” Dad leans forward, stubbing out the cigarette. “Because McLaren’s got friends. I can’t just take what he has because there are people loyal to him for some fucking reason. I needed his fucking help, and you know how I feel about needing anyone but myself.”
“I can fix this,” I repeat.
“There’s no fixing anything.” Dad stands, leaning forward on his hands. “That wife of yours is finished. I want her out of this family. File for divorce, send her somewhere else, and make sure she never speaks a word about our organization ever again. Unless she disappears, I will make sure she’s dead before she ever pushes that fucking baby from her poisoned body.”
My hands shake with rage. “Don’t talk about my wife and my child that way.”
“You’re lucky I’m not killing you both on the spot,” Dad snarls at me, pointing a finger toward my face. “You are on probation. All decisions will be run through me for the foreseeable future. Your crew is mine now, Finn, because I can’t trust you to make the right call. You fucked up, and now you’re done.”
I take a step back. “You’re making a mistake,” I say slowly. “My men won’t accept this.”
“They know where the real power comes from.” My father sits back down slowly. “The girl disappears. You will divorce her. I’ll find you a new match, and you’d better hope you learned your lesson. This isfuckingembarrassing, Finn, and the Crowley family cannoteverbe embarrassed. Do you understand me? We cannot look weak.”
I turn from him, head spinning. Send her away? Make Dara disappear? I can’t do it, not after we decided to give our relationship a real chance.
But what other choice do I have? Run with her somewhere my father can’t touch us? It’s possible, but that would expose my soldiers and everyone I care about here to my father’s revenge. He’ll hurt them, possibly kill them. I don’t even want to guess what he’d do to Genna.
“Do you hear me?” Dad shouts at me as I leave. I’m running possibilities, but none of them are good. Keep Dara here and she’ll basically be stuck inside, never able to leave for fear of my father trying to hurt her. Send her away and she might be safe, but that will kill me in ways I don’t think I’ll ever recover from.
There’s no good scenario.
“You’d better send her the fuck away!” Dad shouts as I walk down the hallway, feeling numb.
I drift outside. I can’t stomach losing Dara, but I can’t risk keeping her here, either. I’m fucked, no matter what I do.
Carson’s leaning against a pillar out front. “You look about how I expected,” he says. “What’d he say?”
“Thanks for keeping an eye on her,” I mutter at him as I pass.
Carson only watches me as I approach the car, feeling like my limbs are lead.
Dara opens the door. She steps out, looking terrified as she runs to meet me, her hands outstretched like she wants me to take her into my arms.
And I need it.
I want to pull her close and hold her tight, but I stop before I can touch her.
