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And he was the last piece to the puzzle, because he alone knew what had really happened the night of the accident.
He knew it hadn’t been an accident at all. That was why he’d been keeping so much from me.
When you’re that close to danger that you almost know what it smells like, the first thing you’d want to do is protect the ones you love.
It was primal. Instinctive. In his place, I’d do the same thing.
It wouldn’t be easy, convincing him that I was the one who had to finish what Abbot had started.
But he was a justice-seeker too. And somewhere in my heart, I knew he would understand.
I saw the man I needed to meet scurrying from a bakery shop, his hands full of paper bags. Goodies for the kids, no doubt.
I’d known his face the day I saw it on national TV. He spoke with so much pompous self-importance about keeping the streets of New York safe for kids.
The fucking wimp.
“Dad.”
He turned around, saw my face, and dropped all his bags. His lower lip jutted out and began trembling.
“Aurora, I told you. It was all a mistake. If you need money, I—”
“Spare me,” I spat out. “I don’t want any money from you. Or your name. Or any of your shit. You can go home to your kids once I’m done talking.”
“What do you want?”
Orville Butler’s face went from white to pale gray. He looked like he was seconds away from an aneurysm.
“Justice. I need to bring someone down. You don’t have to get your useless hands dirty. I’ll get you what you need. But once I do, I can’t have you hiding in your cushy office and saying it’s out of your jurisdiction. Nothing here is out of your jurisdiction.”
He trembled like a walrus.
“Aurora, are you in some kind of trouble? I can help. I can get my men to—”
“Please.” I bared my teeth like a leopardess. “The last person I’d come to ask for help is you. I don’t need your charity. I need you to serve a sentence.”
He nodded. “Okay. Anything. Just please, don’t let any of this get out. My family...”
A pang hit my heart.
But I couldn’t win every war, could I?
I’d take what I could get out of this. I wasn’t even doing it for me. Or the little girl in me who’d lost her father years ago.
No. This was for all the young girls who came to New York with hope in their hearts and courage in their eyes.
All the young girls who were brave enough to take a chance on the world and make shit happen.
This was to get rid of one predator for them. Would that solve everything?
No.
But it would balance some shit out. And I intended to get it done.
“Who is it? And what do you need me to do?” he sighed, looking resigned to his fate. He’d seen the glint in my eyes.
“A disclaimer. If you say no, I’m going to the media. They won’t be that interested in me as is, but oh, they’ll sure have stuff to write about when I spill the tea on my beloved father. And if it comes to that, I won’t shy away from doing a DNA test. Not that I have anything to prove, right?”
