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“No,” I laughed with bitterness. “You just end up the don.” I stepped closer to him and jabbed him in the chest with my index finger. “I don't want safety if it means sacrificing my happiness and freedom. I don’t want to be provided for if it means we’re hurting other people.”
Silence hung heavy between us, the weight of our words sinking into the air. I saw the conflict in my father's eyes, the battle between whatever game he was in and his love for me. I realized that he, too, was trapped in this world.
Just like Luca.
The bond between us was strained; fractured by choices he made a long time ago from the sounds of it
I felt like my entire life was a lie.
“But I promise you, Anna,” he sighed. “I had nothing to do with the warehouse—"
A boom radiated behind me, and I leaped in surprise as police swarmed in from all sides.
“Get on the fucking ground!” the lead SWAT officer commanded as their heavy footsteps thundered around us. I held up my hands and dropped to my knees, watching wide-eyed as they arrested my father.
Two men pulled his arms behind his back, cuffing him.
I was torn between sorrow and relief. The truth had been exposed without my help.
I hadn’t had to turn him in.
But how?
As the chaos erupted around us, I felt a figure approach me.
Turning my head, my gaze fell on my captain.
He approached with a sense of authority, concern etched on his face.
He took a step another step toward me, his gaze filled with sympathy and determination as he grabbed my forearm and pulled me up to stand.
"Betrami," he said, his voice calm yet laden with urgency. "We need to get you the hell out of here.”
Confusion swept over me, a whirlwind of emotions swirling in my mind. "What do you mean?" I asked, my voice trembling. "What's happening? Why is my father being arrested?”
I knew. But I was playing dumb.
I had to.
Otherwise, I would lose my job.
Everything I’d worked for.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about all of it, but I couldn’t risk everyone thinking I had anything to do with it.
I didn’t want my father to rot in prison, especially before I knew what the hell was even happening.
If he hadn’t had anything to do with the warehouse, who did?
Captain's eyes flickered, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Your father is involved in a lot of the underground crime you’ve been investigating.”
There wasn’t shock, just a feeling of everything around me crumbling.
“He was behind the murder of Francis Lasiter.”
Something swelled in the pit of my stomach as soon as he said the name of the man whose murder I had been investigating before Luca kidnapped me.
Something didn’t feel right.
