AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I am losing what little patience I had. “Explain what you’re talking about. Now.”
“We will do what we can to bring her back. I promise.”
“That is not an explanation!”
He turns to me. “Whatever you do, son, do not call the police.”
And at that moment, I know why. At least partially. It’s not to protect June. It’s to protect him. Whatever this is, it’s his fault, and he knows it. He’s done something deeply illegal, and June is paying the price for it.
Fuck that.
“Tell me what you know. Right now.”
“I’ll tell you this, she is safe. She?—"
“Does she look fucking safe to you?” I shove the phone in his face.
He sighs again. His voice is flat. “Her clothes are in place. There are no visible marks. She’s not even crying, though I imagine that is due to her fortitude and not her treatment. There are no obvious threats to her—no gun to her head, no water creeping in over the floor, etcetera. So yes, she looks fucking safe to me.”
Never in my life have I been so close to striking my father. “How the fuck can you just sit there and act like this isn’t a big deal? How are you so calm?”
He taunts, “One of us should be.”
My fist balls up without a thought, but I keep it at my side. It is all I can do to keep emotion from my voice, but if I don’t, he won’t listen to me. He’s never responded well to anything but logic or anger. “Tell me how to get her back.”
“Find your calm. If your woman can maintain her composure under her circumstances, then you should be able to as well. It’s embarrassing that you’re so hysterical?—"
“You think I give a shit about my composure right now?”
He advises, “If you do not keep your composure, Anderson, you will lose her. You will make a rash error in judgment and whoever has taken her will take advantage of that. They have the upper hand right now, it’s true. But if you rush into this, they will keep it. They have you by the balls. Don’t let them know it, or they will cut them off.”
“If the next words out of your mouth are not useful, I will call the police.”
Another sigh out of him. “The police will get her killed.”
“Who the fuck kills someone when the police are involved?”
“Very dangerous people.”
“Why is she with very dangerous people, Dad? Talk to me. Tell me what the fuck is actually going on!”
Again, he looks out the window. “No.”
Talking to him is pointless. He’s not helping. He’s stonewalling me. Why? Who knows? Doesn’t fucking matter. I have to get to June. “What the fuck ever, Dad. You won’t help me? I’ll help myself.” I turn for the door.
“Don’t forget what I said. No cops. They will get her killed.”
I whip back around to him. “From where I’m standing, it sounds like this is all your fault. Not theirs. If she dies because of something you did?—
“You’ll what? Storm into my study and act like a petulant child who got his new favorite toy taken away?”
“I’ll end it. All of it. I will destroy the firm from the ground up just to watch you suffer.”
He scoffs. “You do that, and you lose everything, too.”
“Mutually assured destruction,” I tell him simply. “So, you better get off your ass and help with this, because I’m young enough to rebuild my life and you’re not.”
“You wouldn’t dare, and even if you did, you don’t know enough about what we really do to be able to destroy us.”
