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And Adriana would be heartbroken.
I had already broken her heart once, I couldn’t do it again.Right?
Then again, Frank’s death would also most likely result in less violence. The only way for the violence to stop was through Frank. He had the power to make a choice, and only I could talk him out of doing something wrong.Except now that he was upset about his daughter…
I thought about talking to Adriana, but she was being closely monitored. Any attempt to talk to her, no matter how well-intentioned, would inflame Frank’s wrath.God, people are dumb about their kids.
Yet I didn’t blame him. It was his overreaction and killing his own man to prove a point that didn’t set well with me.
I went home and thought about it. The clock in my bedroom was a grandfather clock that made a small tick with every second hand. Each sound felt like a drop of water on my head, slowly eating away at me, the torture of making a difficult decision draining me.
But I had to make a decision. As painful as it was, I made the call right at 11:59. The night was dark, and I hadn’t eaten, the hollow feeling of guilt and being narrowed into a tough corner wearing me down.
“Hello?” I said.
I knew I had made the right decision as soon as I said it. With such power came the burden of responsibility, and I was confident that I had made the best decision despite difficult circumstances.
11
ADRIANA
Once we had made it to the compound, I saw the unease in my father go down. I had never seen him this afraid, but he said he had had a call in the middle of the night.
“He wouldn’t lie to me about this,” Dad said. “After everything…”
I had an idea that dad was talking about Brody, but he didn’t admit to anything when I asked. He wouldn’t let me know much, and we were acting as if there was a war against us.
Several of the guards, including Jackson, were gearing up with tactical gear.
What did my father do now?
He had killed his own guard, and it was a miracle that there hadn’t been a revolt against him for that. Everyone would slowly turn on him, and that wasn’t even what bothered me the most. No, it was the fact that I was a pawn in this game.
If only Brody were here.
He would know what to do. Instead, I was watching my father’s empire fall.
Don’t be so dramatic!There was the possibility that all of this was just an exaggerated precaution. Father was prone to being excessive, and for all I knew, he had gotten a bad tip in the middle of the night.
Or a bad threat.
I needed to do something. There was no use in being scared and waiting for our demise.But was it safe to go out?
I knew the compound like the back of my hand. Daddy had shown me, many times, as a little girl, where to go and hide. He had also let me have freedom to roam, a privilege not normally afforded to little girls of overprotective fathers.
If there was one good thing to say about how he raised me, it was that he taught me how to be strong willed and self reliant. He wanted me to be in control should he pass, and I remember always being scared he would be killed when I was a little girl.
Even now, as an adult, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to think I’d have to take over for my father’s mafia for him. I knew the ins and outs, but I remained as aloof as I could.
That’s why I need Brody, he knows much more than I do about the business.
I need to go get him.
That meant danger, because I had to go out. Father was busy talking strategy with his men. I needed to take advantage of this small window of time when I wasn’t the main focus to get out.
I immediately made my way to the barracks where I would go through a secret door that led to an underground hallway. The real danger didn’t start until I made my way past the outer perimeter of the compound. I would leave the underground tunnel and be exposed to whatever was out there.
As I walked, I tried to think if getting out through the outer perimeter was a good idea. The underground hallway was narrow, and dark, but there were other pathways that led to service areas.
