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Spinning on my heel, I go into the house and shut the door behind me. I let out a long breath and shake my head to decompress from this encounter with Luca.
It’s the same every time. All it takes is two seconds for him to get under my skin, then it takes hours for me to rid myself of this nervous itch to do something. Thing is, I’m not sure exactly what that is.
But right now, I don’t have hours. I need to know exactly what the fuck Luca was doing here.
Without hesitation, I go to the office. Whatever the reason for his presence here, it couldn’t have been good. And my father deals with his problems in his office.
“Daddy?” I walk in to find him sitting behind his desk, deep in thought. I peek down the hall to make sure my sister isn’t within hearing distance and close the door. No need to beat around the bush, so I get right to the point. “What the hell was Luca Sinacore doing here?”
He shifts his worried gaze to me. “Cari?” he asks as if he’s just noticed I’m here.
“What did Luca want?” I demand.
My father turns to peer out the window behind him, his frown deepening. “He…”
Frustrated, I go to the desk and slam a fist on the surface. “Daddy,” I urge. “What was that man doing here? I thought you cut off all ties with that family.”
Suddenly, he glances at me, and I nearly gasp at the fear in his eyes. He brings his hand to his mouth as if he wants to suppress a sob.
“I’ve done something terrible,” he whispers, the white of his eyes turning red. “Cari, I’ve…”
“What?” I round the desk, my stomach clenching as I expect the worst. “What happened?”
“I killed a man.”
His words hit me like a kick to the gut, making it hard to breathe. Out of everything I thought he’d say, that was the last thing. “W-what?”
“Five months ago. Harry Whitley. I owed him money.”
“You. Owed. Him. Money,” I repeat automatically. As if I need to deconstruct the words to understand what they mean. “What mon—” It dawns on me then. He’s been messing with those bookies. “Oh my God.”
“I made a bet I was sure I’d win.”
“Oh my God!”
“Cari.” He takes my hands and brings them to his chest. “I wanted to help the only way I knew how. I thought it would bring some relief and you wouldn’t have to work so hard. I thought I’d win.”
“You always think you’ll win.” I tug free from his hold and take several steps back. “You never do.”
“I know!” he cries out as he fights back tears I can’t sympathize with right now. “Whitley covered it if I…if I would allow him to use our freights to ship his product. But then we were shut down, and he demanded I cover the debt somehow.”
“You promised, Daddy! We’re still paying on the last debt. I mortgaged the house!”
My father begins to sob in earnest, like a child being scolded because he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Only, he’s no child, and these people aren’t cookies.
“I went to his club in the Bronx and begged him for more time. He threatened you girls when I couldn’t repay him. It happened so fast. I… I didn’t realize what I was doing until it was done. One moment, the paperweight was in my hand; the next, it was flying through the air toward his head. Sinacore happened to walk in just then. He made it go away. When I told him I had no way to repay his favor, he said he’d come to me when I could.”
My leg begins to shake the way it does whenever I’m frustrated to the point of losing control. “You’re stealing from Peter to pay Paul, and we have no money to pay either of them. I can’t believe this is happening.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and screw my lids shut. “First, you run our business into the ground. Now, this.”
Images of the pile of bills mounting on my desk come to mind. All of the debt my father and sister accumulate, and somehow,Ihave to find it within our means to pay. Then I think of the small amount of savings I’ve still managed to put together, and how even that is probably not enough to cover whatever he owes Luca Sinacore now.
“You’ve known him for years. Since he was a kid. Maybe that will be enough to sway him to forgive the favor owed.”
He shrugs. “I tried.”
“But you’ve done so much for them. You’ve risked your business!”
“This has nothing to do with the business, Cari. It has nothing to do with my past dealings with the Sinacores. This is specifically owed to Luca.” He slumps into the chair behind his desk, then leans forward, rests his elbows on his knees, and drops his head into his hands. Defeat bleeds from him like never before.
