Page 47 of Possessive Mafia Vows

Because you tried to strangle my mom to death and then walked out on us.

“We want to get to know each other.” The scratching shifts to his left ear.

I don’t remind him thathewants to get to knowme, and that this is one of those instances where it doesn’t work both ways.

“I can’t think of a better way, can you?” He raises a crooked eyebrow in my direction.

I feel the energy draining from me as if a plug has been pulled. “There’s too much going on right now. It wouldn’t be right. I need to handle this myself.”

He sits forward in his seat. “You said you were worried about being followed, sweetheart. That’s not the kind of situation I want my baby girl to handle alone. Not while I still have breath in my body.”

Hysterical laughter gurgles inside my chest. He’s serious, and I’m starting to wonder if he’s been in a drug-induced coma for the past twenty years.

“There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Have you seen me?” He stands up and straightens to his full, unimpressive height. He’d probably be as tall as Kyle if his shoulders weren’t quite so bowed, but he speaks with the confidence of Andre the Giant. “They’ll have to get through me first.”

“I don’t even know whotheyare.”

“Does it matter? I don’t see anyone else stepping up to help my little girl.”

I almost chuckle at this. I wonder what he’d say if he knew that Nick was the first to offer me his spare room, while there’s an executive suite with my name on it at the Wraith.

I know that Kyle lives in the building. Victoria and Caleb live there too with their baby daughter. So, why do I feel less exposed here in this dingy Queens apartment?

“Think about it while I make another coffee.” He peers at the cooling liquid in my cup. “You haven’t touched yours.”

“I’m not thirsty.”

He doesn’t wait around. While the kettle chugs to life in the kitchen, his phone rings. He checks the caller ID on the screen, glances at me, and says, “I have to take this, sweetheart. Make yourself at home.”

I expect him to go into the bedroom and shut the door, but instead, he goes outside and leaves me alone in the apartment.

While he’s gone, I look around the living space. The walls were probably magnolia once upon a time, or ivory, or Chantilly lace: a pretty color with a pretty name. A generic painting hangs slightly askew on one wall, a country scene with haystacks and an old-fashioned horse and cart in the foreground. The shelvesare home to a tiny vase containing some dusty silk flowers, a plastic clock showing the wrong time, and a book with a cracked spine,The Richest Man in Babylon. It’s the only personal object in the entire apartment.

I hear the key turn in the lock.

“Sorry about that, sweetheart.” He drops his phone back into his pocket. “So, when do you want to move in?”

“I don’t know…” I stand up. “I should get to work.”

“Have you got appointments scheduled for today?”

“No, but I?—”

“That’s settled then. Look, stay here today. I’ll leave you alone, I promise. We can go and pick up some of your stuff later, see how you feel in the morning. Maybe then, you’ll feel comfortable enough to tell me what’s going on.”

“Just for today,” I find myself saying without fully considering the implications of spending twenty-four hours in my father’s company.

Perhaps it’s the view from the window of concrete apartment blocks. Or the sound of cars rumbling past outside. Or the Reggae music blasting from a neighbor’s stereo. Regular noises; regular lives. People running errands, preparing for their shift at work, and wondering what to cook for dinner.

I take off my coat and make myself a black coffee.

True to his word my father does leave me alone.

He showers and then disappears into his room. Within minutes, his snores are loud enough to rattle the walls.

I roll up my sleeves and clean the kitchen. I can’t sit in the living room doing nothing all day, and cleaning is therapeutic. I clear my head and convince myself that twenty-four hours will give Nick and Kyle sufficient time to back off. I don’t know if Seamus followed me here; I haven’t checked outside for fear I’ll find another jogger running back and forth and a car with tinted windows parked up on the curb. I’m hoping that if he did, he’ll report back to Kyle that I’m with my father.

---