Page 6 of Mob Princess

I snickered. “Apparently me. And my wife.”

My father fell against the plastered wall with a disgruntled release of air. “That night is… memorable for all of us. That woman’s father—her mother—they were good people. Genuinely good people.”

“Then, why is it so hard to believe she has that goodness within her? That she really is on our side?”

“Because she wasn’t raised with it, son. She was only a child when her parents died. She was raised by Pava. Never forget that.”

I shook my head. “She’s not working with him. Those guards tried to kill us both in our sleep. He lured her into that damn warehouse and had her on a fucking cell phone while someone torched the place. She’d be dead if I hadn’t run in to get her. He’s trying to kill her off. Pick us off, one by one. I know that, and I know deep down you know it too.”

Rage slithered through my veins. The taste for revenge sat on the tip of my tongue, and I didn’t want to let it go to waste. Pava Moretti needed to pay for the sins he had enacted against my family. Even if it was a false family in the first place. Bonnie was under just as much fire as I was myself, and I needed to get my father to see that.

I needed this family working together. “Don’t you see? He’s trying to get us to destroy ourselves from the inside out.”

Pa sighed, as if I were some sort of petulant toddler he was tired of dealing with. “No, he’s not.”

“Then, what do you think he’s doing?”

His brooding brown eyes held mine. “I think he’s playing a psychological game to destroy you from the inside out.”

I hated that I didn’t have an argument against his point. I mean, I hated it whenever my father was in the right, in general. But, I really didn’t like the fact that he had the upper-hand on this topic when I was trying to resolve it in the first place. For a brief moment, I lost myself in my frustrations. I felt my mind gravitating back to the one thing I feared more than losing my own life. And that was disappointing Bonnie. I feared that I wouldn’t be able to see through on the promise I made, however silent it might have been. I feared that Pava would go unpunished for his actions against a harmless little girl just to obtain some family empire. However, It wasn’t until my father cupped my cheeks that I focused back on him.

“You’re my son, Israel. My first-born. And I’ll do anything it takes to protect you. But until I know for certain Brianna or Bonnie or whatever the hell her name is really isn’t working with her uncle, she’s a threat to me. And nothing more.”

I backed away from his grasp. “Then, I’m a threat to you. And nothing more.”

My father’s brow stitched together in great confusion, and I couldn’t blame him. This was a confusing time for everyone because we were playing with dominoes that had already fallen in a direction we didn’t need them to be falling in the first place. We were all scrambling to put the pieces back together in the order we all wanted them to be in, and that was where the issue sat. Because we all wanted those pieces put back in a different fashion. Still, I turned my back on my father and scooped my things into my arms. I knew he didn’t agree with me, and I knew we’d always butt heads on this. But my wife wasn’t working with that slimy snake of a man. I had seen her reaction when my private investigator had revealed what he found. No one could fake emotions like that. No one was that good. Not even professional actors and actresses.

No. Bonnie wasn’t working with her uncle. She was on my side. At least that’s what she claimed, but it in the very backs of my mind, I couldn’t shake that small bit of doubt.

Which was exactly why she and I planned her lunch outing with her cousin together.

“I really hope you’re right, son,” Pa called after me.

I opened the front door to his estate. “Trust me, Pa. I am.”

As I stepped out into the stormy weather, I wrapped my coat around my shoulders. I needed to get back to Bonnie because I didn’t want her to be alone for too long. I knew she had a lunch date with her cousin, and I was anxious to know how it went.

I also wanted to get home and make sure she was safe.

“Where to, sir?” my driver asked as he opened the door to the town car.

“Home. I’m ready to head home.”

I slid into the backseat and didn’t give my father’s place a second glance. I knew he was just cautious. And at one point in time, I had sat in his shoes. But Bonnie had done more than enough to convince me of what side she sat on. I mean, even before all of this shit came out—even before she was Bonnie to me—I had hope for us. I had hope we could carve out a good life together.

I had hope we could cast aside our differences and make this marriage work.

I wasn’t ready to give up on that yet.

I thought about the conversation with my father all the way home. It had validity, sure. But for once, I wasn’t on his side. He had been there when we had seen Bonnie for the first time, for crying out loud. And he hadn’t picked up on the double-cross either. Pava Moretti had really done a number on this family, that much was for certain.

He wouldn't win, though.

Not on my watch.

“We’re here, sir,” my driver said, stopping the car.

I opened the door. “Take the day off. I’m not going anywhere else today.”

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