Page 76 of Mob Princess

“And the only thing I want is a bit of your time to prove to you that you could love me again, too. No secrets. No lies. I’ll be upfront with who I am, and there will be no more hurtful anything between us. You have my word.”

She’d said something similar the last time. I took a step back. “Dad, I have t—”

He pressed his hand against my back. “Talk to the girl, Israel. The least you can do is that.”

Alice looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. “I know you’d never be so weak as to roll over and lose everything. You’re too proud of a man for that. You’re too strong for something like that to happen. And I don’t know what’s going on with you and your father or your brother, but I want to help. I want to aid you, Israel. Not hurt you. Not like it sounds like this other girl is doing.”

I slowly turned around. “What have you told her, Dad?”

He held his hands up. “Nothing she wasn’t already privy to. When she says people are talking, Israel, she means it. Everyone knows what’s going on right now.”

Alice placed her hand on my shoulder. “Let me give you a clean slate. Let’s get each other a clean slate and try this again, yeah? For once, Israel, go after what you want.”

My eyes locked with the wall. “You know what, you’re right.”

Dad chuckled. “I knew you’d see it our way.”

I turned around to face Alice. “I have to go after what I want.”

She smiled up at me. “Then, go get it. Because it’s right here, waiting for you.”

I grinned. “You have my word that I’ll get exactly what I want out of this entire situation. No matter who it crushes in the long-run. And that includes you, Dad.”

“What?”

I slowly turned around to face him. “Mark my words, I will get what I want. I will prevail over all of this. Even if I have to crush you in my wake.”

Then, I moved past the man and headed for the front door.

Carrying with me all the answers I needed to make the clearest decision I’d ever made in my life.

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