Page 104 of Love at Second Down

“Oh, I will, and I’ll enjoy every second of going to the authorities with the proof I have that your father caused the Astor walkway collapse.”

I suck in a breath, heart pumping wildly in my chest as he procures a USB drive from his pocket and waves it out in front of me.

I snatch it from his hands, fingers curling around the stick, but he just laughs. “Do you really think that’s my only copy.”

My mother was right. About all of it.

Vinny Huhn blackmailed my parents.

He’s the reason they pressured me into breaking Damon’s heart.

And he’s trying to do it again.

“So, it’s true?” I breathe, the little plastic device digging into my palm. “You were blackmailing my parents?”

“Does it matter?”

Yes.

My hands ball as panic races through my chest. “Why are you doing this?” I hiss. “I’m not my father. I had nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe,” he says with a shrug. “But that’s not my problem. My son, on the other hand,ismy problem, and being associated with an Astor, with a family as vile and immoral as yours, is bound to come back to bite him in the ass. Better to end it now before any damage is done.”

“Damage? What are you talking about?” I ask, heart beating wildly. “What kind of damage could our being together possibly cause? He’s already accomplished everything he wanted. He got a full ride to a division one college. He won the National Championship, and he’s on the NFL’s radar. He’s made it.”

“Not yet.” Vinny shakes his head, his expression hard as stone. “But he’s close, andI’mgoing to ensure he gets there.Me,” he says, pointing a finger at his chest. “The one who raised him, who’s been with him every step of the way.”

“You’re crazy,” I say, eyes wide.

“And you’re a fool,” he snaps.

“My family is zero threat to him.”

He chuckles darkly. “Does the name Angel Hall ring any bells? No?” he says when I say nothing. “What about Colby Williams?”

The NFL commissioner.

I shake my head as Vinny’s lips curl into a snarl, not wanting to listen to what he’s about to say. “Colby Williams is the NFL commissioner, and Angel Hall was his daughter, a newlywed when she died in the collapse.”

I gasp and take a step back. “No,” I breathe.

“Yes,” he hisses. “Do you know what it would feel like to be crushed under the rubble of a fallen walkway? To hear the initial crack of the foundation the moment before the floor buckles. The walls crumble and the ceiling falls.”

He stalks toward me, his tone venomous, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “To be thrown to the ground with a thousand tons crushing your bones. Your organs rupturing. Your skull fracturing.”

“Stop!” I shield my ears.

“Even if you don’t die instantly, you’re pinned under rubble with your body parts compressed. Dust and debris fill your nose, settling into your lungs while your circulation cuts off and the panic sets in. Then, the second you’re freed, blood flow returns to all the places where circulation had been cut off, followed by excruciating pain and a delayed death. After losing a daughter like that, just how do you think Williams will react if he discovers Damon is dating the daughter of the man responsible for the reason his daughter is buried six feet under? Or worse, if years from now, you’re married?”

I swallow the sob threatening to rip through my throat. “It was an accident,” I whisper. “And I’m not my father. Damon had nothing to do with it.”

“It was no accident,” Vinny says with a sneer. “I know who’s responsible. Just like I know it will ruin Damon’s career if the truth comes out and you’re together.”

“If I do as you ask a second time, it willcrushhim every bit as hard as the collapse crushed those people,” I say, trying to make him see reason.

“Only his heart, and unlike those people, he’ll have a chance to recover.”

“He loves me.”

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