Page 81 of When Fate Breaks
Dad doesn’t look up as I slowly push open the door. Movement in my peripheral vision catches my attention, and I turn my head to see Mom pacing on the back porch through our glass back door. She’s having a heated phone conversation and keeps running her hands through her hair. Maybe there was a shipment delay?
I glance back to my dad, seeing him in the same position. I step further into the room, letting the door close behind me.
“Um, what happened to Ronnie?” I ask, trying to trigger Dad’s memories of his plan to pick me up and for us to go to lunch.
“He had to go out of town this weekend,” Dad answers robotically, not looking up from his phone.
I stay silent for several seconds, so very confused by my dad’s uncharacteristic response and demeanor. “Um…”
Dad finally glances in my direction and then does a double take. “Annie. Oh, God, crap,” he sputters. “What time is it?1:18? Are you kidding me?Shit, I’m sorry.” He runs both of his hands down his face, exasperated.
His apology is the least of my worries right now. “Dad, why’s the store closed?”
Dad freezes, his hands still on his face. He blows out a long breath before looking back to where I stand just inside the doorway. “Annie…this morning, there was…” he trails off, seeming to search for the words. “There was a robbery,” he finishes, his voice tight.
“What?” My eyebrows shoot to my forehead and my tote bag falls from my shoulder to the floor. “Arobbery? Oh my God.” I start pacing; like mother, like daughter. “What did they take? Tools? Money from the registers? If so, there wouldn’t be much there, right? Since it was early in the day–”
“Not at the store, Annie,” Dad mutters.
I stop in my tracks. “Huh?”
Dad’s head hangs, his lips rolling into his mouth. “At the bank.”
“Thebank?” I ask, approaching Dad. “What does that have to do with–” I freeze, realization hitting me when Dad’s gaze lifts to meet mine and I see his eyes are red-rimmed and puffy. “Wait…” I say. “You mean…”
“Kyle’s bank.”
I feel my brows pull together, still not understanding what’s going on.
“Kyle got involved. Tried to stop it. He…got in the way.” He shakes his head, an expression on his face I can’t read.
“What does that mean?”
Dad blows a breath out of his nose, his back straightening. “He was shot.”
I have to put an arm on the back of the couch to steady myself, my knees giving out from under me. I can hear my pulse pounding in my ears. My blood feels like it’s on fire.
“Wha–what?”
Kyle Di Fazio gotshot? No wonder I hadn’t heard from Blake this morning. Oh my God, I could kick myself for being such a self-absorbed idiot. “Is he in the hospital?”
“No.”
“No? Oh, so he’s okay then?” My shoulders relax.
Thank God.
“No, Annie,” Dad says. “He’s not okay.”
My lungs deflate, my stomach twisting in knots. “Then, what…?”
My dad’s brown eyes meet my own, a look of anguish and defeat within them like I have never seen before in nineteen years. I know the words that are coming before he says them, but it doesn’t feel like my heart is being ripped straight from my chest any less when I hear them out loud.
“Kyle’s dead.”
15
PRESENT DAY
