Page 15 of Forever

“He killed my son, King.”

“Because you tried to kill his daughter.”

Locatelli slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. “We’re finishing this tonight. Understand?”

I started fidgeting with my restraints again as I looked around the room for anything helpful. I could pick up the lamp and hurl it at Locatelli’s head…

“The Cannavaros will wipe us off the map next if you go through with this,” Magnus said.

“No. They won’t.”

“Are you forgetting that Pruitt is married to one of them?”

“I have a deal set up with the Cannavaros,” Locatelli said. “We’re on the same page.”

That couldn’t be true. For all Poppy’s faults, she loved my father. Her parents had died when she was young. She’d relied a lot on my father growing up. She never would have agreed to hurt him.

But…she’d also relied a lot on Mrs. Pruitt.Oh, fuck.

“We get rid of the Pruitt line and we’re the head of the families,” Locatelli said. “The Cannavaros have agreed. Simple. Clean. And no retaliation. The plan is flawless.”

This wasn’t just about my dad. It was about Mrs. Pruitt and her hatred of me. And my mother. She’d wanted me out of this town just as badly as Isabella had. But why now? I’d passed on taking over for my dad. I didn’t want any part of her legacy. I just wanted to live my life. And my dad had stepped aside. Was his wife really that spiteful?

But I had a sinking feeling it went back farther than me reappearing in the city. Maybe Mrs. Pruitt had teamed up with the Locatellis a while ago. Maybe it was her that ordered the hit on me at the lake house. And she’d just gotten Locatelli to go along with it. She’d wanted me dead this whole time.

“So I’ll ask again,” Locatelli said and rounded the desk. He walked in front of me and pulled a gun out from his waistband. “How long do you think until your father arrives?”

My dad wasn’t coming. I’d cut him out. I wasn’t answering his texts or calls.

I stared at the gun and tried to keep my breath even. Tanner had told me to respond. He told me that if my dad was reaching out it was probably important. What if my father had been trying to warn me? I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Patricia was right about you,” Locatelli said, a sinister smile splitting across his face. “You’re much too weak to take over.”

Patricia Pruitt could go to hell. “Mrs. Pruitt is insane.”And I’m a lot stronger than I look, asshole.

“The divorce became final this morning,” he said. “And I really think she’d prefer it if you called her Ms. Cannavaro now. The Pruitt name isn’t going to be worth much in a few minutes. Really, where is your father? He truly is off his game.” He glanced at his watch again.

Wait, what?They were divorced? My father had mentioned that they lived separately. He never said they were divorcing. Had he done that for me? I swallowed hard. Did it even matter? Tears bit at the corners of my eyes.

It did matter.

It mattered to me.

I’d told my father I wanted nothing to do with him unless he stepped down. Cutting ties with the Cannavaros could have been seen as a part of that. And he’d once told me that there was no out. Had he known they’d come for him? And had he done it anyway? For me? For Jacob?

My heart felt funny in my chest. My father was a liar. A thief. A mobster. But I knew somewhere deep down he did love me.

I’d tried so hard to remember the bad things about him over the years. But…he’d done everything from a place of love. Even if he’d done it all wrong.

Even this. There was no way he’d know the Locatellis would take me. He probably just expected them to takehim. And he probably had tried to warn me.

I just wanted the truth. All of it. “Did Mrs. Pruitt order the hit on me? At the lake house? Was it you or her?”

“We made an arrangement.”

“Was it your idea or hers?”Just tell me.

There was a knock on the door. “Room service!” called a deep voice from the other side.

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