Page 108 of Undeniably Corrupt
“Is my mother dead?” I ask before I can stop the words from slipping past my lips. It’s the only thing I can think of for why one of my father’s goons would be here.
“No. She’s fine. For now.”
I squint at him for that last bit. “You’re new. Did my father kill off his last henchman already?”
His gaze shifts around to see if anyone overheard, but fuck him and fuck his threats.
I scoff and roll my eyes. “What do you want? Why did he send you?”
“We know you’re living with Vander Moore.”
Ice slithers through my veins, freezing me over. Shit. Why didn’t I think my father would know that? I never should have moved in with Vander. When I got together with Mattia, he pulled something similar. It got worse after we moved to Boston and I had Hazel. That was the last time one of his men paid me a visit. Part of me even wondered if that’s why Mattia left. If one of my father’s men threatened him somehow and he fled.
“I got the shit beat out of me in my neighborhood, and he offered Hazel and me his third floor until I can afford something better. He’s my boss and was trying to help out the little sister of his former friend.”
“He’s also your former boyfriend.”
Bile shoots up the back of my throat as horror seizes my muscles. How could they know that? Only his parents and his Boston friends knew about us. I hid it from everyone.Wehid it from everyone. Clearly not well, though. Fuck!
“It’s not like that,” I defend ardently. “We’re not even friends.”
“For his sake and Hazel’s, I hope not.”
My throat tightens. “You don’t get to say her name.”
“Rumor has it he used to hack things he shouldn’t.”
Jesus Christ. That’s what this is. My father’s afraid Vander will hack him and learn all his dirty secrets. Especially if I open my mouth about them.
I snort sardonically. “I think you need to increase your intel there, Fredo.”
He tilts his head. “Fredo?”
“The dumb one fromTheGodfather. That’s you. There’s no way Vander does that. Other than owning the company, it doesn’t seem like he knows all that much about computers. The other day one of the cybersecurity guys had to talk him throughsomething for a client because he didn’t understand it. He’s a math nerd, not a hacker.”
That’s a lie. I have no doubt Vander used to hack things he shouldn’t and still does.
He stares me down, trying to detect my level of bullshit, and I hold fast and firm. No blushing or even a twitch this time. Because not only does Hazel’s life depend on it, evidently Vander’s does too.
Finally, he gives me a firm nod.
“I take it I don’t have to tell you to keep your mouth shut.”
Asshole. “You mean the way I have for the last eight years? He doesn’t have to renew his threats. They live rent-free in my head along with his crimes. Bye now. And if I see you near my daughter, I will cut out your liver and watch you bleed to death.” I start to walk past him, only to flip around. “And you can tell my father that when the bitch named Death finally comes for him, I hope she makes it as painful as possible.” I flip him off and get the hell out of here, moving straight into a jog and heading up the steps to get to the T.
The doors close and the train moves, and I blow out breath after breath, willing my panic attack to subside. I pull up the daycare’s app on my phone and watch Hazel play dolls in her classroom with another girl. She’s safe. For the moment, she’s safe. But she won’t be until my father dies. Nor will I or my mother, but now I’ve brought Vander into this.
My parents never liked him, and that was only when he was friends with Cassian. Ironic too since they thought Vander was a bad influence on my brother. Except my father is the one who had Cassian—his own fucking son—killed. Coward couldn’t even do it himself. Cassian didn’t fall or jump from the fourth floor of that construction site, and he wasn’t drunk either. It breaks my heart that Vander blames himself, but more times than I can count over the years, I’m grateful he wasn’t therewhen he was supposed to be because otherwise he’d be dead too.
But with that, I also know my father’s threats aren’t idle.
He will kill my mother, and he will kill me and Hazel. And he’ll do it all in cold blood without even breaking a sweat or a moment’s remorse.
By the time I get to work, I’m in no better shape than I was when I got on the T. I don’t go to the daycare. If I see Hazel, I’ll want to grab her and run. Instead, I go upstairs and into the bathroom to change into one of the ridiculous outfits Vander bought me. I have to smile and talk about cybersecurity for the next hour in a meeting.
I slip into the dress and heels, but I can’t shake it. It’s all too much, and despite my best efforts, my emotions get the better of me, and the insipid tears start. One after the other, they won’t stop, and taking in my reflection in the bathroom mirror isn’t helping to slow them, or the way I’m starting to hyperventilate.
I turn on the faucet to splash cold water on my face just as the door opens and freaking Alesha, of all people, walks in. She stops short when she sees me, our gazes clashing in the reflection of the mirror before I lower my face back toward the running water.
