“It was as if he had waited for that day. Finally, he was free to call me what he wanted and make me do what he wanted. He would send her out to do something more and more while I stayed there to clean, cook, and wait on him hand and foot. I did everything he ordered and never said anything to my father because John told me if I did, Dad would not only kill him and Ashley, but my mom, too. I was young and terrified enough to listen to him yet old enough to understand what my dad did for a living. The more I cleaned and heard him call me names, the more I knew John was right; he would kill them.”
Vincent flexed his jaw. “How has your dad not figured it out? You’re telling me he doesn’t know?”
“No, never.” She looked at him like he was crazy.
“How am I supposed to believe that, Lake?”
She was not going to let him think about her father that way. He could say what he wanted about her mom because God knew she wasn’t perfect, but Lake wasn’t going to let him blame her father when he had always done the best he could for her despite his weakness. My father is all I have left. And she wasn’t going to let Vincent take that away from her.
Lake stared into his blue depths, knowing what she said next was going to hurt him. “The same way Adalyn and you didn’t know. There was no way to know unless you were there to experience it, just how you did tonight. My father could never stomach to go over there in that huge house and face why my mother left him—for money. When I asked to spend only the weekends with my mom, I told him it was because she wasn’t alone and I didn’t want him to be. The same thing I told you months ago, and you thought nothing of it.
“My mother was a good mother before John, regardless whether you believe me or not. I never would have believed John and his money would have changed her, but it did. I knew it would be hard for my father to believe, as well, which was why I never gave him any reason to think otherwise.”
Seeing the rage behind his eyes as he began squeezing the table, she felt bad for saying what she had, but she hadn’t been left with a choice—she had seen him considering killing her father. Still, she needed to make it better. She didn’t want him to blame himself.
“Vincent, you couldn’t have known what happened, just how Adalyn and my father didn’t. There is no one to blame—”
He jumped up from the table, practically flipping the whole thing over. “There is fucking someone to blame! Those fuckers need to die for how they treated you tonight alone!”
“Please listen to me. I’m begging you, don’t hurt them.” Once again, she couldn’t dare look at him, putting her gaze back down on the table.
Vincent reached out and grabbed her chin, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. “You will never see them again. If you do and they so much as look at you the wrong way, I will kill them slowly and painfully. Do you understand me?”
Lake swallowed the lump in her throat then nodded in understanding. Arguing with him when he was like that wasn’t an option. She was simply lucky to have him agree not to hurt them.
He released her chin and calmly sat back down after he pushed his hair back.
“Don’t tell my dad, and please don’t blame him. There was no way for him to know. He does the best he can for me, but you know he’s not made and only makes so much. He works hard for Dante to make as much as he can to support us. There’s a roof over my head, food in my belly, and clothes to wear. If there’s anything extra after that, he gambles it away. He just can’t help it; he’s a gambling addict.
“Everyone has their downfall, and his is a poker table. That’s his enjoyment in life. It never bothered me, nor do I care if we don’t have a lot of money. My father is the best person I know. He loves walking through that door to tell me he hit. Every time, he would take me out to eat, and then we would go to the grocery store where he’d let me fill up the cart. After that, he gave me money to buy whatever I wanted. That’s more than I can say a lot of parents give to their kids. If you go and tell him about my mom and John, he will never forgive himself, and he doesn’t deserve that.” She couldn’t help crying as she pleaded with him.
Getting up from the table, she ran into her bedroom, unable to stop the sobs escaping her body.
After a few seconds, she felt Vincent’s arms wrap around her. “I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to.”
Lake removed her hands from her face and cried into his chest. “I-I don’t want you to.”
“Then I won’t.” He began stroking her back as he held her closer to him.
“H-he’s not coming home again, is he? He’s ashamed of me working in the casino,” she whispered to him though her tears.
He can’t talk to or look at me anymore. Those thoughts had swirled around her mind all week.
“No, baby, he’s not. He’s ashamed of himself. It’s going to be hard for him to forgive himself for putting you in danger and having you work off his debt. You’re going to have to give him some time to be able to face you again.”
Another cry escaped her throat as she realized she really missed her father and needed him.
“Baby, shh…” He backed her up to her bed and sat her down on the edge of the mattress. “You are worn out and will feel better when you wake up tomorrow.” He bent down on his knee and began unlacing her old tennis shoes.