Paying Off Her Dad's Best Friend (Her Dad's Best Friend 2)

Ring.

“Hello? What’s up, Dad? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Kelly, baby girl, I just wanted to check in with you. How’s school going?”

“Dad, your voice sounds really weird. It must be a bad connection. School’s fine. Is everything okay?”

Nothing is okay. Her father is about to die by my hand.

“Everything’s fine.”

I muffle my snort. George is a terrible liar, which makes it crazy that he got away with cooking our books for so long. Sentimentality made me forgo annual audits. Emotions are liabilities.

“You sound like you’re sick or something.”

“Yeah, maybe I should see a doctor.”

He’ll probably see a medical examiner very soon. More accurately, a medical examiner would see him.

“I just wanted to tell you that I love you, Kelly.”

“I love you, too, Dad.” There’s silence on the line. “Are you sure you’re okay? I can drive home this weekend.”

If she came home this weekend, she’d be driving home for his funeral, but she doesn’t know that. I feel bad for Kelly, his naive daughter who had nothing to do with any of this. Her father’s death would ruin her life. I am taking back all of my money with 10% interest, compounded annually. I hope that he has some kind of life insurance. Otherwise, Kelly’s going to be broke.

“Don’t worry about me,” George says. “Just study hard. Be happy. I love you. I have to go now.” His fingers are shaking when he hits the red button to end the call.

George’s life will end in a few seconds. “I’m impressed. You didn’t try to get her to call the police. You didn’t tell her that I was here.”

“What would be the point? I’m going to die anyway. I don’t want her to have a vendetta against the Genovese family. She’s not tangled up in this. My daughter is the one good thing in my life. I have stolen. I have lied. But my daughter has never and will never see any of that.”

I put the safety back on my gun. “Maybe that’s the price.”

“Excuse me?”

“A few minutes ago, you were about to die. You had nothing to offer me. Now you do. Kelly is the one good thing in your life.”

“Oh, no.” He’s shaking his head. “Not my daughter.”

I smile. “Yes. Your daughter.”

Chapter Two

Driving Home

Kelly

WEEKEND

That phone call from my dad lingered in my mind for a few days, so I decide to drive home and surprise him. He said that everything was fine, but if I learned anything from The Italian Job, I know that I need to go home.

While pulling onto the freeway, I turn on the radio. It blasts Radio Disney. It’s all Camilla’s fault. I turn it to something actually good as I speed down the freeway.

Our school is only a little more than an hour away from home. Soon, I’m pulling into the driveway. I did all my homework last night, so I can concentrate on my dad for the next two days. Well, I can do it if he’s around. My dad, even if I love him, has been mostly absent for a lot of my life. He works a lot.

His car is in the garage, but there’s another car in my driveway. Then I realize it’s Uncle Iacopo’s black Lexus. Cool. I haven’t seen that handsome devil in a while.

When I was younger, I thought that Uncle Iacopo was the prince to my princess. I thought that he was the most handsome man in the world. I used to call him Prince Iacopo, back when I thought I would grow up to be a Disney princess. He would pick me up and spin me around whenever I wanted, which I considered to be the most important criterion for marriage. I was heartbroken when he got married to Ariana, who was never very nice to me. His precious daughter Lucia is one of the most beautiful babies in the whole world, though. I was happy when they got divorced, even though I shouldn’t be glad about something that probably hurt them both and will hurt Lucia when she understands that her family is split up.