Craving Molly (The Aces' Sons 2)

“It’s all good, Reb,” I told her, my voice unnaturally high. “Sit with Grampy.”

“You good mother,” the short one said with a nod.

I stared at him uncomprehendingly as he nodded again and I took another fist to the face, the blow knocking my head backward so hard that it clipped the chin of the man behind me, making him grunt.

I didn’t make a sound.

“You have list for me?”

My dad didn’t say a word, and another blow caught me in the stomach, making me heave. I didn’t vomit, but the dry heaves hurt like a motherfucker. I still didn’t make a sound. I looked at Rebel, and the only thing I could see was the back of her head resting on my dad’s chest. He’d turned her away. I was so grateful.

“Still, no answer,” short man said to the man behind me with a shrug, like he couldn’t believe we were being so stubborn.

I had no idea what he wanted. None. My dad seemed to know exactly what the man was talking about, but I didn’t have a clue about the list he was asking for. What kind of list? Was it something my dad knew, or was it an actual list, like on a piece of paper? I knew where the safe was, but even if I showed it to them, I had no idea what the code to unlock it was. Even if I tried to help them, I didn’t have anything they wanted.

As they hit me, I tried to think of any way I could get my dad to give them what they’d asked for, but the minute the blows stopped, I knew deep in my gut that if my dad refused to give it to them, there was a reason. I didn’t understand what was happening, and I understood it even less as the kitchen around me grew hazy, but I knew that if my dad could stop them, he would.

They shuffled me around the kitchen, and I barely registered it as the man behind me let go of one of my wrists, his arm wrapping around my belly as we came to a stop. I could barely hold my head up, and my hair was hanging in my face.

I couldn’t see my dad. I couldn’t see anything but the tile on the floor of the kitchen. I wished I would have put my hair up in a ponytail.

My eyes flew wide as a loud thump filled the kitchen, and I couldn’t stop the scream that burst out of my throat as fire flew up my arm.

“I’ll tell you anything you want!” my dad yelled, his voice breaking. “Anything. Everything.”

My body collapsed against the man behind me as I stared in horror at my broken forearm. It was bent down at a weird angle, and there was a large lump where it was already beginning to swell. I’d seen plenty of fractures as a nurse, but I’d never actually had one. Oddly enough, it was beginning to go numb until the short man gripped it in his hand, making me scream again.

“I’ll tell you,” Dad said again, as Rebel began to screech in short, staccato bursts. “Let them leave and I’ll tell you.”

“But how will I know that you keep your word?”

“I swear it,” my dad promised. “I swear it.”

Rebel stopped screaming and I peeked over to find that she was sitting at my dad’s feet. He must have set her there when she’d started screaming. She hadn’t wanted him to touch her. Even surrounded by those other big men, she hadn’t wanted his comfort.

I felt a calloused hand grip my chin and my head was lifted until I was nose to nose with the short man.

“You go to police, you’re dead,” he said simply, shaking my head a little. “You go to police, father is dead.”

“Okay,” I rasped.

“You say nothing,” he ordered.

“Okay.” I was already imagining how fast I could dial my phone as soon as I got Rebel out of there.

He slapped my cheek. “You say nothing.”

“Okay,” I said again.

The man behind me let go and stepped away, and I stumbled, the kitchen tilting.

“Maybe, I keep you,” the short man mused as I shuffled toward Rebel and my dad.

“I won’t tell you a goddamn thing until they’re gone,” my dad rasped, glaring at the three men.

“Ah, not to worry. I have no use for child. Dirty business, making war with children.”

I reached my dad, and laid my hand lightly on his arm as I called Rebel’s name. The muscles beneath my hand flexed, but he didn’t move as I rubbed my thumb across his skin. He didn’t want to give the men any reason to change their mind.

I wasn’t sure why he’d finally broken. I’d been beaten until everywhere above my hips throbbed with every beat of my heart, but suddenly my dad had been willing to talk. A small seed of resentment bloomed as I helped Rebel to her feet. I was bleeding, and I wasn’t even sure where it was coming from, and after the last half an hour of getting the crap kicked out of me, my dad was going to tell them what they wanted to know anyway. It was all for nothing.