I turned and saw that Nixon had his phone pointed at me and that my dad was watching me with so much pride; I wanted to collapse to the floor and puke.
“This—” My dad nodded his head. “—is why we’ve been so hard on you. And you’re right. You’re ready. Forgive us for—how did you put it? Making you pay for our shitty sins.” He grinned. “And, son…”
“Yeah?” I croaked.
“I’ve never been more proud of you.” He smiled—a genuine smile, which was rare—and my mom blew me a kiss with tears in her eyes.
“So.” Breaker cleared his throat. “Does this mean my dad doesn’t get to kill you during breakfast?”
Tex sighed and then gave Breaker a little shove. “No killing in front of the bacon.”
“Thank God because I’ve been sneaking pieces during that entire speech, so hungry.” Breaker stole another piece only to get it smacked out of his hand by Tex.
I relaxed a bit, and then I realized that I couldn’t relax.
Because this meant that I’d just stood up to the most powerful bosses in history without getting my head chopped off.
And on top of that, my dad said he’d been proud.
Which meant me and Serena would never happen, couldn’t because I’d finally been given what I’d wanted my entire life.
Freedom and acceptance to do things my way.
And loving her would take that from me.
Nixon held up his phone to his ear. “You did well raising him, Phoenix, despite all odds…” He looked up at me. “Yeah, he’s been great other than sparring with Serena at midnight and catching her chin.” He barked out a laugh. “Yeah, well, she should have blocked him better.”
Weird. Our life was so weird.
They hung up, and then Nixon put both of his hands on my shoulders and stared me down with his icy blue eyes. “You did good, son. Keep your enemies close, and you did just that while saving lives.” I frowned as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. “Each boss has an underboss in the organization, a second in command. Chase is mine, though he’s horrible at it now that he golfs with the president—”
“He says hi, by the way.” Chase laughed and moved away from us.
Nixon kept talking. “It’s yours now.” He placed the heavy ring in my hand, it had the Nicolasi crest, and I knew what it meant, why it felt so heavy—because it was.
Nixon Abandonato, dad to the girl I was in love with but had to hate, had just crowned me king.
Chapter Twenty-One
Serena
Nothing crazy happened during classes. In fact, it seemed like the new De Lange kids were shyer than middle schoolers on their first day. When they did see us, they gave us a wide berth.
Tank had texted that he wanted to bring me coffee, and even though I wanted to tell him no because I knew I was leading him on, I said yes.
Which was how Junior found us an hour later, Tank asking me about what I wanted to do with my life and me fighting boredom as I lied about wanting to be a teacher. My life was already determined, and if Tank knew how ruthless I could be, he’d probably shit his pants.
“That’s cool.” Tank took a sip of his coffee. “I’ve kind of always wanted to go into law enforcement.”
I choked on my next sip. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.” His grin was the perfect mix of sexy and cute. Too bad I liked lethal and off-limits. “It’s just an interest; a family friend used to work for the FBI before he retired.”
“Good thing we have the FBI on lockdown then,” I muttered, semi-joking, but not really because we actually did.
They loved us because our crime was organized and it kept money in the United States so really, they had no complaints.
Tank smiled again and shook his head. “Yeah, good thing.”
“Is this the part where you tell me you’re actually an undercover agent who’s thirty but just looks young?” I wondered out loud, causing him to laugh so hard we had people staring.
Junior made his way over.
And suddenly, Tank stopped laughing and tensed up like he was getting ready for a fight when Junior had been nothing but nice to him, treating him like a friend.
Weird.
“Hey guys,” Junior took a seat on the picnic table across from us. “Serena, I’m headed home. I know you rode with Ash, but—”
“Ash had to do something for Chase,” Tank piped up. “So, Annie and Claire took the car to go shopping or something. I think they mentioned a dress to match the boots.”
I froze. “When did they leave?”
He frowned. “I don’t know an hour or so ago?”
Panic hit me square in the chest. I wasn’t even sure why something felt wrong; it just did. I mean Claire was with Annie of all people, it wasn’t like Annie was going to suddenly pull a knife out of her cardigan.