Unbreakable (Haven Falls 6)

The second she drives off, Dad puts Aria down and grabs me, practically shaking me with his excitement. “Whatever you did in there, squish, it was fucking brilliant. Did you see that? Your old man’s still got it. She was practically eating out of my hand. I’m a fucking machine.”

“Woah, calm down there, old man,” I laugh, having to peel myself out of his arms. “Without me, you would have been watching her from a distance like some kind of stalker.”

“Whatever,” he says, ruffling my hair as his excitement gets the best of him. “I’m the fucking man and you know it.”

I roll my eyes. There’s nothing I could possibly say to help bring him down a notch. I just hope that by the time his date comes around, he’ll be able to act like the perfect gentleman.

Dad starts singing ‘T.N.T’ by ‘ACDC’ and all I can do is listen along as he puts Ari into her carseat and gets himself ready to head home. “Are you coming?” he questions as I step back from his pick up.

I shake my head. “Nah. I think I might walk.”

“Huh? You sure? Why the hell would you want to do something crazy like that?”

I indicate across the road to the clothing store. “Just want to clear my head a bit,” I tell him. “I should probably stop by the fire station and let Noah know what’s going on too.”

“Ok,” dad says in understanding. “Just don’t be a pain at the fire station. That boy’s working not volunteering anymore.”

I roll my eyes and step back again, leaving enough room for dad to back out of his parking space. Within the blink of an eye, his car is disappearing out of the lot and I’m left standing here, staring across at the clothing store, wondering for the millionth time how I could have possibly missed this.

I start walking and as I do, I notice cops walking in and out of the store, taking boxes upon boxes of evidence and putting them in the backs of their cars, filling them up with everything that could possibly be inside that place.

I can’t help but think that inside every one of those boxes is a mystery to unfold about my father. I have no intention of getting to know the guy but within those boxes are his secrets and the answers I’ve been looking for. Hell, they’re the answers the whole town has been searching for.

I don’t doubt there’s evidence of the drug deals he’s made, money laundering schemes, people who have wronged him and what kind of ‘payback’ they received. Hell, I wouldn’t even be surprised if there’s evidence on how he found Ari stashed in there somewhere.

He’s too smart to keep that shit at his home and this place is the perfect cover up. No wonder it’s taken so long for the cops to bust him. But what it really comes down to is that he was a bad man through and through. He may have claimed to love his son and be protective of his daughter, but as far as I’m concerned, he was doing it for the wrong reasons. Everything he has ever done has been to benefit his own selfish needs and it’s that very thought that helps me not to feel bad about letting this happen after he went to the effort to save Ari. He may have done that one good deed, but that will never make up for the crimes and horrendous acts that are all there within those boxes.

Anton Mathers deserves to rot in jail and I hope to God that’s what’s going to happen.

It takes me all of ten minutes to get to the fire station and when I do, the first person I see is Noah working away and doing who the hell knows what at the side of the big, red truck. As if sensing me here, he breaks away from his duties and hurries over to me, instantly throwing his big, warm arms around me. “Are you ok?” he murmurs, pressing his lips to my forehead.

“Anton was arrested,” I tell him, not sure how to answer his question.

“I know, Spitfire. It’s been all over the radios. They wanted us for back up in case anything went down.”

I nod my head. “I was in the grocery store’s parking lot when it happened. I watched the whole thing.”

“Shit. I was hoping you didn’t see that.”

“It’s ok,” I tell him. “I think watching him go down helps. It makes it more…final.”

“It’s not final yet,” he reminds me. “Anton still needs to be sentenced and you know how long that can take, especially when he most likely had half of the justice system owing him favors.”

“I know, but for now, I won’t need to go and live in that house and I can live my life hoping for the best.”