“That wasn’t part of the deal, remember? I recall you saying something about not being able to hand out favors. Why should I be doing one for you?”
“Because you owe me,” he says, “and because I’m your father.”
I narrow my eyes on him and wait patiently, but the very next words out of his moth have me nearly falling off my chair in shock. “This changes nothing. You’re going to stick to your original deal and you’re going to take your place in the family business. With me stuck in here, it’s going to be hard, but you need to save everything I’ve built or at least hold the fort until I get out of here, and I promise you, Henley, I will be getting out of here.”
All I can do is stare. “Are you serious, right now? Or are you just delusional? I won’t be doing anything for you. All your people are incarcerated. Money. Gone, Assets. Gone, House. Swarming with cops, And Your Warehouse. Ashes. When are you going to understand that you have nothing left? You’re done. Anton Mathers is no longer the name people fear in Haven Falls because all he is, is a washed-up gangster who crossed the wrong person and lost it all. With no money in your pocket, who’s going to support you? People are only out to save themselves and now that you’re locked up, you’re no one worth saving.”
I get to my feet with the phone still glued to my ear. “You’re nothing, Anton, and you’re never getting out of here. Your empire burned right along with you and all that’s left are ruins.”
I’ve gotten every last thing I could possibly need from this visit and with those final words, I hang up the phone and turn on my heel, walking out of the room without daring to ever look back, the sounds of Anton’s screams following behind me.
I smile at the guard, walk my ass out of there, and get myself home, ready to finally put this shit behind me.
Anton Mathers? Who the hell is that?
Chapter 18
There’s only a week left of my summer and I let out a sigh as the lightest shade of cream paint I’ve ever seen rolls effortlessly onto the walls. Rivers is going to love this and if he doesn’t, I’m going to kick his ass.
Tully, Ari, and I have been working our ass off on this place over the past few weeks. Though, we can’t take all the credit. Noah has been helping out where he can, but he’s been working heaps. Spencer’s here a bit but feels like he’s intruding so never really stays long, and Aiden helps out until he gets frustrated with the way we do things. Apparently, we’re a little unconventional in our methods of fixing up a home. Who would have known?
Today we were lucky because we have Spencer and Noah up on the roof trying to fix the leaks and have Lacey in the bathroom, giving it a good scrub and preparing it for a lick of paint while replacing the old, torn shower curtain.
We had to convince Aria that Rivers wasn’t going to like the shower curtain with the bright pink love hearts and made her settle for a plain, white one. I don’t know how we got through that argument. The one where we had to choose the wall color was almost more than I could handle. I threw back a few drinks that night.
Dad’s been loving all this time I’ve been spending here with Aria because it frees up his time to see Jackie. He’s so freaking smitten by her, it’s the cutest thing. It’s been just over a month and so far, they’ve been joined at the hip, falling for each other almost quicker than Noah and I had.
Jared was weird about it at first and demanded to meet dad like he was her father inspecting her date for the high school prom. He even gave them a curfew and set a few boundaries. Jared’s going to make a great father one day. He even came over with his little brother and the four of us sat on the couch, eating pizza waiting anxiously for our parents to return home. It was great fun, though something tells me we were anxious for very different reasons.
All I seem to know is that so far, it’s going really well, and I hope to whoever is above that it stays that way. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million more times; dad deserves someone special in his life who’s going to treat him with love and respect. He deserves to be happy, and he deserves to put himself first for a change.
The roller glides up and down the wall as Aria does a great job of rolling up the old, damp carpet. I had to deck her out in old clothes with big gardening gloves and one of those disposable face masks. She absolutely loves it and it makes me feel so much better about her touching all the crap found in this home.