The boards underneath my feet creaked with every step I took, giving away my presence. Why I cared, I wasn’t sure. Even as the King of a Mafia crumbling around me, I felt I still needed—no, wanted the element of surprise.
“I knew you would come.” His voice was raspy, and cigar smoke filled my nostrils. I wasn’t even inside the door yet and my gun was drawn. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I had put the bullet in his head that second and walked away. Small talk wasn’t my thing.
Stepping over the threshold, I took in the house again. It looked very much the same and the mystery of who John was grew deeper and deeper. How could someone like him allow his daughter to live in these conditions?
“If you knew I was coming, then you should’ve prepared yourself.” My voice was full and angry. Not just because of my feelings toward him—for something he may or may not have done, but because of the situation he had brought Bree into. He was reckless, careless, and it was a fucking load coming from someone like me, but even I knew it.
“Prepared for what exactly?” he retorted, smirking at me as he blew a puff of smoke out. I stood just before the entrance to the living room. He was dressed in a suit and was sitting casually as ever. Long gone was the poor, helpless farmer. Fuck, I should just kill him right now—after all, this was all just a ploy.
“You’re dressed for the occasion now, aren’t you?” I mocked back. I wasn’t fucking stupid. I had no one behind me anymore. Everyone had crumbled, fallen, or fled in the end.
His eyes grew large as he set the cigar down on an ashtray. This man was the father of the woman I loved and was the only reason he was still standing and not dead at my feet.
“You know then, don’t you? You know I took your mom’s pathetic fucking life well, she hid you from us.” He laughed and it caused my insides to quake with anger. My finger was getting really fucking trigger happy.
“Cut the shit. I know you fucking did it, but what I don’t know is why. What I don’t get is who you work for, and if I don’t get the answers I want, I’ll put a bullet in every single person’s head until I do get an answer,” I spat at him. My gun was aimed and ready. I didn’t even give a shit anymore. I would take the world down in a burning blaze if I had to in order to find the answers.
He shifted in his seat before standing. His eyes showed nothing but hate and anger. Not an ounce of remorse could be found, and for a smidge of a second, I wondered if this would be what I looked like the moment before I put a bullet in someone’s head. Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away—I wasn’t a monster. I wasn’t a ruthless killer. When I killed, it was because the person deserved it—and I knew my mother didn’t deserve to die.
Laughing, he said, “You’ll kill everyone? Every single person who may or may not have an answer? What about my daughter? She has answers. She knows shit, but yet you still wanted between her legs. Was it good?” He was a sick fucker, and when he finally had his chance at death, I would make sure it was painful.
Narrowing my eyes, I glared at him. “Bree has nothing to do with this.” I forced out the lie easily. She had everything to do with this. If it came down to it, if it came down to her or me, I wasn’t sure I could save myself. I wasn’t sure I could save either of us.
“Oh, but she does. She has every fucking thing to do with it.” My anger was building the more and more we talked. I hadn’t come here for this.
“I don’t give a shit about Bree. I give a shit about answers, and I won’t be leaving here without them.”
A loud gasp sounded behind me, and I held my breath for a moment before turning around. My eyes landed on her dirt covered body, and I almost lowered my gun. The urge to go to her and see if she was okay was slowly taking over. I had to keep up this facade or he would see how much of a weakness she was for me. I continued to aim at John’s head as I took in her appearance. The condition she was in was enough to make me pull the fucking trigger and put a bullet in his head. Her hair was matted, dirt was caked on her face, and her clothes were a mess. She looked as if she had been held up in a dirt pile.
“What the fuck?” I heard as John mumbled under his breath. “Bree, what are you doing here?” He was just as surprised to see her as I was. Hell, I planned to find her after all of this, but from the way her father was acting, I had to assume he knew where she was all along.
“What am I doing? Why the fuck did you put me in a hole in the fucking field? Why the hell—” She stopped mid-sentence, unable to finish her sentence.
“Bree.” Her father scolded her like a child. I was getting the feeling he hadn’t been truthfully honest with her yet.
“You lied to me. You put me in a fucking hole, and you lied to me. Do you work for someone?” Deep betrayal could be heard in her voice as the words flowed freely from her lips.
Rolling his eyes, he smiled. “I was protecting you, child. Simple as it is, I knew you wouldn’t stay away from him.” He was referring to me now as him, huh?
“You fucking lied,” she mumbled again as if in disbelief.
A moment passed as her eyes began to look glassy. I turned to face John again, and I managed to catch the smirk on his face. He wanted to use her against me. He wanted to hurt me. Fuck, he even wanted to hurt his own daughter. Fuck him. I would use the one thing I knew had to mean the most to him. He might not have a problem hurting her feelings, but he definitely didn’t want her dead.