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Chapter Nine

Birch

How much longer arethey going to keep her?

Pacing in front of my car, I couldn't stop glancing up at the police station. I watched the blue suits come and go, all of them wearing some sort of smug grin that I wanted to knock off their fucking jaws.

I hated this place. I hated everything about this fucking place. I had been dragged in here one too many times, only to be treated like an asshole that refused to open for a dick. They would threaten me with time behind bars, they would dangle my freedom over my head in return for information on my father and a clean pass out the other end.

As much as I didn't agree with my dad all the time, he was still my father. I wouldn't throw him to the wolves. That wasn't how I was raised.

“Birch, stop worrying, she's fine.”

“Fine?Fine?They let us go over an hour ago, but they still have her. Why?”

My father shrugged his shoulder, as if this entire thing was nothing and we were just waiting for our takeout order to be ready. “Trust me, she'll be out soon. They don't have shit, they can't keep her. Fuck, I hope they didn't ruin the house too much. I really hate cleaning up after a raid. We still have that cleaning lady's number right? Helen was it?”

How can he act so casual about this? Doesn't he see the danger here?

Even if he did, he wouldn't say it. That wasn't who he was. He was the man who always kept a level head. He didn't overreact, he never lost his temper unless he was pushed. And I had only seen him truly lose it a handful of times.

“I don't like this, I don't like this at all.” Clenching my hands into fists, I couldn't sit still. I had to move, I had to do something. Every second that Cyprus was still in that building, the more and more unhinged I felt. “I'm about to go in there and get her myself.”

Groaning, my father shifted in his seat and leaned his head out the window. “Get in and shut up. You aren't doing anything, especially going in there to make a scene. Let's go, in.” Jerking his head towards the driver's seat, I could feel the annoyance in his voice.

Ignoring his demand, I growled under my breath, unable to take my eyes off the building. “What if they're—”

“They're not. Get the fuck in the car, Birch.” His voice was sharp and stern, balancing between the father he was and the boss he needed to be.

Stepping to the driver's side, I looked up at the entrance before tugging the handle. Dropping into the front seat, I slammed the door shut frustrated and worried.

This was not what I wanted and it was the last thing my father or I needed. Cyprus shouldn't be there, she shouldn't be anywhere near this fucking place. I knew that and so did my father.

In the past we always had a heads up before a raid, and my father would send Cyprus out for a bit so she wasn't anywhere around for them to see her. I didn't know what went wrong this time. Our inside snitch, Miguel, he never called us to let us know they were coming.

I'm going to have to talk to him later, find out what the hell happened.

“Better? Does this help?”

“Yes, and you don't have to be a little prick about it.” Flipping his sunglasses down his forehead, he twisted his neck in my direction. “We both know how this goes, Birch.”

“Did they ask you about the Mangoletti's?”

“Yeah, the fuckers said they had reason to believe we're behind their disappearance.” Chuckling, my dad shook his head side to side. “I guess someone said they knew we had a meeting set up, and that we were the last ones to be with them. But the cop wouldn't tell me who ran their mouth. Not that it matters, I'll find out who it was.” His jaw clicked as he clenched his teeth and his mind wandered to all the different ways he could punish the rat.

They had said the same thing to me, trying to intimidate me into telling them everything. I refused, asking for my lawyer and sealing my lips shut. They didn't have anything to hold us on. There was no evidence in our house or the bar to prove we had ever been face to face with that family.

We weren't fucking stupid, that shit had been long destroyed. Lit on fire and turned to ash, it was like it never happened. No bodies had been recovered, no DNA or fingerprints would surface saying that we were linked to the missing father and sons.

The police had suspicions, but as evidence goes, they had shit. Hearsay was enough to give them probable cause to raid our home and arrest us, but without anything other than a snitch and his statement, we were freed.

So why do they still have Cyprus?

“You can't tell me that you're not even a little bit worried about this?” I couldn't hold back the strain in my voice or the fear I felt inside about Cyprus being in the hands of the police. “Why didn't Miguel call us? Why would they have her longer than us? She's not supposed to be here.”

This had been my fear, the only fear I had ever really had. I was afraid that if they found her, they'd take her, and I'd never get to see her again. I couldn't stand the thought of that. The mere idea that she could be stripped from my grasp hurt, it smashed my ice cold heart into tiny bits.

“Obviously he didn't know, Birch. Maybe their onto him, I don't know.” Rolling his eyes, he dropped his gaze into his lap. “But she's a smart girl, she'll probably do better in there than the both of us.” Taking out his wallet, my father flipped through the photos he had in the center slots. “At least this time they didn't take my pictures. I never did get back the one of you and Cyprus at the beach. You remember that day? When you guys were making that sandcastle and it collapsed right when your mother took the picture?”