Page 57

I need everyone ready, locked, and fucking loaded. I hope Anita is ready, it’s new for her, but she’ll adjust accordingly. She’s the perfect fit; there’s no doubt she won’t be successful at this line of work. It’s hard, can be depressing, but it’s rewarding all at the same time.
My phone rings, filling the car with its beeping tune. I reach for it, checking the name. My heart slams into my ribs at my father's name flashing bright on the caller ID. Fuck now I have to hear his shit. I lower the phone, deciding to ignore it instead, but the tune is annoying, and even clicking the button to turn it off doesn't seem to let up as if he's calling back-to-back. I blow out a frustrated sigh, and I grab my phone off the passenger, pressing the speaker button.
“Pai.”
“My son. He answers,” he says, almost shocked, in his groggy tone as usual. His tone changed as I became older and a full-grown man. As a child, the tone of his voice was more of an angry growl, like he couldn't stand the sight of me. Which I figured was true from the inflictions he would give me.I’m turning you into a man. A boss who will lead my business. Not a boy who plays with his trinkets.
“It hasn’t been a month yet.”
My father releases a ragged breath, dragging out the irritation of my comment. “Why do you do this? Why must you treat me this way? I’ve sacrificed—”
I bite down on my jaw as he rambles about every sacrifice he's ever made in order for me and Cruz to have the best life.
It was never a life, and it damn sure wasn't the best. The riches, the money? I would happily live a humble life if that meant my father wouldn't be how he was for his ‘sacrifices.’
“I’m busy. All of this will need to wait.” I look back at the clock on the dashboard.
“This cannot wait. I need you at the estate. I need you to come now.”
I drag my teeth over one another. “I’m busy,” I repeat. “I’ll stop by another night.”
“What has you busy? Huh? What are you possibly doing that is so important that you can't see your father?”
So much more than you know.I narrow in on the dark, hollow path. Manipulation at its highest. He never fails to make me feel bad for the choices I make, whether it’s making myself happy or to protect my own space.
Rustling with a thick sigh comes in the background, and I can practically hear him shaking his head. “Is this your goal to push your only family away? Me. Now your brother? After what happened to you, all we wanted was to be there, and you continue to treat this family as if we’re nothing but scum.”
You are scum!I want to shout, but I keep it in. I don't understand why I can stand up to him. I’ve never had a hard time speaking up for myself, but with him, the words become stuck like hair on tape.
Either way, I can't help the blaze of animosity that streams up my chest like magma spilling onto the surface. I don't want to argue, I just want to do my job and get to these kids.
“Come home, and we’ll talk over dinner,” he says tiredly.
Home. I squint at the phone with drawn brows. “What's the urgency? We only meet once a month.”
“Is it that hard to believe that I want to form a relationship with my oldest? I won't live forever.”
Something warms in my chest, and I almost believe it.
“Whatever you're doing. It can hold off. Come home. Have dinner. Share a drink with your brother,” he says in our native language, and it only makes me want to believe it all. His genuineness, his excuse to have a bond with me finally. To understand me, at least. Can I put aside all the pain he's caused me as a child to a young man?
If I were to tell him all that I've done, all the lives that I’ve saved, would he be proud of me?
“I’ll stop by after,” I say, regretfully though because some part of me knows it's not what I hope it will be. Our relationship is too far gone, but my stupid inner child falls for it, anyway.
He breathes exasperatedly like he gave it his all to convince me. “I’ll see you then.”
I click the end call before he can say anything else.Why do I answer his calls?
Now I have to muster up the will to face him again. Anita's face pops into my mind, and I think of asking if she would want to go. My heart dulls because I could never let her meet him; she’ll see right through his shit. If my mother were alive, she would love Anita instantly and welcome her with open arms as if she were her ownfilha.
Bright lights flash in my rearview.
What the fuck?My eyes squint from the blaring white light. I look again to see a truck near my size. Must be Mal. What the hell? She was supposed to be with Anita getting ready.
First the phone call with mypainow this?
I tap my thumb onto the wheel, my teeth biting the meat at the side of my mouth. Her car is now on my ass, so I speed up. She better explains herself, or I'm chewing her alive.