Page 165 of The Broken Note

My father can’t hide it when he sees someone else’s pain. He feeds on it. Like a ghost. Like a demon.

I’m wearing my emotions on my sleeves, unable to hide my desperation and he’s slurping it up like a greedy bastard.

“I’m only going to ask this one more time,” I growl, rising to my feet. “Where is she?”

Dad coaches his face into a blank expression. Stepping slowly toward me, he lowers himself to one knee. Voice a reptilian hiss, he whispers, “I told you not to play this game with me, Dutch. You’re far too young, far too impetuous to see the bigger picture.”

“Where!” I roar. My body jerks as I fight against my human restraints, but Lucien and Ron have me locked in their grip.

Dad smacks my bruised cheek. He hits it again, harder. The sound of skin meeting skin is loud in the room.

“You’re in the big leagues now, Dutch. This isn’t Redwood Prep. This is the real world and, out here, you’re just a kid with no power.”

My eyes narrow.

“Do you see why you shouldn’t go against your father?” He says in a stern tone. “Now I have to look like the bad guy.”

“You think I’m powerless?” I raise my head slowly. “I’m going to tear your kingdom down, brick by brick.”

He arches both eyebrows, still looking amused.

“If you touch her—”

“Don’t waste my time with threats.” He straightens and walks to the mini bar, stride sure. Arrogant. Always freaking arrogant. Like nothing in this world can ruffle him. And even if it did, he wouldn’t let anyone see. “Believe it or not, she’s the one who came to me, son.”

“Bull—”

“I’m sure she made her own arrangements, even if she left in a rush.”

My mind whirrs. Vi said that Cadence told her to stay at a friend’s house. She hinted that she was leaving to Breeze.

If she was kidnapped against her will, would she have time to prepare her circle?

“This is why you never fall in love, Dutch.” Dad pours himself a finger of whiskey. He hesitates and then he pours one for me too. “It makes you weak. Makes you vulnerable. And the harder you try to protect that love,” he brings the cup over to me, “the tighter you try to hold on to it, the more it wants to escape.”

Dad gestures for his meatheads to let me go. Ron withdraws his arm, but Lucien flings me forward when he releases me.

My hands smack on the ground, sending a ricochet of pain up my elbow and into my shoulders.

I look up and glare at him. Lucien scowls, retreating along with Ron to the edge of the room.

Dad motions for me to take the amber liquid.

I take the cup and turn it over. The whiskey falls out and hits the carpet, stinking the air with booze.

Dad frowns.

“You’re right about one thing. My whole life is ahead of me. But you—” I move toward him, “havesomuch on the line. And your life is already half over. If you lose everything now, there’s no coming back.”

His eyes widen slightly, a sign of his discomfort.

I drop the empty whiskey glass on the ground. It bounces on the carpet but doesn’t shatter.

“I’m going to find her and you better pray no one’s harmed a single hair on her head. If she has so much as a broken nail, I’m coming for you. We’ll see how much damage I can do in the real world.”

Dad’s left eye twitches, but it’s the only outward sign of his displeasure.

I stalk to the door.