Page 37 of The Fractured

My jaw was tight as I remained silent.

“Now,” he straightened, easing the tension in his shoulders. “I’ve already spent the morning dealing with your boyfriend’s attitude towards me, and I need to get back to work. So, unless you need to discuss anything else, can we leave this on a happier note?”

Because it would be so easy to sweep our problems under the rug. Never to be spoken about out in the open…

He took my arm to steer me from his office, hoping I would mirror the smile on his face. I tugged my arm back instead.

“If Dean is caught by Antonio, wearing a wire— If any of Antonio’s kids found him wearing a wire—”

“It’s no less dangerous than what he’s already done. This isn’t his first time doing dangerous work, Lily. It’s just your first time seeing it happen.” He paused, running a hand over his graying dark hair. “He isn’t someone who’ll ever lead a respectful life. He made that clear with every wrong turn on his record. But you made your choice to live with that, which means dealing with the consequences too. If you’re worried about him going to prison, or worse, maybe you should reconsider your relationship.”

I scoffed. “I can’t believe you.”

“He agreed to this.”

“Because you threatened to have his motherdeported!”

He waved his hand to indicate I needed to keep my voice down, hinting that not everyone in the office knew about the citizenship issue. The sharp blue in my father’s eyes and the subtle frustration would’ve once made me back off from a disagreement.

I had never told my father to fuck off before, but I was extremely close to doing it as I stood in his office, heart pounding and fighting the lump in my throat.

“Talking about this is clearly making you upset.” He attempted to guide me to his office door, bringing a hand to the small of my back.

“I’m not upset.” I stepped out of his reach and lowered my voice as he pulled the door open. “I think you could’ve done things differently. Or at least helped his mother instead of using her for leverage.”

“He was willing to go to prison instead of helping me with the investigation. I needed something to get him to comply.” With the door wide open, he knew it would prevent me from raising my voice again. “Does that not say anything about him? He’d rather go to prison than stay with you.”

“He knows I won’t be threatened with deportation,” I hissed.

I was also all too aware that Dean had a self-sacrificing trait. If Dean got his way, he would’ve gone to prison instead of revealing Antonio’s secrets to keep his loved ones safe.

Dad folded his arms, bringing his eyes from me to the office, and smiled casually to his colleagues, pretending our conversation was civilized. “What’s done is done, Lily.”

“Wow…”

“Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“Not with you.” I adjusted the strap of my bag, ready to walk away.

“Before I forget,” he added, scanning the room with a show of pride before looking at me. “Tell Dean I need him here on Tuesday morning.”

“Why not mention that to him earlier, when he was here? Since you think I should have nothing to do with this,” I retorted.

“It was something that came to mind after he left.”

“What is it?”

It was worth a shot.

“Confidential to anyone not on the case, sweetie,” he smiled, but for a split second, his eyes dropped to my side, where the scars were beneath my clothes. “Just tell him I need to see him Tuesday.”

Instinctively, I pulled my arms around my middle. “Fine…”

We parted ways with a begrudged goodbye, and I headed back through the office with less urgency than before. My talk to him hadn’t gone anything like how I wanted it to. I wasn’t entirely sure how I expected it to go.

While I was feeling defeated by the whole situation, my heart continued to beat faster.

I gripped the strap of my bag and picked up my pace.