Because what I found was a horror I never expected to find. My father, the man whom the people held responsible for delivering justice, had a list of cops on his side who killed the witnesses who refused to be intimidated.
I looked at these photos—of innocent men and women, people with families, now buried because of my father—and I felt the tears fall down my cheeks.
This wasn’t a man who had been forced into corruption. These were the records of someone who had embraced it and profited from it for years. Decades.
My father wasn’t just dirty. He was rotten to the core.
What the hell was I thinking, wanting to come in here, needing to prove his innocence? My father had done the unspeakable for money. No excuse in the world could explain away the fact that he was a murderer.
My father had killed for money. If he could do that, it meant only one thing.
He was capable of selling me for his ends, too.
I could barely breathe. I had to get out of here. With shaking hands, I shoved the files back in their respective places, locked the drawer, and made my way back down the stairs.
The whole time, my chest felt like it would crack and shatter. My vision no longer felt like mine; my body felt far away. Distant.
I needed to get back to Dante. Needed to tell him what I’d found. Needed him to tell me it would all be okay.
I was so absorbed in the horror of what I’d discovered that I almost missed the voices that drifted down the hallway from the living room, but somewhere in the midst of the panic, I registered that I wasn’t alone.
My heart hammered so damn hard, I was afraid I’d be discovered if I breathed too loud. I kept my breathing quiet, taking long, slow breaths, and pressed myself against the wall.
“I told you I’d handle it,” my father was saying. “I’ll have her with the Pavlovs soon.”
“You’ve been saying that for weeks,” someone screamed. “The Pavlovs are losing patience. We had a deal, Montes.”
“I know the deal,” my father snapped. “But Dante Lebedev has complicated things. The marriage is legitimate—I checked.”
“Fuck that. Have Dante arrested and pay a judge to annul the marriage.”
My heart raced so fast I thought it might burst from my chest. They were talking about handing me over to the Pavlovs.
“It’s not that simple!” my father bellowed. “I need a few more days to think, but Arko will get what he wants.”
“You don’t have a few more days,” the man said. Then I heard it—the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked. “This is your last chance, Montes. Either you deliver your daughter by the end of the week, or he finds someone else to be a federal prosecutor. Someone who will follow orders.”
“You can’t do this,” my father pleaded, and I heard his voice shake like never before. I felt my heart racing.
“I’ve done everything the Pavlovs asked for years!” my father begged. “Please. I’ll keep my word… I promise.”
“How?” the man asked.
“I… I don’t know. Some time… please…You know I’m loyal to you all, but I made a mistake letting my daughter go, and I just have to figure out how to get my hands on her… “
And then, I heard a gunshot. My mouth flung open, a scream ready to tear from the throat as I prepared to run in there, but just then, a strong hand clamped over my mouth from behind, and an arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me back into the shadows of an alcove.
I struggled wildly until Dante’s voice whispered in my ear.
“Shh, it’s me.”
Chapter 21 - Dante
I felt Alisa go rigid against me for a minute before she registered she was safe. Only then did she allow me to pull her back into the shadows.
I held her close and felt the fear from the gunshot still fresh on her skin. She was trembling and breathing too loud. I kept my hand over her mouth and pressed my lips against her ear to whisper. “Don’t move until we’re sure they’re gone.”
Someone had just put a bullet in her father, and if we weren’t careful, we’d be next.
