“Not without three of Dad’s assholes following me.”
“Don’t swear. Actually, you know what? You go ahead and swear, Luce. Because this is bullshit. With a capital B,” I say fiercely. “I love you. I’ll fix this.”
“Yeah?” She sounds so young, as young as the day we made those friendship bracelets.
“I promise.” I shouldn’t promise. I know better. But I’ll find a way. “Keep your phone charged. Call me if it gets worse. I love you, Luce honey.”
“Love you.”
Dad’s always been obsessed with retaining his well-bred country club image. My wedding didn’t cause a ripple. But marrying off his teenage daughter?A minor?How desperate is he?
I call Sam, leaving three very long messages. I call Mom. Same thing.
Mason had to go into work to “take care of something,” which could mean meetings or murders, I‘m not sure. Maybe he could help me, use his family’s alliance to pressure Dad into letting Lucia stay with us.
He can barely tolerate me in his space.
My phone rings and I scramble for it. “Mom? What’s-”
“Why aren’t you answering your fucking phone?” Dad roars into the receiver.
Because you took my phone, you asshole!That’s what I want to say. Instead, I can feel my shoulders slump like they always do when Dad screams at me.
“This is Mom’s phone,” I say stupidly. “Where is she?”
“No, this ismyphone. And she ismywife. And I amyourfather. Have you forgotten who you owe your loyalty to?” I can picture him, tapping his fingers impatiently, sitting at his big desk, and the chairs in front of it lowered so he would always be above everyone else.
“You’re threatening Lucia with an arranged marriage,” I say, proud that my voice is steady. “I agreed to this marriage so you’d leave her alone. She’ssixteen.”
There’s a sharp little chuckle. “Her age is not a deterrent to some of the people I deal with,” he says.
“Sam won’t let you.”
Now, he really laughs, enjoying this. “Your brother has nothing if I decide to disown him. He didn’t fight your marriage. Why would you think he’d have better luck fighting hers?”
“Mom-”
“Stop.” He’s back to business. “You know what you have to do to make sure Lucia stays right where she is.”
My knees are turning to water and I sit down heavily. “What do you want? Mason doesn’t tell me anything about finances.”
This is true.
“I want you to go through his desk, get into his laptop, look for-”
“You don’t understand. Mason has a biometric lock for his office and every sensitive area in this house. I can’t get into anything.”
“Then go through his phone while he’s asleep,” Dad plows on. “Look for anything to do with the MacTavish deals in Japan and Singapore. Money, suppliers, any names.”
“This is impossible! Please, I can talk to Mason about the family doing more deals with you? Or-”
“Weare your family!”Dad roars.
I flinch like he’s standing there, his hand raised to slap me.
“You will find this information for me,” he continues. “You will have something within three days or I’ll begin negotiations for your sister’s arrangement. They might let her finish high school first, though I doubt it.”
He ends the call and I drop my phone on the carpet like it’s a rattlesnake, pushing it away with my foot.
