This matter is to be settled between me and my father.
The door’s locked when I try it, so I break it down. It requires little exertion given my dominant size and strength. One straight-on ram from my shoulder and the door gives out, wobbling open.
Pa’s head snaps up from where he sits on the side of his bed attempting to maneuver around his paunchy belly so he can cut his toenails. His jaw drops and his bleary, pinkened eyes widen.
“Have you lost your god damn mind, stronzo?”
“I’m here for answers,” I announce.
“Answers? You want fucking answers? For what? From who? Forget how you could be so entitled in the first place!” Pa bleatsout, his doughy face a bright red. He scrambles to stand up, his ugly bare feet like bricks. “You really got some unseen levels of audacity, stronzo. Coming into my room—the Don’s room—unannounced this late at night?”
“I apologize for interrupting your time to cut the claws you call toenails. But also understand that I don’t give a shit,” I say succinctly, as unaffected as I can be considering the fury fuming inside me. I step into the room, invading it like I’m a conqueror taking ownership of new land. “You’ve been playing games that have gotten you into the mess you’re in. Not just with Nero and the Vorones. But me as well. You’re delusional if you think you’ll escape alive and not in a casket.”
Pa eyes me puzzled for a long moment, then cracks out a hoarse laugh. “Was that supposed to be a threat, stronzo?”
“Ms. Poitier has been in regular contact with you,” I say. “I know she’s the one who has been feeding you information. I know you had your men attack me outside the Orchid Lounge and you sent more men to do a drive by on me and my fucking wife outside a fucking women’s medical clinic!”
“Regular contact? Define regular contact!”
“Was she the one who let Carmelo know when to breech my home and kidnap Nevaeh? Was she the one who coordinated those doctors from the Gerber Clinic—the same fucking doctors that have ties to Zinc Co?”
Pa’s pudgy face shifts from outrage to cool indifference. He sticks his hands inside the pockets of his monogrammed pajamas and gives a careless shrug. “How should I know what your staff is up to? Is it my fault if any one of them turns on your beastly ass? I always knew from the time you were a boy you were more animal than human. I should’ve kept your ass outside in the fucking doghouse where you belonged?—”
I cut him off in a single stride. My hand flies out and seizes him by the neck as I lift him easily and slam him into the nearestwall. His indifference vanishes for immediate panic, the way he twists and turns in my hold and kicks out his stubby legs.
I only squeeze his throat tighter. “You underestimate how much of an animal I really am. If you truly understood, you’d know it’s never a good fucking idea to wave raw meat in front of a lion. He’ll consume you down to the bone. I’m not here to play silly little word games with you, I’m here for the truth, and when I get that truth, then I’ll be here to crush you. So tell me how you’ve sabotaged every aspect of my life and we can finally get to the fun part.”
“Sabotage you? You wouldn’t be alive if not for me! I’ve saved your—ACK!” he coughs as I clench his throat to the point his windpipe feels like it’ll snap in two. “Oh… oh… kay! OKAY!”
I relent just enough for him to sputter some more and attempt real words.
“You’re too busy pointing the finger at me, thinking your trusted nanny’s got some scheme going with me, you don’t see it!”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t realize it ain’t me or your blood that’s the problem!”
I release a howl that’s thick and feral like the animal Pa has said I am. Wrenching him away from the wall, I drag him toward the doors that lead to his grand balcony. I shove them open and then bring him toward the banister that overlooks the three stories belong.
Pa’s clumsy and heavy-footed trying to keep up ’til he loses his balance altogether and I’m dragging him like he’s a kicking, screaming bag of potatoes. He’s no small man, but his size still poses no challenge for me.
I handle him without any effort.
Forcing him to his feet again, I shove him half over the railing on the balcony. More wild screams tear from his throat as hehangs damn near upside down. The fall probably wouldn’t kill him unless he landed on his head or neck, but it could render him disabled or out of commission for a long time.
It’s no fall that would be pleasant in any sense of the word.
“You crazy ugly motherfucker!” he yells, scrabbling for a hold on the railing. “Let me go!”
“Interesting word choice, Pa. Do you really want me to let you go right now?”
“Don’t… don’t let go! Don’t you dare fucking let go!” he squeals, and I almost grin.
Codardo.
And has the audacity to act like I’m beneath him. Just some stupid animalistic pawn to be used in his power play.
“Tell me the truth about what’s been going on,” I demand. “Tell me what the fuck you’re up to and how taking me out gives an advantage to you—that’s what this is about, isn’t it? Sabotaging me in some way works in your favor, or is this some stupid punishment for not being a boot-licker? It could go either way.”
