“This isn’t a test dear, just a question.”
“Oh, okay.” I nodded and let out a breath of relief.
“Another lesson you’ll learn today, whether you’re ready for it or not, do not let anyone take you for a fool.” He nodded and turned back around to the door. “Come with me, Anastasia. Thank you for the intel, Mack.”
I followed behind Kaleb as he marched through the warehouse door and straight over to Raffie, who was sitting on the sofa with the others. From the way they all conversed, I wasn’t sure if they were all friends or just really chatty coworkers. In a flash, Kaleb had grabbed hold of the back of Raffies neck and dragged him over the back of the sofa. Coming up from behind had been sneaky but had caught Raffie off guard.
“I don’t take too kindly to liars and thieves. A lesson you should have learnt by now, Rafiie.” Kaleb threw the lanky man to the ground at his feet.
Kaleb straddled Raffies chest, pinning his arms under his knees. At the sight, one of the other men stood to rush to his friends’ side. I hadn’t known that Kaleb was carrying but at the sudden movement, his hand whipped behind his back and pulled a glock. “Move again and you die.”
The friend raised his arms in the air and slowly resumed his seat. He must’ve been new around here, everyone else in the room acted as if they were watching a rerun of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. No reaction whatsoever at the scene in front of them.
I kept my eyes trained on the man across the room as Kaleb began whaling his fists into Raffie’s stoned face. It wasn’t exactly a sight that I longed to see. After all, he was my father.
The sound of Kaleb’s beating stopped and I made the honest mistake of looking over at him. A sight that wasn’t about to leave my mind anytime soon. So much blood. I swallowed harshly to keep the bile from rising up.
“You’re out, Raffie. If I ever see you again, you know what I’ll do.” Kaleb rose and sent a swift kick to Raffie’s stomach before straightening himself up. As he headed towards the door, he called over his shoulder to the group, “Sara, take care of him.”
I followed blindly behind him, not giving the group or the warehouse a second look. I felt sick. But what sickened me the most was the fact that I understood what just happened and why.
“Do you...make an example out of all your employees? Or just the ones stealing weed?”
“He was stealing money as well. How did you know he was stealing weed?”
“He was high…”
Kaleb smiled and started the engine, “we’ve got three more of these to check in on today. Is that still okay with you?”
He was driving, I was looking out the window but I could feel the weight of his question knock into me. It was expectant, gauging my reaction. I bit my lip and replied cheerily, “of course.”
I didn’t know what I’d thought would happen while I was shadowing Kaleb. I had somewhat expected the illegal activities, the drugs, the odd company he kept. I didn’t expect that it would feel so natural. As I thought about it I could have laughed, but what if it was in my blood. After everything I’d been through - my entire life - had been reason enough for me to be a spineless shut-in scared of everything that moved. That wasn’t me though.
I was independent and strong, maybe that had more to do with my DNA than I had realized.
