“Really?” Ricardo says, sounding hopeful. “You’ll help me?”
“Ye, we can discuss it. But I swear if you try anything…one lie, one fuck up, one hint at manipulation… this is the last chance I’m giving you, Ricardo.”
“I hear you. I won’t fuck this up. I want to change.”
“Alright. Saturday morning. Meet me for breakfast at Blue Lake Diner. You’d better arrive showered and sober. Pull yourself together, man. This is the choice you have to make.”
“I’ll be there. I swear I’ll be there.”
I end the call skeptical about his ability to change. But at least I am trying. All of this is for her. I want her to be happy. Iwant her to have everything in this world, including a father, but not if he’s going to drain her.
***
On Friday night, I’m watching a movie downstairs. The television is on, the fire is going, but in all honestly, I have no idea what’s going on in the movie.
The flicker lights of action scenes splash over the living room walls, and I stare blankly, lost in thought. Athena is sitting next to me. I apologized to her yesterday. We had a long talk. I tried to explain why I was being overbearing and controlling, and I told her I was trying to fix it. She softened somewhat toward me, not fighting with me as much. Her patience is overwhelming. She glances at me, feeling my eyes on her. A soft smile touches her lips.
“You, ok?” she asks.
“Sure, yeah, just tired,” I say. I’m not tired. My head is flooded with a thousand thoughts. Tomorrow I am meeting her father. I didn’t tell her about the meeting because I didn’t want to burden her. Especially not if he’s going to use it as a chance to get money instead of getting his life together. I need to gauge his input before I give her any hope.
“Do you want to go to bed?” she asks with concern. “You look worried about things?”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Let’s finish the movie,” I say, wrapping my arm around her.
My phone buzzes with a call, and I pick it up to check the screen. Antonio. “Sorry, give me a second,” I say, swiping across to answer as I stand up to take the call out of the room.
“Boss, we have an issue.”
I groan. “What is it now?”
“Ricardo Mendelez is dead.”
His words hit me like a punch in the gut.
“When?” I ask stiffly.
“Not sure. I got the reports a few moments ago. His body was found in a back alley behind one of the downtown casinos. It looks like his habits caught up with him. All I know is that it happened at some point in the last twenty-four hours because he was seen alive and well yesterday evening. Looks like the typical shake down. Brutal though. Broken legs, broken arms, severely beaten. They used him to send a message to whoever else doesn’t pay their debts on time…that’s the vibe I get from it all.”
“You sure it’s him?”
“I haven’t seen the body myself, but it was a reliable source.”
I sigh heavily, pressing my fingers into my eyes to try and push away the growing migraine.
“I need to know who did this. I can’t have his daughter finding out until we have answers for her. She deserves to know who did this to her father. Also, I want to know whether she is in any danger. Sometimes these loan sharks think they can pass the debt from the parent to the kids. Inherited. Whether the kid was involved or not.”
“I’ll find out everything I can. But it’s going to take time,” he says.
“I know. Just... do it as quickly as you can.”
The call ends, and I stand in the dark hallway staring at the wall. Fuck. This is bad news. This is seriously fucking badnews. I glance toward the flickering lights spilling from the living room. I can’t face telling her. Not yet. Not until I have answers.
She’s been through so much. I need to protect her from this.
Chapter 20 - Athena
Adrian has been acting incredibly weird this whole week. It started with me thinking he was just stressed. But now, whatever is going on with him, that stress seems to have tripled. He’s distant, unfocused, distracted, and miserable.
