“Carissa isn’t just some girl. She’s mine.”
“Well then, I guess we’d better go set her parents straight so they don’t fuck with your Carissa again.”
Just that easily, Gaige was all in and ready to take my back as I broke some more laws. Then again, what was a little breaking and entering and some intimidation when we’d just assassinated Bellamy?
The drive to the Hastings’ estate only took five minutes, but our covert entry took ten times as long—even with Whit and Devon there to lay the groundwork for us. I didn’t want there to be any record of us being off my property, which meant we couldn’t go through the front gate. We also couldn’t be picked up on any of the security cameras, so Whit put them on a loop before we arrived.
“You’re good to go,” Whit said after he, Gaige and I had made it over the wall surrounding the property. He pointed towards a set of windows at the back corner of the house opposite of us. “Her parents are in the master bedroom. Both guards are currently at the front gate, and Devon is keeping an eye on them.”
“You sure you want to go in alone?” Gaige asked.
“Yeah, what I’ve got to say to her parents is between me and them.”
“Okay,” he agreed begrudgingly. “Whit and I will be just outside, in case you need us.”
I tucked my ear piece into my pocket. “I’ll holler if something comes up, but I’m pretty damn sure Carissa’s parents are no match for me.”
“Especially not when they’ve pissed you the fuck off,” he muttered as I headed for the house.
My anger burned icy cold as I approached the sleeping couple on the mattress in the master bedroom. I was beyond pissed the fuck off, I was enraged at the thought that these two were given the gift of Carissa and had almost destroyed her. I knew I didn’t deserve to have her in my life, but I would do whatever it took to protect her. These were her parents, they should have been willing to do the same. Instead, they’d accepted money from a human trafficker and tried forcing her into a relationship with him.
“Wake up,” I growled, aiming my M9 Beretta pistol at Winston Hastings’ head. “You miserable piece of shit.”
“What in the hell?” he groaned, rolling over to look up at me. “Who’re you?”
I ignored his question and jerked my head towards his wife. “Get her up, too. I need both of you awake for this conversation.”
He reached over and shook her shoulder.
“Oh my God!” Victoria Hastings shrieked as she sat up and stared at me with her jaw wide open in shock.
“Alexander Bellamy is dead.” They both gasped. “In the coming days, information is going to come to light about his involvement in a human trafficking ring.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Winston blustered.
“No, what’s ridiculous is that you accepted three separate lump sum payments from the man over the last year and a half, totaling a million dollars. And yet, there’s no paper trail showing a legitimate business reason for those transactions. Which means the police are most likely going to come knockingat your door if they dig deep enough to uncover your financial connection to him.”
“Are you implying that my husband is involved in criminal activities?” Victoria squawked.
“No, I’m saying he tried to sell his daughter into a marriage to a human trafficker.”
“Winston?” She turned to look at her husband, and horror dawned on her face. “No, you couldn’t have.”
“It wasn’t selling her,” he tried defending himself. “Alexander offered me a reverse dowry of sorts, at a time when I was having a bit of a cash flow issue. You approved of his interest in Carissa, so I didn’t see any harm in accepting his money.”
“Our daughter isn’t chattel, Winston.”
“Like you did any better, forcing her at Bellamy at every turn,” I growled, shifting their attention back to me. “So here’s what’s going to happen now. Whatever Carissa wants, she gets. If she wants to go to Europe and spend the next two years with her friends, you’ll pay for her living expenses. If she wants to go to college, you’ll make sure her tuition is paid in full. In fact, you’re going to take that last payment Bellamy sent you and put it into an account for Carissa so she has control over her own future.”
“You can’t tell us what to do with our daughter,” Winston grumbled. “Or my money.”
“Oh, yes, I can.” I waved my gun between them. “She has no idea what you’ve done, and I intend to keep it that way. But if you ever do anything to make her unhappy again, I’ll destroy her image of the both of you. And once she knows the truth and doesn’t want to see you again, I’ll kill you.”
“Shut up, Winston, and do what the man is telling you to do. I’m not willing to die because you don’t want to give our daughter a little money to tide her over until her trust is released.”
“Fine,” he huffed.
It was done. Carissa’s safety was secured. All that remained was finding out if she wanted to stay with me or if I’d be forced to let her go.
