AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I let out a breath in relief. Didn’t know I could be more tense right now, but here we are. I shake loose of that particular fear and trudge into the apartment. I have to see Dad before he goes to bed. Or I’ll wake him. I don’t fucking care.
Mom yawns as she passes through the hall. Then she quirks a sleepy smile at me. “I thought you and June left already.”
Do I tell her? Not yet. It’s not that I don’t trust her. It’s just that there is no time. “I need to speak with Dad. Do you know where he is?”
“His private study, I think. He likes a bit of quiet and a shower after things like this. Otherwise, he doesn’t sleep.” She gives a sheepish shrug.
“Thanks, Mom. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Anderson.” She drifts down the hall.
The private study is at the other end of the apartment, so I run. Every second lost is a second June cannot afford. I bust into the private study’s closed door, decorum be damned. “Dad, we need to talk.”
He sits in his lounge chair. It’s one of those zero gravity chairs that takes pressure off the joints. Well, I’m about to put a lot of pressure on him, so that seems appropriate. The private study has dark paneled walls and an enormous bay window overlooking the city. The city has never looked so grim from up here. But it swallowed June up, and I will never forgive Boston for that.
“What is this all about? I thought you left with June.” A puff of cigar smoke leaves his mouth and nose, and now I know the real reason Dad has his quiet time and a shower before bed.
“She was kidnapped. I want to call the police, but I wanted to speak to you first. In case you have someone you think would be better?—"
“Do not call the police,” he says mildly, before pressing a button on his chair to sit up.
“Who then?”
Watching him sit up, it’s strange. He’s not surprised or upset or even confused. Merely annoyed. “Not the police.”
“If you don’t tell me who to call, I’m calling them.”
“Put the phone down, Anderson.”
“Why?” I snap.
“Because once you involve the police, it is all out of your hands. Do you want to lose control of this situation?”
I growl, “I’m not in control of this situation!” Showing him her picture, I bark, “They are!”
His lips flatten into a perturbed line as he sighs and shakes his head, exhaling smoke like an inconvenienced dragon.
This whole thing isn’t upsetting him as much as it should. Especially considering how much he seems to like June. Why isn’t he angry? Why isn’t he on the phone to his connections right now?
Something inside of my gut twists and my mouth is dry as paper. “What do you know about this, Dad?”
“I don’t?—
“Who would do this? Why? What’s going on?” I’m shaking from anger, and I don’t want to take it out on my father, but he’s not making this easy. I need answers now.
He sighs. “Nothing is for certain until they communicate their needs. That is the way of these things. Have they?”
“No.”
“I presume you’ve reached out to them on her phone?”
“Of course.”
When he stares out the window, his voice sounds hollow. “You don’t stay on top of this business without making enemies, Anderson.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“There is no such thing as having our wealth and having clean hands. Sometimes, things get … messy.”
