“You were there, man. You did the same as I did. You made the same sacrifices.”

“And when I was finally free, I was able to let go. Can you say the same?”

Letting go… I kept hearing that phrase. It’s like everyone got together to figure out how the hell they could get me to let go.

The last person to tell me to let go was Dash. I knew what to say to get him off my back, but this was Q. He knew what it was like and based on the story he had just revealed, he knew a hell of a lot more than I did. Mario had turned him and his daughter into child prostitutes. I swallowed down the bile and whatever feelings I had about the past. I dealt with it how it suited me, and all the Dr. Phil’s of the world could go fuck themselves.

“You said it yourself, right? I was in too deep, so there’s no salvation for me.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“It doesn’t make it any less true. Now answer my question.” When he raised his eyebrows in question, I asked, “Why do you think Mario trusted me with his daughter knowing you were here?”

“Anything Mario is into right now, he’s thinking he could suck you into it. He’s going to try because if someone like you isn’t with him, then you’re against him.”

“I already know he knows I’m a threat.”

“Then what are you doing dealing with him?”

“I’m selling my soul to the devil.”

Chapter Twenty

Keiran

Quentin left to pick up his foster sister from dance practice, leaving me alone with Diana. I found her in the bathroom primping for some unknown reason.

“Are you hungry?” I gruffly asked. My reluctance to be hospitable was apparent.

She turned from the mirror to face me. “Wow. For a second there I thought I would have to ask.”

It was the first word she’d spoken since seeing Q again. Talk about a fucking blast from the past. Thinking about what Mario had done and all the lies he’d told and clever tricks he had pulled resulted in a lack of patience.

“I’ll be in the kitchen. Hurry up.”

I went back downstairs and prepared some steaks before throwing them in the oven. My uncle would be home soon, and I needed to prepare myself mentally for the confrontation that was sure to come.

Diana came downstairs ten minutes later just as my uncle walked through the door.

“I don’t know what you boys have been doing around here, but shacking up with girls in my home is out of the question.”

“My, my,” Diana purred. “Now I see where you get your firm hand.”

“Shut the fuck up, Diana.” To John I said, “She’s a guest. I’m doing a favor for a friend.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, and for a second, I thought I was looking at my father. I wondered if he was faced with the same problem when he looked at me. Is that why he could never look me in the eye for long?

“What friend?”

“One of the guys from the team. Her parents kicked her out, and his parents don’t have room in their house. As Captain—”

“You aren’t on the basketball team anymore so are you referring to the same team that kicked you off?”

I ignored his blatant attempt to remind me that I had screwed up. At least in his eyes I had. I didn’t care that Trevor and Anya were dead, and it was amazing anyone could expect me to be after they both set me up. It wasn’t exactly a secret after Trevor attacked Monroe in the gym bathroom. “I told him she could stay here and she will.”

I watched his jaw work. I was challenging him, and he knew it. Common sense told me to stop while I was ahead, but my anger toward him wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“I want her gone.”

“Fine. If she goes, then so do I. Have fun explaining to the authorities how you helped me become a fugitive.”

“Are you threatening me?” He took a menacing step forward, but as usual, I held my ground.

“I’m simply reminding you that after all the strings you pulled keeping me out of jail and in school, I’m sure it wouldn’t be easy to prove your innocence. I mean… why wouldn’t you help your nephew disappear? You did it before.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Diana perk up at my admission. I needed to remember to censor what I said around her. She could very well be a mole he put in place to keep eyes on me, as he was known to do with Arthur. Mario and I were cut from the same cloth, which meant we didn’t completely trust each other.

Trevor and Anya died while in Mario’s care. Even though I gifted them to him, it was with the strict instruction not to kill them. Simply disappearing was cleaner than killing them. Killing them left a body to be found, which is how I landed in jail.

Her dad had yet to explain how Trevor and Anya were murdered, and though I haven’t pushed the subject, it was always at the back of my mind. First, I had to take down Arthur and find Mitch all before my trial, which was scheduled to take place in less than two months. For that, I needed Mario, so making an enemy of him wasn’t the smartest move.

“That has nothing to do with a teenaged girl living in my home without my consent. How do I know she didn’t run away from home, and her parents aren’t looking for her?”

“Um… actually, I’m twenty so legally, I’m an adult, Daddy O.”

My patience was now completely gone.

Her throat was in my hand, and I was marching her backward out of the kitchen before John could respond. My firm hand around her neck was the only thing keeping her up and from tripping over her feet.

“Hey, hey, hey! I only like the rough stuff when I have nothing on,” she giggled. It turned into a nervous broken sound after the look I gave her, warning her not to fuck with me.

She was quickly becoming a pain in my ass along with being an inconvenience. I didn’t have time to babysit. However, after learning the things I had about Mario, maybe it was his plan.

Having his daughter in my care could have worked to my advantage, but now I wasn’t so sure of his paternal feelings for his daughter. If I never met Dash’s parents or even Monroe’s aunt, there would be nothing to convince me that good parents existed.

“You know the way to the guest bedroom and, by the way, he’s my uncle, not my father, so either you were stupid enough to come here without doing your homework or your father was just stupid enough to send you here period.”

I shoved her toward the stairs and disappeared back inside the kitchen without waiting for a response.

“I didn’t raise you to treat women like that,” my uncle barked. He was standing by the door as if to come to her rescue. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes but then I caught on to the first part of his statement.

“Raise me? Is that what you call being gone three hundred and sixty-five days out of the year?”

“Regardless of how you feel about me, you will not treat women that way.”

“Treat women like what?”

“We don’t manhandle a woman the way I just saw you do.”

“No, we threaten to take away their child.” His lips thinned out in a hard line as he glared at me. Once again, I’d backed him into a corner. He had been gone for far too long after making too many mistakes to step in and be a parent now. “Look…” I released an aggravated breath, feeling myself giving in partially. “I won’t bring trouble to your doorstep, and I can’t toss her out, so you’ll just have to trust me.” I turned on my heel and left him to mull it over.

The hallway was clear so I assumed Diana did as I ordered. I followed after her to the guest bedroom. It was next to mine so if she ever tried to sneak out, I would hear her pass. I wasn’t taking any chances.

The bedroom door was unlocked so I pushed my way in. She was centered in the middle of the bedroom, leaning back on her hands, wearing a playful expression. “It’s about time you came. I’m ready now to test out those rough edges of yours and ruffle some bed feathers if you are.”