12. Emerson #2
The smile. The light in his eyes. The way he looked me up and down.
All of it told me he was enjoying this.
“He wants me to send you a message.”
“I don't give a fuck about what he wants,” I spat. “I told him to leave me the fuck alone, and now I'm telling you the same thing. I’ll get you sent right back to jail if you don't walk away right now.”
He shrugged.
“A place to live, free meals… It's not too bad when you think about it. Plus, I owe your dad.”
“You owe him, or are you his leashed dog?”
His eyes narrowed at me. That hit a sore spot.
“Watch yourself,” he warned. “I'm not as forgiving as him.”
I leaned closer, making sure he heard every single word.
“You forget who raised me. Now get the fuck out and don’t come back.”
He held my gaze for a second, and then his lips pulled into a smirk.
“He’s coming. He wants you to be ready for him and said he's disappointed you didn't tell him about your new little girlfriend.”
For the first time since my father had gone to jail, I felt true fear claw at my chest.
Quick as lightning, I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him closer.
“What the fuck did you just say?” I growled.
He wasn’t fazed by my suddenness or my threat. His smile only widened. This asshole was having fun.
“Ooh, testy. What? You don't like that he knows about your girlfriend? From what he told me, you've been pining after this one for a long-ass time.”
I wouldn’t stand for this. Not when she was at stake.
My father had men on the outside reporting back every single thing I did. But I never thought he'd get Pearl involved.
I didn’t care much about myself. Even when my father threatened to end my life, which he’d done often. There hadn’t been many moments when I’d felt true fear, but now, all I could think about was what he was planning to do to her to get my attention.
My father had always been a bad man, but jail changed him.
It made him worse. He went from a random drunk abuser to someone people listened to.
Suddenly, he was running the shots inside and had plenty of friends who’d come try to talk some sense into me when I ignored him.
If he could make people risk their lives and freedom for something as simple as delivering a message, what would he be willing to do when he truly set his mind to it?
Before this, I hadn’t cared, but Pearl was everything. She was mine, even for just this short while, and I would die before I let anything happen to her.
“You tell him that if he dares lay a finger on her—”
“Who said anything about that? You know your father loves you. Why on earth would he do anything to hurt you?” Sarcasm dripped heavily from every word.
I pushed him away, my fist clenched and ready to swing, when the security guard came up to us. He looked at the man with a glare, probably choosing to ignore that I’d been about to hit him.
“Is he bothering you, Ms. Blackwell?”
“Yes,” I growled. “Took you long enough. He’s trespassing and he just threatened me. Kick him out, and make sure he’s not allowed to come back.”
The man said nothing. He merely put his hands in the air and let himself be escorted out.
I watched him go.
My phone started ringing in my pocket, and I knew it was him.
I answered it for the first time in a while, but I was not met with a robotic voice telling me who was calling.
“Long time, no talk, Emerson. Did you miss me?”
“You know the fucking answer to that.”
“Ouch,” he said with a laugh. “Why do you always have to be such a raging bitch?” I could hear cars rushing in the background, which let me know he definitely wasn't in his jail cell anymore.
This is worse than I thought. At least when he was in jail, he was predictable. Now he could be anywhere.
“I know they didn't let you out early for good behavior. Don't tell me you broke out.”
“Aw, does my daughter have such little faith in me?”
I turned to head back up to my office, but that had me pausing.
They would've let me know, wouldn't they?
I'd heard nothing about his release. No call, no email. How the fuck did this happen?
“What shady shit did you pull?”
“Good behavior.” Someone honked on his side. “I told you. They love me there after everything I’ve done to help. Plus, I do have people on the outside.”
If he had enough power to send newly released criminals to my workplace while he was in jail, there was no telling what he could do now that he was out.
“I don't want you here. Do not come to find me.”
“You didn't get my message? I'm coming whether you want me to or not. And I want to meet your girlfriend. Finally, after so many years, the girl you’ve always been obsessed with is finally within your reach.”
I wanted to give in to rage, but in a rare moment of self-control, I was able to keep quiet. Because I knew the consequences of lashing out at my father. It would let him know just how much she actually meant to me.
Apparently, he was already aware that she was important to me, both now and then. And that was bad enough.
The only question was what he was going to do with that knowledge.
“Why are you doing this? Just go fuck off somewhere random and leave me alone.”
“Because you ruined my fucking life by being born. And I want to make sure not a day goes past where you forget it.”
He was the one who ruined everything. The reason I’d grown up not knowing an ounce of care or compassion. He had ruined my life from the start, turning me into this angry, volatile person that I could no longer change. He was also the reason Mom left us—left me—and never came back.
And even though I had all the money and resources in the world to find her, I never did. Never wanted to. She didn’t want me, so I didn’t want her.
My father was trying to finish the job now. He wanted to bring me down with him.
“You’ve always blamed your issues on me, even when I was a child. You're a weak, pathetic excuse for a man. You come here and I'll show you what it means to be ruined.”
Without letting him respond, I hung up and marched to the elevator.
Unfortunately for him, I was no longer alone. I had someone to protect. Someone who cared.
This time I wasn't letting Pearl go.
Fuck you, Dad. If you even come within ten feet of Pearl, I'll kill you myself.