Chapter 37
“PARENTS” BY YUNGBLUD
The revving of my engine roared down the back roads of Murdafest as I approached the hospital. I kept a tight grip on the handlebars, nearly spilling out over the wet road as I turned into the parking garage.
After Scrabble was settled and Quinntessa went home, I made up an excuse to leave, fibbing about Estelle being sick. Amanda was kind enough to board Lukas until I could come back later, but I wasn’t sure when that would be.
I put my head down and sped from my house all the way to Dominik’s farm without caring for the traffic signs. All speed limits were suggestions between Murdafest and Coven anyway. I mean, who was going to stop me? The cops? Like they’d been so useful in the past.
The farm had a few others, but my rage was too specific to take it out on more than Oscar. He tried to give me shit, so I socked him on his jaw and headed out to face my father.
Scrabble’s evaluation went as expected. He was staying for a few weeks, possibly a few months, to work on his behavior and tearing some of Quinntessa’s owner anxiety away.
I was glad she gave Amanda a chance. For a few seconds, I thought Quinntessa would walk out with him and lock them both in her room until the dog died.
He was clearly her only friend, a large attachment and her protector.
The elevator wouldn’t move fast enough. I parked my bike and threw myself inside as fast as I could—so fast, I left my black helmet on my head until I reached the hallway before his office.
I didn’t bother knocking. An all too familiar fiery anger bubbled over inside me, shooting spurts of white flashes behind my eyes with each breath. I shoved the door open and chucked my helmet into one of his bookshelves to get his attention.
Papa jumped an inch in surprise. He looked up from between his legs and narrowed his eyes once he found me standing there, his hand still holding the back of a woman’s neck.
“Do you not see I am in the middle of something, Eleanor?” he hissed, not bothering to cover himself. “Wait outside!”
“Fuck Brenda on your own time. Right now?” I tossed my hand down and swiped the photo of my mother, Estelle, and me off his desk into the wall. It shattered loudly, prompting Brenda to pull away from deep throating my father’s tiny dick. “This is my time!”
“Where the hell do you get off speaking to me like that?” Papa growled, shoving himself back inside his pants and standing. “Brenda, wait in the hall.”
“Brenda, jump off a cliff,” I spat as she rushed past me, wiping her face.
“Eleanor, do not speak to my coworkers like that,” Papa hissed, his eyes wide in surprise.
“Oh, my bad.” I calmly stared at him before whipping back around and glaring at the back of Brenda’s head. “I hope you know what you’re doing, babe, because he gave my mother chlamydia just last year for screwing the entire fucking hos?—”
His strong hand grabbed me by the back of my neck once he rounded his desk. He slammed me down over the top of the mahogany wood, squeezing tight.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Papa hissed down toward my ear. “Coming in here hot like that? I’ve taught you better than to behave like that.”
“Oh, fuck off.” I tried to push off the desk, but he tightened his grip and dug his short nails into the sides of my neck. “You set me up!”
“Be more specific. I’m a star of a man. I set a lot of people up.” Papa chuckled, his dark eyes watching close as he released me. He stepped back and watched me make a few feet of distance between us. “Well? You come rushing in here like a bomb and now you got nothing to say?”
“What’s his name?” I asked, my fists tight.
“Who?” Papa frowned.
“Sebastian! The guy you claim betrayed you!” I shouted. “What is his real name? And don’t bullshit me.”
“The person I claim betrayed me?” Papa took a slow, methodical step to his left and made a half circle around me. “Are you accusing me of making something of that magnitude up?”
“Answer me!”
“I told your grandfather,” he plainly stated, shaking his head. “I told him initiating you this early, without your target’s head on a stick, wasn’t the right call. You’re not ready!”
I couldn’t take much more of his avoidance. My entire body was shaking, my nails digging into my palms. Quinntessa’s eyes flashed through my mind to keep me from decking him straight in the face, but I was slowly losing that battle.
“You’re too emotionally attached to that girl.” He stepped toward me. “I have eyes everywhere, Eleanor. You think I can’t see you? You’re too focused on getting in her pants!”
“What is her father’s name?” I struggled to keep my arms at my sides, gripping my jacket as if it would help.
Papa’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. He held my gaze, rubbing his hands together and chuckling.
“Sebastian,” he answered.
“You know what I’m asking,” I spat. “What is his real name? You’ve known him since high school, haven’t you? Haven’t you?!”
“Quiet,” Papa snapped.
He towered over me as his nostrils flared and his eyes filled with frustration.
“You set me up.” I squeezed my nails into my palms. “When I dated Chris, it was for your own fucking agenda, wasn’t it?”
“You knew that when you approached him.” Papa laughed and leaned back against his desk.
“Come on now, Eleanor. You and I both know you would have done anything for my attention back then. I didn’t find it surprising at all that you agreed to befriend him, let alone date and pretend all the way until you knocked yourself up! ”
“I loved him,” I stated.
Papa’s forehead wrinkled. In disgust or confusion—I didn’t give a fuck.
“There’s different types of love in the world, Papa!” I turned and walked away before I did something he’d make me regret. I paced his office, shoving my hands into my hair. “I loved him. I cared about him!”
“Good for you,” Papa snorted.
I turned to face him and scoffed. “And you played my ass. You planned this. How long have you known Sebastian would come looking for him?”
“Come looking for him? Who?” Papa roared out in laughter. “That boy? Christian Rome? Oh, don’t be silly, Eleanor. That goddamn pig didn’t come here for him. He’s here for his wife. I have unfinished business with that entire family.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and swallowed thickly. Why hadn’t I seen this coming? Mr. Morley had always been under more taxes than most in Coven. The only ones above him were the Chronicles and Mayor Miller.
“You’re a big girl now. Put it together.” Papa laid his hands on the desk beside him and smirked.
“You killed his father,” I reminded him. “You shot him in cold blood. He grew up to be a cop just like his dad. He returned here for revenge against you!”
“Possibly.” Papa bobbed his head back and forth. “But it has always been about more than his father.”
“Then what is this about?” I spat my question like poison. “Money? Recognition? Power?”
“It’s always about power, bunny. Once you learn that, you’ll see there is much more in life you can reach when you are on top.
” Papa slammed his knuckles against his desk.
“Why is it so hard for you to understand there is a world out there just waiting for you to dominate it? Must you struggle with the basic act of taking what you can? You were born for this!”
“A life.” I stepped forward, strangling the air between us. “You are asking me to take a life!”
Papa looked around his office in disbelief.
“You already did,” he pointed out. “Your grandfather fed you a worthless life on a silver spoon, and you took it without hesitation. When you were younger . . . Don’t you remember how many men you slaughtered?
I raised you to be better than this. You are a killer, Eleanor.
A cold, heartless killer. It’s in our blood. ”
I was suffocating. My lungs strained as memories I had tried to bury came flooding back—all the times Dad taught me to shoot a gun, the hunting in the woods, the day my father caught me watching from the loft and forced me to join in on torturing a man. Jamison, Simon. It all rushed back.
“Get yourself together. You are my blood. My legacy!” His voice strained as he shouted the last word.
I could see he was losing his patience. The vein in his neck pulsed and his brows twitched.
“You are capable of more than you could ever imagine.” Papa fixed his coat and rounded the desk, slamming both his hands over the top.
“And you waste it on a child! A random girl I handed you! Me. Your father. The man who knows what’s best for you. ”
“No man knows what’s best for me.” I held a finger up to him, lowering it slowly when his eyes narrowed. “My daughter is no obstacle in my life. She’s the only thing that’s kept me from the darkness that is this family.”
“Oh, really? And the girl?” Papa licked his lips and leaned toward me over his desk, a rabid look in his eyes. “Tell me, when you look at her, do you imagine kissing her? Touching her? Strangling her until she’s blue in the lips and clawing at your face?”
Tears welled in my eyes.
“You’re my blood, Eleanor.” Papa lowered down into his chair with a sigh.
“I know what you are. I was once you. You’re not capable of love.
Look at your daughter; you think it’s normal to feel that much detachment from a baby?
You’re a woman! You’re meant to be motherly and nurturing, but you aren’t. You can’t even be happy with a dog!”
“I love Estelle,” I mumbled. Was there a knife in my heart?
“There are different types of love in this world.” He used my words against me as he picked up his cellphone and tapped his thumbs along the keypad. “You are a very capable woman who I look forward to seeing grow. You’ll follow in my footsteps, make a name for yourself in this industry.”
“I don’t want this.” I looked away from him and closed my eyes. “I-I just want Estelle, Papa. Please.”
He cleared his throat. I opened my eyes when his chair squeaked and his footsteps grew closer. Papa grabbed my face and forced me to look him in the eyes. His nails dug into the bone of my jaw for all but two seconds before he released me.
I grunted as his hand flew into the side of my face, and my hands collided with the floor as his shoe struck my leg.
“You made a deal!” he reminded me. “You want to act like some hot shot up in here? I am not going to treat you any differently than I would a real man.”
My hands trembled as I pushed myself up from the floor. My face stung, a few tears slipping from my eyes.
“You’re a disgrace,” Papa spat.
I squeezed my eyes shut tight. This wasn’t the first time he’d slapped me. I was lucky enough to miss out on his love of throwing things at me.
“I taught you to be better than this! A powerful, hungry leader like me.” I could feel his eyes shooting daggers into the back of my head. “I’ll send Estelle to Chicago. I’ll send her to New York! Texas!”
My eyes snapped open, and I scrambled off the floor as I shook my head frantically.
“No, no!” I grabbed my knife from my boot and gripped it tight, glaring at him across his desk. “Don’t you dare. She is my daughter. I won’t let you take her from me!”
“Well, like I tell every weakling who tries to beg.” Papa settled in his desk and pulled himself in. He laced his large hands together and smiled so flakily, it made me want to throw up. “We had a deal. You uphold it, or I’ll handle it my way.”
He pulled up his wrist and checked his watch.
“You have an hour before Victor tucks Mustang into bed. Say . . . does she sleep with that dumb car toy every night?” He looked up at me and smirked.
My body went rigid. A chill ran down my spine, so cold, it locked up my limbs. I stared at him, anger no doubt coloring my cheeks.
“What did you call her?” I asked, my voice flat and devoid of all emotion.
Papa leaned back in his chair and picked up a cigar from his open desk drawer. He twirled it in his fingers before placing it back inside and closing it with a hum.
“Am I mistaken? Should I have called her Sally?” He arched a brow close to his hairline. “Or is Honeybee better? Do you actually call her Quinntessa?”
“Don’t say her name!” I barked.
My hand shook as I clutched the knife’s handle. Air shot in and out of my nose, my head spinning from lack of oxygen.
“Don’t worry.” Papa raised his chin through his power and grinned innocently. “Victor has ensured Yuri will take great care of your little . . .” His tongue ran over his teeth slowly, his sinister smile making my blood boil. “Toy.”
The knife in my hand flew across the office. I panted heavily, eyes dark with rage as blood oozed from the slice in my father’s cheek. The pocketknife was stuck in the wall behind him, echoing a loud tremble as the blade’s handle wiggled back and forth.
“She’s mine!” I slammed my fist on the top of the desk and glared at him. “And you will not kill her. She will die on my terms, how I want her to die!”
My father gripped the arms of his chair. He inhaled deeply through his nose, his chest rising and remaining still as he fought the urge to punch me across this office.
“You have less than an hour.” Papa exhaled through gritted teeth. “Until she’s nothing but dog meat.”
I took a small step back, my sneakers skidding across the floor. Another step, then another.
“Get the hell out of my office, Eleanor,” Papa growled. “You’ll be lucky if that bastard makes it to eighteen.”
“If you touch what’s mine…” I raised a hand and pointed a finger gun directly at his head. “I’ll make you regret it.”
“I look forward to it.” Papa tapped his wrist, blood seeping down his cheek. “Tick tock, bunny. You’re wasting valuable time. She’s might already be screaming.”
I turned and stormed out of the office, slamming the door against the wall. His laugh echoed in my ears, a sinister, stomach wrenching laugh that made my head spin.
What have I done?