Chapter 12 #3
My mind recalled the gossip column Lux had shared with me a few days prior. I guess Fame-O-Licious did get it right once in a while. Funnily enough, this only made me think about Kain’s Camaro. The third richest man in the state of Florida drives a regular ass Camaro. I bit back an amused smile.
“On paper, Silas Montgomery doesn’t have two pennies to rub together. But we know better. Two years ago, the investigation on Silas started. When I bring his case to trial this August—” We were now in the month of May “—they’re prepared for any outcome.”
“Okay, and?”
“Lauren, you don’t understand these people.
When I win that case against Silas—” I could almost hear Kain scoffing in my head “—that boy becomes the department’s newest problem.
He’s already been given the keys to the kingdom.
It’s a clear message that Silas has a successor. You don’t understand what that means.”
“So tell me.”
“Do you have any idea how much respect you have to earn to take on a role like this in that world? That kid… he has the respect of grown men, three times his age. And there is no inherited cred in the streets. Nobody gives a damn who his father is when it comes to taking orders. The fact that Kain has grown up privileged and rich should put him at a disadvantage, but that’s not what it looks like from where I stand. He did something to earn that respect.”
“Like what?”
“Do you know what they call him on the streets? Trigger Fingers. What the fuck do you think that means?”
Kain told me on our first date that he’d never killed anyone, and I believed him. You don’t know what you’re talking about. “You don’t know him.”
“And you think you do?”
“I don’t know, Daddy.” The image of the warmth in Kain’s eyes as he looked at me faded into my mind. “I feel like we’re talking about two different people.”
What if the person I am with you is nothing like the person I am when you’re not around? What if I’m more like him than you realize, and… and you’re just the exception?
Kain’s words resurfaced, and I felt… frustrated? It made me incredibly uneasy to think that I didn’t even know the real Kain.
But he feels so real… Everything about that young man screamed sincerity.
“Why does it sound like you think this… thing you’ve got going on is up for discussion?” Dad’s harsh tone did little to shrink me in my seat. “This is not happening. Lauren, do you hear me?”
“I hear you.” My voice was dismissive, like I wanted nothing more than for this to be over.
He shook his head, and rolled backward in his chair again, reaching for another file in the open drawer. “It never ends well for women with close ties to that family.”
“I said I heard you, Daddy.”
Something in him snapped. Dad’s head snapped back in one swift motion, his eyes narrowing at my tone. “Did you, Lauren?” He was shouting now. Loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood if not for the insulation of his office. “You are way too smart to be acting this damn stupid!”
I flinched at the venom in his voice, biting down on my lower lip hard, trying to keep my emotions at bay. My father launched into a tirade, an angry lecture littered with profanity at maximum volume. I shrunk further and further into my seat as the screaming went on.
“You are so na?ve!” He snatched out another file; this one thicker.
“I’ve raised you for nineteen damn years!
All those times I took you to court with me.
Did you learn nothing? You cannot know him.
These. People. Are. Not. Harmless. You will die the more you get to know him.
People like him don’t give women who’ve gotten to know them the privilege of walking out alive.
By the time they’re done, these girls know way too much.
They’re a loose end that needs to be cut. ”
Dad slapped down a photograph of a young woman. Brown skinned, pretty face, looked no older than twenty-five.
“Linda Hare,” Dad gave her a name. “Fucked around with Silas Montgomery from 1980 to 1983. She was found dead in 1984, four months after their relationship ended. She was twenty-three.”
Dad slapped down another photograph.
“Tanisha Cates. Involved with Silas from 1984 to 1986. Found dead 1986. She was twenty-two.”
Another picture came down.
“Daria Lopez. 1987 to 1990. Dead 1990, four days after being kicked out of Silas Montgomery’s home. She was twenty-one.”
He had one more for me.
“Kiana Harris. In a relationship with Silas from 1993 to 1995. Found dead 1995. She was twenty when she died.”
My father looked at me expectantly, his eyes wild with energy. I said nothing, so he continued to speak. This time, thankfully, he was no longer shouting.
“Do you see a pattern?” he asked. I swallowed hard, eyes on the last photo my father had slammed down.
“All of these women got involved with Silas and mysteriously died less than a year after it was over.” Dad reached for the framed picture of me on his desk, looked at it and said, “Lauren Caplan. In a relationship with Kain Montgomery for some amount of time. Found dead shortly thereafter. She was nineteen years old.”
Slowly he laid my picture down, fifth in the line of photos he’d created. I looked up at him, expression blank in response to his own solemn features. All over my skin, there were goosebumps, hairs along my body standing rigidly straight over my father’s little display.
But not because of the image of me in this lineup. No. I thought my father was crazy for that. Nothing more, nothing less.
The chill that came over me arose from the fourth image in the lineup. I reached for it, staring at her as my mouth began to dry. It was one of those high school senior pictures. Her 90s-style hair and clothes showed the times as she smiled beautifully for the camera. She was beautiful.
Dad leaned in closer, uncertainty in his voice when he asked, “Now what the hell is so interesting about Kiana Harris’ photo?”
I looked up at him, licking my drying lips and then pressing them closed, not allowing myself to say a word. There was nothing to say. I couldn't even be sure about what I was seeing. Then again, parts of me were absolutely convinced I knew exactly what I was seeing.
She had Kain's eyes.