“Saks?” said her father. “Who’s Saks?”
“Anthony Parks, dear,” replied her mother.
“Oh, that one.”
“Yes. That one!” snarled Chrissy. “You had to have me marry into the Rocco family, didn’t you? Only, you found it was a Rocco you didn’t like, right? Then all bets were off, regardless of how I felt about it.”
“I don’t understand,” said her mother. “You were against it from the start. We thought you’d be pleased it got called off.”
“Pleased?” said Chrissy sharply. “Did you even bother to ask me? ‘Chrissy, meet the Rocco. Chrissy, go to this party. Chrissy, make things right. Chrissy, he’s not the right Rocco, so stay away from him. Chrissy, Chrissy, Chrissy.’ Argh!”
“Argh?” said her father. “Is that some word the kids use now?”
“Kid! Now you’re calling me a kid?”
“You’re my child, Chrissy,” said her father. “You’ll always be my little girl.”
What was her father smoking? Seriously? Did he not get what was going on here? He was a tough wise guy, and yet an idiot in his own home! “Can you just leave me alone? Let me live my life? Keep that family business out of my business?”
“Explain to me why Marcus had to get your car out of Westfield’s impound?”
“What?”
“You don’t need us, or our business, but you need Marcus? Here are the keys.” He held them up for her to see, then set them on the side table between him and her mother.
Chrissy blinked. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Marcus has good connections with the people who do impounds. It was cheaper to get it out sooner rather than later.”
“Where’s my car?”
“In the garage. First, tell me what’s going on. How’d your car end up there?”
Chrissy stared at her father. “I, I went to see Saks.”
“What!” roared her grandfather.
Her father held up his hand. “I’ll handle this.” He turned back to her. “Why,” he said coldly, “did you go to see Anthony Parks when you were tol
d to stay away from him?”
Chrissy stared at him, not knowing what to say. Well, Dad, I went to see my lover ostensibly to tell him that the men who shot him were hired by the Rojos, but since he’s hot I went to bed with him. Oh, and yeah, I love him, too. Yeah, that would go down really well. “It’s none of your business,” she said defensively.
“Everything about you is my business!” roared her father. “I can’t protect you if you keep secrets from me.”
“Protect? That’s what you call it? I wouldn’t need protection if I came from a normal family.”
“What does that mean?” rumbled her father ominously.
“You know what it means,” she snapped.
“Chrissy, calm down,” said her mother.
Calming down was not on the menu. “Stop telling me what to do! Stop trying to marry me off to some goombah, and stay the hell out of my life!” She grabbed the keys from the table.
“Christina Marie Serafini,” said her father in a threatening tone. “If you walk out that door, you’ll walk out for good.”
It was a threat she’d heard many times during her teenage years. However, at this point in her life, she was more than prepared to take him up on it.