“Nope.” I took another sip. “Talking just makes it true, and you already have your answers, don’t you?”
A pregnant pause lingered between us. “You should have given him a choice, Chase.”
“I did. I gave him a choice every time he chose to believe the lies. Every time he drank the fake truth like a medicine when it was a fucking poison. As a father, you can’t shove your kids in the right direction; you can only be there to help them decide what path to take.”
Phoenix dropped the black folder onto the kitchen table. “If tomorrow goes south—”
“If it goes poorly, we have precautions in place. I’ve made sure of it.”
“Made sure of it how?”
My chest ached where my heart should be. “I made sure that this time—his choice was black and white. I made sure of it because my son deserves it—and with that, we’ll draw them out. Believe me.”
“I’m afraid to.” Phoenix grabbed the bottle of whiskey in front of me and poured himself a glass. “I’m afraid politics have corrupted your mind.”
“Nah, just my soul, my mind’s extremely safe,” I joked.
He tipped the drink back. “You don’t mean to start a war, but you could, couldn’t you?”
Guilt pounded into me. “Quite easily.”
“Peace is dangerous.”
“More so than war.” I sighed. “And all my cards are finally on the table. Let everyone know the truth of my sins—of his. Let them know how far we’ll go to protect our own. And in the end, anyone who’s stupid enough, greedy enough, to want our kids—will burn in hell.”
He clinked his glass against mine. “It’s a gamble.”
“I never gamble, Phoenix. I merely win.”
“Cocky bastard.”
I lifted my glass. “I’ll drink to that.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Death is certain. Life is uncertain.”—English Proverb
Annie
I spent most of the next day wondering if I should go smack Ash in the face or beg him to do it again.
My emotions warred with each other, and I felt weird asking Izzy or Serena for any sort of advice—we were all so different; the only one I was maybe a little bit like was Violet, but since Valerian was a boss, they were staying at their own compound with a bunch of super scary looking Russians.
Which left me…
Kartini.
The girl who snuck her vape pen past her dad and was right now taking a few drags before stripping completely naked and putting on her dress for the party.
I glanced away. “Is that a tattoo?”
“Which one?” She asked in what seemed like a bored voice.
What had happened to her?
I mean no judgment, but before I left for Italy, she was dancing on her dad’s shoes and looking up at him with stars in her eyes. She was the gorgeous teen who had the world and every guy her age hanging on her every word.
And now?
Now she had streaks of blue in her hair.
Tattoo’s on her fingers.
And she was getting high under the watchful eye of all the bosses who were already stressed out enough as it was. Nothing made sense, and again, no judgment, you do you and all that, but still.
It seemed so out of character.
And her parents adored her.
Indulged her.
Maybe that was the problem?
“Hellooooo.” Kartini popped up in my line of vision with an amused expression, her pupils large. “You sure you’re not the one high right now?”
I gave my head a shake. “Sorry, just thinking about tonight.”
She crossed her little arms and snorted. “Why? You think you’re going to get lucky?”
“No!” I all but yelled and then. “I mean, why would I think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because of a certain cousin of mine…” She twirled her hair and then pulled a tight white body con dress over her little body. “…ate more Annie than pizza last night if you get my drift.” She winked.
“Huh?” I played dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She cackled out a laugh then threw a brush at my face. I ducked just in time while she wagged her finger back and forth, her nails long, pointed, black. “Nope, you can’t pull that shit with me. Hell, it would have been better if anyone else would have seen you guys, any of the girls would have had that entire scene on lockdown, but King and Maksim?” She examined her nails. “You may as well have had two pre-teen girls spying on who held hands with who during skate night.”
“Skate night?” I frowned.
She snapped her fingers. “Keep up. It happened. I’m sure it was magical, and as much as Ash’s tongue anywhere near my person makes me want to barf until I die—I can at least admit that he’s hot—but pretty much all Abandonatos are.” She put her hands on her hips as if to say, exhibit A. “So,” she began as she plopped down on the bed. “Is that what you’re wearing after one of the most notorious bad boys to ever walk the streets of Eagle Elite University had his head between your thighs less than twenty-four hours ago?”