I mimic his pose, looking out at the surface of the pool.
“I’m worried about Nellie,” I tell him, because it’s a relatively safe subject. As fucked-up as my father is, as ruthless as he can be, I know that he loves his wife.
He snorts at me.
“Since when have you ever given a fuck about your mother?” he asks me, getting out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up. He offers the pack to me, but I just stare at it before lifting my gaze up to his face. “What? You’re a married woman now, so you’ve become a saint? You’re not fooling anyone, Gidget.” He looks back at the pool as he tucks the pack into his pocket again, using his other hand to pull the cig from between his lips. Gray smoke billows out to join the stink of wildfire. “You’re a monster. Just like me. Always have been, always will be.”
I decide not to respond to that. Nellie will tell Cat about the baby eventually if I don’t. Even if she doesn’t, it’ll be obvious at some point anyway.
“If Nellie learns about Gaz,” I start, and Cat reacts so suddenly that I don’t have time to respond to the threat. He grabs me by the arm and yanks me up, his cigarette tumbling down to the pavement. He turns me toward him and shakes me so hard that my teeth clack together painfully.
“She will never hear about Gaz. You understand me, girl?” Cat snarls, turning and slamming me into the wall of the house. One of his hands finds my throat just as the back door opens and Cade stalks out like he’s on a SWAT mission, weapon trained on his president.
“Get your hands off of her,” he growls out, the hands holding his gun steady and strong, despite the fact that he’s still recovering from his injuries.
“You too, huh?” Cat asks, squeezing just hard enough that it hurts, but not enough to actually cut off my air supply. He turns back to me, and I glare at him in defiance. My father clucks his tongue as he studies me. I can tell he’s already decided to let me go, even before Beast appears over the top of the stone wall that surrounds the pool area, leaping down on silent feet and moving toward us so quickly that I worry he’ll have his president’s neck snapped before he can think better of that decision.
My father releases me, and I suck in a huge breath, putting my hand on the wall to steady myself.
Cat scowls at Beast as he passes him, and then Sin and Crown both are outside, and we’re all together for the first time since my father found out.
“Wait,” I say as Cat continues walking away. Sin grabs my arm as I pass, but I yank out of his grip, determined to make Cat talk to me at least once. Just one open, honest conversation between us, and I can die happy. That’s all I ask. “If you just stop walking and let me talk, maybe you’d understand!”
I scream this last part at him, but although he pauses and turns back to me, I can see that he isn’t open to conversation of any kind. Not now. Maybe not ever.
“Don’t think that this is over,” Cat tells me, and his voice is a warning meant for more than just my ears. “Once this mafia shit is buried deep where it belongs …” He trails off with a dangerous laugh. “We’ll all be having that talk you want so badly. But I wouldn’t be eager for it if I were you, Gidge.”
“It’s Gidget,” I snap, and Cat raises his arm like he’s about to hit me. He doesn’t, but I’m not sure if it’s because of the officers surrounding us, ready to kill their own president if necessary. Or if it’s because my father and I have an impossible connection, one that I’ve felt my whole life but never understood. “Cat!” I grab his arm and he throws me off so hard that I stumble and end up slipping backwards into the pool.
Water goes up my nose, but I bounce back quick, fingers curling around the edge of the pool and dragging myself up. Strong arms yank me the rest of the way, and I find myself in Sin’s embrace, soaking wet and looking over to see Beast with his hand around my father’s throat.
“Do it,” Cat tells his enforcer. “Show me your true colors, Catcher.”
“Beast, don’t,” I warn him, and his blue eyes snap over to me. “I’m okay. Don’t hurt him.”
Cat laughs as he shoves his enforcer’s arm away and continues on toward the gate that leads to the front yard, disappearing out of it and letting it slam behind him.
I push away from Sin and, in a fit of rage, I grab one of the chairs and chuck it into the swimming pool with a scream of frustration. The men keep their distance from me for a moment as I pace the edge of the pool and reach up to shake my fingers through my wet hair.
