Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,124
in place with a glare so seething most men would buckle beneath it.
It’s a pity for him that I’ve been raised beneath men a hell of a lot more terrifying than this.
“You’re not part of this, Gabriel-“
“Actually, that’s exactly where you’re wrong.”
His brows crash together to be interrupted, my smile stretching into place in response.
“I don’t appreciate anybody telling Ivy what to do. And I especially don’t appreciate any person attempting to step between us.”
His reaction doesn’t surprise me. In fact, it’s exactly what I wanted in order to corner him on what we know about Luca’s father.
This entire charade is to piss him off and knock him off balance, to force him to slip and say the wrong thing. Either that, or to force him to believe my relationship with his daughter so he explains or confesses what he knows about the situation we’re in.
Most fathers would warn their daughter about potential trouble. Most who truly love their kids would lay out the exact reasons why they need to avoid disaster.
Apparently, Governor Callahan is not one of them.
That fact is especially clear given the way he stares at me now with an arrogant tilt of his mouth.
This father has other plans.
“I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by coming in my home and accusing me of being a problem.”
He pauses, his dark eyes searching mine as my fingers tighten more with Ivy’s.
“But I have somewhere to be and don’t have time to play around with you.”
Cutting his stare to Ivy, his voice is ice cold. “I gave you an order. You chose not to listen.”
Stepping forward, I tug on her arm to pull her closer to me, my defenses on high alert because I won’t accept the way he’s speaking to her.
“Why don’t you just tell us what the problem is, Governor?”
Refusing to budge an inch from the calm mask I wear, I lock my eyes with his. “Maybe if we understood what concerns you so much, we can work out an agreement.”
Again, I’m trying to trick him into giving us something - fucking anything - that we can use against my family or anybody else.
He refuses, instead flicking a glance in my direction before walking across the room to pick up a small remote.
“Let me show you why this is a problem. And when I get done with this, you’ll understand that nobody comes into my house and makes demands of me or questions my decisions.”
His thumb slams a button to turn on a television that hangs on a far wall, the screen coming to life as he hits another button to play a video that knocks me back a step to recognize what it is.
Ivy gasps when she recognizes the grainy scene, both our eyes locked to a surveillance video taken ten years ago in the middle of the city.
It’s the dead of night, the image green as if taken with night vision capability, and even though the picture isn’t perfectly clear, it’s obvious not only what we’re seeing, but who it is caught on film.
The time stamp below runs quickly, a younger version of Ivy moving around her father’s pavilion with a gas can in her hands.
“Daddy? What? How? Why did you tell me Gabriel did it if you have this? How long have you known?”
While she rambles off one question after the other, I stand frozen, staring at the image.
How the fuck did he get this? I can’t make sense of why he’s showing us or what he plans to do with it, but dread is a knot in my stomach to find out.
Governor Callahan pauses the recording and looks at his daughter.
“Unlike you, I don’t reveal all my cards until I have to,” he says coldly, “but now that I’ve been pushed to this point, let me explain how this is going to go.”
His eyes cut to me. “If you think I don’t know how you operate, Gabriel, you have a lot to learn. I think you’re forgetting I worked with your father for years before I broke off from that shit. I know how your entire group was trained to act.”
My eyes narrow on him in rage, and he grins.
“Here’s what I’m offering. You leave my daughter, as in walk the fuck off right now, and nothing happens to her.”
“Dad? What the hell?” Ivy snaps.
“Shut up, Ivy, and let the men talk.”
Her outburst means nothing to him, his stare never leaving my face as he barks for her to get in her