me most."
"And I understand that." My father stood, and D turned to face him. "But we're in a time of transition here, and there are wolves at the fucking door. You both are all I have to protect this legacy that has spanned for almost a hundred years."
"I'm sorry." I offered my apology first to my father and then turned to Demetri. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have egged you on. It was immature, and I was pissed at the world, not you."
"Accepted." D nodded and walked back to the couch he’d been on moments ago. "I'm sorry as well. I'm letting old feelings that died years ago resurrect because of my pain. It won't happen again."
The cold dagger he'd thrown under the guise of apology pierced my heart and wrapped it back in ice where it belonged.
Old feelings that died years ago? You fucking liar.
"Good. Now that we're done with that, update me on where we are with everything else. We have a meeting tonight from what Marco tells me, and the last thing I want to do is go in there with my dick hanging out for everyone to see." He sat back down, and the tension in the room drained almost immediately.
"As I said, Parker is dead, and you'll need to talk with Marco on what he found when he went to clean up the room and collect the bank information on the guy." I brushed my fingers across my chin and ignored D's stare as I continued to focus on my father. "What pseudonym did you use with Parker, Dad? He showed up and hit on me almost immediately. I was a little surprised."
"I told him that I was an old associate of his and that I was sending him a gift." My dad shrugged. "I described what you looked like, and knew you would take care of the rest."
"Interesting." I nodded, forcing the hard emotions that swirled within me to lie docile until I could find a punching bag or someone to beat the shit out of.
"How so?" D's voice was pinched with the same emotions that were destroying me.
"He was calm and looking for a fuck." I glanced over at my Underboss. "He hadn't a care in the world. You should have seen the look on his face when I pulled out my gun."
"After you fucked him." D's eyes narrowed a little.
"Demetri." My father's tone was a staunch warning. In all our years together, I'd never seen D so close to getting an ass chewing. Where I wanted to hate him and undermine his efforts, I couldn't. Not ever. I loved him far too much for that.
"I didn't fuck him. I put a bullet in his skull and walked out. You deserved having me poke at you, you drunk ass."
"Izzy." My father popped the couch beside me angrily.
"I spoke with Catherine this morning about Freddy." Demetri pulled our attention back to him as his eyes lingered on me just a little too long. "He's fucked up several shipments and a good three weeks of paperwork. I'm going to rough him up and give him direction one — "
"No the hell you're not." My dad stood back up and ran his fingers through his salt and pepper hair as he walked toward his desk. "I swear that fucking kid is going to be the death of me. The only person in the world that could get him to half behave was his mother, and now... "
My father pressed his hands to his desk with his back to us and took a shaky breath.
I got up and moved to his side, rubbing his back softly as I pressed my lips to his shoulder. "Dad. Why don't you take the day off? D and I can work through all of this. Honestly. You've not been intimately involved in the syndicate for a while. Aren't you training Marco to take over soon?"
"I was." He glanced over at me before standing up and pulling me into a hug. He kissed the top of my head and sighed again. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do."
"And today isn't the day you have to figure it out, Joe." Demetri moved up beside us, crossing his arms over his strong chest and locking eyes with my father.
I moved back and slipped my hands into my back pockets, completely depleting the pissy persona I'd brought into the room with me only moments before.
"Let's talk to Marco about last night and then figure out