you ask her?" His eyes filled with tears, and he tried to move a little. "D. Man, I wouldn't do anything to hurt the family. It's my family. Izzy, come on, shit."
"It's looking that way, Freddy," I called out and shook my head. "It looks like you're more interested in helping Thomas Kallup than your own family."
Marco moved up to stand beside Izzy and touched her arm. "Let him down."
"No," she barked and tightened her grip again, causing the kid to gasp for breath. "You better start fucking talking, Freddy. Mama died on Saturday, and then this shit happens. What do you think you're doing?"
"Izzy." Marco gripped her hand, and I moved up on the other side of her.
"Let him breathe so he can talk to us." I pressed my hand to her lower back and rubbed softly. "I'm ready to get out of here. Let's just take him back to the —"
"No. I know a rat when I smell one." She released Freddy and moved faster than I was ready for as she grabbed him and pulled his head down to ram his face against her lifted knee.
The kid fell back with a scream, his nose busted and blood running down his face and all over the front of his shirt. "Fuck! You broke my nose. What's the matter with you? I thought you loved me."
"I do." She got in his face and gripped the sides of his head as he started to cry. "And Dad's going to put a hit on you if you don't fucking shape up. Family means everything until you fuck up. You know that, right? I'm saving your life right now, though I'm not really sure it's worth it."
"Why then? It's not worth anything." He pushed at her, but she held on.
"Because I love you." She pressed her forehead to his as Marco and I backed up a little. "And I'm the one that he's going to call. Do you want me to show up here and gun you down?"
"No, okay? I'm sorry, all right? I fucked up, but it wasn't on purpose. I just can't think. I can't figure out which way is up and with Mama — "
"Don’t give me that lie. This shit started three weeks ago, Freddy." She slapped him in the face and backed up. "You don’t get to blame Mama. She loved you, and her passing is going to make us stronger as a family. That includes you."
He sniffled and tried to dry his eyes, only succeeding in smearing blood across his thin face. "All right. I'll sober up. Don't take this from me, and don't tell Dad about my shit. I'll fix it."
She moved back to stand between us, her face a mask of indifference as she rolled her shoulders. My cock twitched in my pants at the thought of her looking at me like that.
"This is your last chance. If you don't clean this up, we will. Marco and D will come in and pull you off the narcotics ring and investigate what you've been doing with the Kallups. Then they'll tell Dad, and he'll call me in his office, and the next time you see me will be the last. Do you get that? You're dangling over the edge of a cliff, and all that exists below is death, Freddy. Mom wouldn't want that for you. We don't want that. Fix this shit, and do it now." She turned and walked out into the hallway, Marco following her.
I brushed my fingers over my lips and stared at him for a minute as he started to cry again. A huge part of my heart broke watching him. I wanted to fix it like I would for Drake or Cat, but I couldn't. The little shit was up to something, and even with Izzy's pep talk, I wasn't sure there was any saving him.
Chapter 16
Izabella
I sat in silence the whole way back to the house. It took all I had inside of me not to show Marco or D just how badly it hurt to have to get in Freddy's face and fuck him up. My father was loving until you crossed the line, and Freddy had done that too many times already. He was one more fuckup from tasting my wrath, and should have been counting his blessings that it was Demetri who was given the task of figuring everything out instead of Dad doing it himself.
"You want to help us get ready for the meeting