core. I have so many questions, but fear has my throat gripped so tightly I can hardly get air into my lungs.
A breath hitches in my throat when he reaches beside him, pulling up a briefcase from the floor. He opens it unhurriedly, and then removes a folder from inside it. I stare as he pulls out a stack of papers, a mixture of pictures and documents.
I study them from afar at first, before they’re placed in my lap, one-by-one.
A copy of my father’s admittance paperwork for the facility Uncle Dusty checked him into. A copy of my probation write-up at Cypress Prep, breaking down the details surrounding the leaked sex tape. And the nail in the coffin—an image of a blonde whose face I will never forget, but haven’t seen in so many months now.
She’s thinner than the last time I laid eyes on her, and with what little she’s wearing, I can easily see the weight loss is all over—her arms, legs, and face. And I’m not so naïve that I think the car she’s being photographed getting into doesn’t belong to some guy who’s just paid her for some sort of sexual favor. Either in cash, or a quick fix to get her through the day. My mother looks desperate, broken.
She looks like my worst nightmare, everything I never want to become.
“What do you want?” I repeat, struggling to keep my emotions in check after seeing her like this.
“I need your word that you’ll end it,” he reasons. “No more PDA. No more fucking around. It all ends. Right here. Right now.”
My head is spinning.
“This can’t just be about you thinking I’m a danger to West’s future. You know too much about me, about my family. It has to be more than that.”
I don’t bring up the pic West shared with me, for fear of turning his father’s wrath toward him. I also keep to myself what Ricky shared tonight. There’s an entire web of secrets we’ve all only begun to see the beginning of, but something tells me Mr. Golden is right at the center of it.
“You haven’t answered my question,” I remind him.
Before he says another word, that smile flashes toward me again. The one that makes my skin crawl.
“All I want from you is what I’ve already shared. Just your word that you’ll stay away from my son. Simple,” he adds.
“And if I don’t? What’ll happen?”
My defiance clearly rubs him the wrong way. I can tell as much when the grin slides off his face and the interior of this truck seems a little bit colder.
“If you don’t, I have low friends in high places,” he grimaces. “One phone call and I’ll have Child Protective Services at your door so fast, your ass won’t even know what hit it.”
My heart’s racing a mile a minute, making me dizzy.
“I’d hate to see where Scarlett ends up if that happens. I might have a friend or two willing to take her in. Hell, both of you,” he adds with a laugh. “I’ve got some very efficient means of making pretty little girls like you and your sister disappear without a trace. And thanks to a certain risqué photo I have in my possession, I’ve already gotten several impressive bids for you, sweetheart.”
His finger taps me just beneath my chin and I’m shaking now, thoroughly convinced his threat is far from empty. This man’s dark side is black as coal.
“There’s a silver lining,” he chimes in with a wicked grin. “Heed this warning and there won’t be any need for you and me to have another conversation. Understood?”
Gritting my teeth, I’m flooded with emotion, but at the top of that list, grappling with fear for the number one spot, is rage.
“Understood,” I force out with a furious growl, feeling so violated by this man.
He knows all there is to know about my family, about me, and he’s using it all against me as a tool for manipulation.
My trembling hand is on the door handle, but he reaches for my arm, holding it tight enough to stop me from making a clean exit.
“One last thing. In case you haven’t noticed, West has a hard head. Boy doesn’t know how to cut ties, even if something’s bad for him, weighing him down,” he explains.
“I can’t make him let go,” I snap, feeling the heat of fresh tears streaming down my face.
“Ohhh, but you can,” he croons, that grin of his widening with those words. “If you’re going to stay