let Zodiac ruin her life like he has ours,” I snap impatiently.
He slides his hand around my hip, and the other cups my jaw as he uses his body to press mine against the door.
“I don’t trust anyone, not with Lily. I wouldn’t hesitate to throw you to the wolves if it meant protecting her, so no matter what deal you think I’ll strike up with you, it will always be her.”
“And it should be, it just makes you a good father. You don’t have to decide if you want this right now. I’ll never speak a word about Lily outside this room, but please, please hear me when I say, if Zodiac knows about Lily, it’s only a matter of time before he comes for her.”
“If that’s true, then what does an allegiance with you even matter?” he curses.
“Because if enough of us band together, we can overthrow him. Then we can all finally find some fucking peace.”
“Even if what you’re saying is true, if you cut off the head of the snake, there will be chaos. What you’re talking about will spark an all-out war as people vie for the top spot. That’s going to put my daughter in more danger than she is now.”
“Not if there is someone ready to step into his shoes.”
“And you think that person should be you?” he scoffs, making my hackles rise.
“Careful, Leo, that sounds an awful lot like disbelief. I have surprised bigger men than you and lived to tell the tale, but by all means, try me.”
He turns and stomps farther into his closet, agitated, before spinning to face me once more.
“What guarantee can you give me?”
“None for you. You are too heavily involved. I can’t guarantee your safety any more than mine, but I can guarantee your daughter’s. If something happens to you, you can either trust me to raise her or I can set her up far removed from this life where she can play in a yard, not worry about getting fucking snatched by the bogeyman and being used as a weapon in a vendetta she is too young to understand.”
“If I’m supposed to trust you with the most important thing in my life, I need something of yours that makes you vulnerable too. I can’t risk it otherwise,” he tells me without an inch of remorse, and I get it.
Hell, I even respect him for it. How many other people can say that their father would burn the world to rubble and ash just to protect their kid? Hell, mine bailed the second he found out my mother was pregnant.
I won’t give him Megan and Wyatt because, as far as I’m concerned, they aren’t in this anymore. I came here so they could be free from me and my bullshit, but I can give him info that could hurt me.
“This goes no further. I’m counting on you to keep your word.”
He nods. “As long as you keep yours, your secret is safe with me.”
“When I was fifteen, I murdered my stepfather in cold blood, then I blew up the only home I had and walked away. There is an open investigation with regards to his death and my disappearance. As of right now, the consensus is that a business deal went wrong and I was taken as collateral before a hit was ordered on him.”
“Why would they think that? Who the fuck was your stepfather?”
“His name was Clyde Mandel.”
I’m quiet for a minute, feeling sick at speaking his name out loud as it makes me feel dirty all over again.
“Wasn’t he that rich real estate mogul that had a penchant for—” His mouth snaps shut as he looks at me. It feels like he’s stripping back the layers of my skin and exposing a wound that never healed.
“Good for you.” He nods before stepping forward and pulling me in for a surprising hug. My arms hang loosely at my sides for a minute before I slowly lift them and grip his waist.
“He’s the kind of man I’d sell my soul to keep my daughter away from.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone has someone who will go to bat for them like you would. Sometimes, you have to just burn shit down yourself.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Sitting across from a young couple who look like they’re still in high school, l watch the way they interact with each other as I wait for the computer to boot up. Why I come here when I could take my new laptop to the office,