Sparrow - L.J. Shen Page 0,63

Nightmare by Henry Fuseli. How ironic. A vision of a woman’s deepest fears.

The painting was covered in glass and reflected Paddy’s face. He bit his lower lip, releasing it slowly as he blinked away what was beginning to look like actual tears. Taking another drag and coughing it out, his eyes narrowed on my back.

“Leave her out of it.”

“You mean, just like you left Sparrow alone?” I rubbed my chin with my finger thoughtfully as I turned to face him.

“Get to the point, asshole. What is it that you want?”

“I want everything, Paddy. Every. Single. Fucking. Thing. You stole money from my father for years, fuck knows how much, and you molested the girl who is now my wife. I hate you way too much to just kill you. So here’s how it’s gonna play out. You sign over every damn penny you have in those accounts to Sparrow, and I spare your illegitimate daughter’s life. What’s her name? Oh, yes. Tara. Sweet fucking Tara. Only nineteen, isn’t she?”

“Eighteen.” He pursed his lips, stubbing the cigarette with force into a nearby ashtray.

“Even better.” I shrugged, spinning on my heel to face him and smiling good-naturedly.

“You can’t do this,” he mumbled to himself.

“I just did.”

“And what if I won’t?” He hesitated, pressing his hand to his neck, like he was choking.

“Then I swear to God, I will kill the little bitch. But before I do, I’ll make sure every single junkie in South Boston rides her ass six ways from Sunday. And trust me, I will hunt down the kinkiest motherfuckers the city has to offer. I do my research, as you can tell.”

Paddy’s jaw ticked, and I knew he was terrified. I’d definitely hit a nerve.

When I booked the flight to Miami, I was under the impression that it was going to be another joyless kill. But then Jensen followed the money trail to Paddy’s daughter. She was living outside of Boston with her ex-stripper mom. Paddy was sending them money every month, and according to Paddy’s wife #2, it didn’t stop there. He was in contact with Tara. Phone calls, Christmas cards and all the rest. Apparently Tara didn’t know her father was a world-class douche. She was just a college freshman looking to bond with her dying no-show of a dad. Looked like a sweet enough girl, if you ignored her problematic gene pool. I never would have touched her. But Paddy thought like a psychopath, so I knew he wouldn’t put it past me to do what he would have done if he still had a chance.

“How will I know you won’t hurt her anyway?” Paddy pressed his head to the headboard, closing his eyes in frustration. He was coming to terms with this arrangement.

I wanted Sparrow to have everything this fucker had to his name, like he took everything from her when she was just a little girl. An eye for an eye.

“Why, I’ll give you my word.” I opened my arms in a friendly manner.

He stared me down and spat again into his bucket, reaching back for the oxygen mask. “Your word ain’t worth shit.”

“Then it’s a crying shame that’s all you’re going to get. Either you hand over the money to Sparrow, knowing I intend to keep my promise not to touch your girl, or you let me walk away from this place, knowing my generous deal is off the table and that I’m going to do horrible things to your kid. Your call, old man.”

The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. He loved his daughter, even though he was a monster. I’d broken him. He had lost everything he’d worked for. He was going to die a poor man, leave nothing to his only family. He was going to pay his debt.

“You are worse than your father, Brennan.”

I smiled in agreement and fished out my phone. “I’ll call a lawyer and have him draw up the papers right away. And you can start by signing this Power of Attorney. Don’t worry, boyo, I brought a pen.”

SPARROW

FROM MY CAB at the end of the block, I watched Troy walking up to the Spanish-style house. Once he was out of sight, I instructed my driver to wait and slowly strolled up the sidewalk, noting his idling cab. His driver was busy with his cell phone and didn’t seem to notice me.

I eyed the stucco mailbox at the end of the driveway. Who was Troy visiting? What was so important at