Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
“Everyone’s heard of you,” I say simply. “How do you know my father?”
“Your father was my right-hand man, Evie.”
“Bullshit.” The word flies out of my mouth instantly. It’s impossible. “My father was an insurance salesman. He told me.”
“Your father told you what he did to protect you.”
“My dad didn’t lie to me!” I cry out.
“Tell me, Evie,” Callum replies. “You ever wonder why an insurance salesman was so good at reading people? Why an insurance salesman taught you how to fight? Why an insurance salesman was murdered?”
Callum’s words hit me like gut punches. It’s as if a veil is quickly being lifted from in front of my eyes. My life begins to replay in my mind with a new perspective. What if my father wasn’t the man I thought he was?
But a gangster? Second in command to the most feared mob boss in New York?
“I… The police told me it was a random mugging.”
“The cops knew he kept you out of his life,” Callum says, stepping forward. “They had you under surveillance for years. That’s why they didn’t question you about it. But the truth is that it was a hit. Your dad was killed by a rival organization. And they’ve paid dearly, Evie. Trust me.”
I don’t want to believe him, but it feels like a thousand puzzle pieces all falling into place as I look into his piercing blue eyes. My father never seemed to me like the type to sell insurance, but I never had any reason to doubt him. But now…looking back at his life through this new lens…
It all makes sense.
My dad was a gangster.
“And so because my dad worked for you…that makes you think you have a right to my money?”
Callum’s lips twist into something close to a smile.
“Oh, you’ll get your money, Evie,” he replies. “When I decide you get it.”
“When you decide I get it?”
“That’s right.” He nods. “Just like this house, which I now own.”
My chest begins to burn. “This is my house.”
“Not anymore,” he replies. “I took ownership today while you were at the funeral, along with the will.’
“You what?!” Like my father, I’ve always been a bit of a hot-head. Before I know what I’m doing, I’m rushing Callum like I’m going to attack him or something. Thankfully, I manage to stop myself less than a foot in front of him. He hasn’t even moved. In fact, he’s grinning down at me like he thinks I’m adorable.
“Your life is mine now, Evie.” His voice is soft but dangerous. “I could keep it all, but fortunately for you, I have a way for you to earn it all back.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” I’m steaming inside but biting the inside of my cheek to keep myself from losing it.
“I do.” He nods.
“And what might that be?”
Earn it back. This is going to be bad.
“You come and live with me,” he says. “You do anything and everything I say.”
“I what?”
“I want to see what you’re made of.” He grins. “And if you satisfy me, then I’ll give you access to what your father left you.”
Instantly, I shake my head and sneer.
“Hell no.” I go over to my boots and slide back into them and put my raincoat back on. “I don’t care who you are, I’m not about to bow down to you like some servant.”
“You haven’t even heard how much money your father left you, Evie.”
I try to push past Callum, but he doesn’t move, forcing me to step around him into the rain.
“I don’t care.”
“Even if it’s ten million dollars?”
That stops me in my tracks. The rain patters down on my jacket like thousands of tiny little punches.
Did he just say ten million dollars?
That would be life-changing. Not just life-changing for me, but for generations of my family—whenever that happens. And it’s not like that’s just money that came from nowhere, either. It’s not money I got from a lottery ticket; that’s money that my father earned for me and left for me.
I turn and look at Callum for a trace of dishonesty in his eyes, using all the tricks my dad taught me when I was young. Sure, he’s a mobster and won’t be as easy to read as the average Joe, but I see nothing in his expression or his body language to suggest that he’s playing me. Still, I push back.
“Bullshit.”
“I may be an outlaw, Evie. But I don’t lie. My word is my word. Your dad left you ten million, and it’s yours if you—”
“Submit to you?” I snap.
He nods, smiling with his eyes. “That’s right.”
The fire burning in my chest rises.
“No,” I reply.
“Then you’ll leave here with nothing,” he replies.
“Then I’ll leave here with nothing,” I repeat. And with that, I turn on my heel and storm away, striding into the falling rain, leaving my home and my past behind me, not knowing where I’m headed or how I’m going to survive.