Father Knows Best
Entering the room after her chat with the girls, she immediately noted Cruz was not there. Considering she’d snuck out on him while he slept without leaving him a note, she knew she didn’t have an argument to win by his disappearance. Yet disappointment coursed through her veins he wasn’t there to talk to about the things she planned for the day.
Deciding to take a quick shower in the hopes he’d be back by the time she was done, she gathered her belongings and made her way into the bathroom. She left the door open so she could hear him if he came back and acknowledged it was kind of funny to think of how much she fought him on the door and now she was not even using it.
All her ideas were running through her brain at a pace she could barely keep up with. The more absurd the
idea, the more she was leaning into it. She knew at some point she was going to have to face reality but this
pretending she was in control, acting like she was taking charge was making her less fearful of the reality.
The truth was, she expected Liborio already bugged all their rooms. She considered he already knew all her
plans because he was listening in to every single conversation she was having. Presley even considered he’d
been watching her for some time and even Algernon was being monitored. Thinking of the man made her
think of Sloane’s weird fascination with him.
Her friend always gravitated to strange individuals. Presley recalled a time when Sloane dated a man older than her own grandfather and told them how despite the sagging balls, it was some of the best s*x she ever experienced because the old fella had something to prove. There was also the kindergartner teacher who swore white glue tasted good and carried a bottle in the backpack he brought with him everywhere and the
man who ran a bee farm and liked to cover her in honey and lick it off.
Once her shower was done and she’d paced the room another twenty minutes, the rumbling of her belly made her collect her phone, key card and bag and leave the room in search of breakfast.
She wasn’t surprised to find her parents in the breakfast area, but she was surprised to see Cruz was
nowhere to be found. Anderson was also missing so perhaps they were together.
Sitting down at her parents‘ table she noted they both appeared as if they didn’t sleep well.
“Hey Daddy, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” He patted her hand on the table. “Chest pains are gone.”
“At the risk of making them come back,” she sighed deciding to dive right in, “Odin traded me to Liborio Bartoli to be his womb–for–hire in exchange for his debt being erased.”
“Odin had no right, and he doesn’t own you. He can’t trade what isn’t his.”
“Yes, well,” she took a breath, “Sloane got me a copy of the contract. It was more of an Odin wouldn’t interfer with Liborio’s plans for me, would find a way to keep me here in Nice so Liborio could put the rest of his plan together and he would find ways to keep Cruz out of Liborio’s hair. In exchange you and Marsha don’t get murdered along with Odin for his failure to pay back a million dollars. He took the loan at one of the dumbest interest rates ever. There was no way Odin was ever paying it all back.”
“Where is Cruz now?” her mother asked quietly. “I can’t imagine he is taking this sitting down.”
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Father Knows Best
“He’s upset with me. Liborio made threats Mom. Cruz thought we could rationalize with the man, but the mar Is not rational. He threatened everyone. He knows things and has dirt nobody needs to know about, it’s hard to wrap the head around but basically, If I don’t give him two heirs, everyone I know, and love will pay the price. The contract with Odin is bullshit. Looking at it, this morning, it was really geared more to Odin f things up so he could get rid of him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s evident Liborio was going to use everyone against me regardless of Odin. This contract is more to deal with Odin and the bullshit he puts me through than it is anything else.”
“Why?”
“Sloane’s theory after reading the contract?” she shrugged. “Dude is infatuated with me.”
“What is Halima’s theory?” her father asked. “She’s usually the more logical of the three of you.”
“Liborio endured an abusive childhood and feels a kinship. He respects how I managed to still make something of myself despite the hell the boys put me through and as a result, he thinks our kids could be unstoppable. She also said I’m quite fuckable and if she swung my way, she’d have done me already. She may have been spending too much time with Sloane lately.”
“Well, you’re not having his babies. We’ll find a way out of this. We’ll pay him.”
“Mom,” she cut her mother’s words off, “he’s not interested in money. He is using Odin’s screwup to threaten everyone. If I don’t do what he wants, everyone dies or goes to jail. I have to make him not want me or to consider I might not be healthy enough to bear his children.”
“You can’t prank a mob boss,” her father saw right through her words.
“I have no other ideas, Dad. I need him to find me too much to deal with.”
“And he’ll simply shoot you in the head and be done with it.”
“Maybe if he’s got a thing for her,” Scarlett argued with Gavin, “he’ll not shoot her.”
“This isn’t a romance novel, Scarlett. This isn’t some book your daughter has written about space cowboys and the like. It is real life and God damn it she’s going to get herself killed. I swear to f**k Odin was a load Marsha should have swallowed.” He gripped his butter knife angrily on the tabletop and began furiously smearing jam over a piece of bread. He shoved the crusty end into his mouth and chewed furiously and then leaned forward, his eyes blazing as he hissed at his daughters, “he kills people. He kills people and he gets away with it because he’s scary as f**k and you two somehow think Presley putting pepper sauce in his shampoo or maybe putting some sugar in his gas tank is going to make him think she’s too much work so he’s going to pat her on the head and say I’ll go find someone else, you have a nice day now?” Presley jumped as her father’s fist pounded the tabletop and the place settings all bounced. “Dad,” she tried to speak softly but he raised his finger and shook it at her.
“Don’t you f*****g say another word. Do not sit at this table and tell me how it is you plan to get yourself murdered by f*****g with a mob boss.”
“So what? She’s supposed to simply lay on her back and put her legs in the air to get f****d?” Scarlett asked back angrily.
“Yes. Yes.” He nodded, “if he’s given her his word she can walk away after and live a life she wants then yes.
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Father Knows Best
She should. Frankly, I’m ready to die. If he wants to kill me instead of her doing it, I’m fine. I’m happy to go this route. I would die a thousand deaths to protect my daughter. However, and I say this with all the love in the world, Scarlett, it’s not going to happen, and do you know why? Because she is you incarnate. She is too soft in the heart, and she is sweet and kind and loving, and we all know at this table, when push comes to shove, Presley is you and she is not going to do anything which is going to put her friends or her family in danger. So instead of all the games and all the manipulations, I suggest you circumvent the entire dance you intend to take on the way to pushing out mafia heirs and get it done so we can all move on with our lives. We will live in guilt–ridden debt to you forever and eventually you and Cruz can have a family of your own.”
“Dad.”
“It’s going to be the end result either way, isn’t it? You won’t let me take a bullet. You won’t let me die, Presley no matter how much I could sit here and beg you to let me take this debt on, will you?”
She shook her head, “no.”
“Then what are we even arguing for? I could go to him right now, beg and plead and tell him to take my life. Is it going to matter?”
“No.”
“Because why?”
“Because he’s a scary mob boss.”
“And you are just a little girl with an overactive imagination thinking you can outsmart one of the most
ruthless businessmen in the world.”
“There is no need to be so condescending.” Scarlett growled at her husband.
“My wife and my daughter are sitting at breakfast telling me they think it’s a good idea to play pranks and tricks on a man who last year was rumored to have gotten rid of five men from his casino who were trying to manipulate the system. Five men, all rumored to be part of some card counting scheme, end up in the bottom of the river in one car with the brakes cut. They tried to screw him out of a few bucks at the casino and they all died. Sure, go play tricks on the man who got rid of five college–aged kids for screwing him over.” He muttered angrily, “and I shouldn’t be condescending when you’re talking so damn stupid. No f*****g wonder Cruz isn’t here. He’s probably boarding a plane back to f*****g Vancouver to get away from your insanity, so he doesn’t have to witness you being murdered.”
“Actually, I went for a long run to try to get some perspective, but your thought isn’t a bad one,” Cruz spoke from over the table and then pulled a chair out and sat opposite Presley at the breakfast table. “Ladybird, I take it you told your parents your idea to make fish scented perfume, fake an infection of the crotch with oatmeal and to paint your n*****s black?”
Her father groaned and looked to the ceiling in disbelief.
Cruz pointed at him and grabbed one of the buns from the breadbasket on the table and bit into it. “Yeah, my run didn’t help any of it make sense to me either. I still feel like that,” he pointed to Gavin, his eyes glaring at Presley. “I take it when you snuck out of bed this morning you went to find Sloane and Halima to get them on board? Did they find you a whoopie cushion and offer to get some hot sauce for Bartoli’s body wash?”
“There is no need to be rude,” she folded her arms over her chest.
“What do we do besides let her knock out two kids for him?” Gavin ignored Presley and asked Cruz directly.
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I’d rather not see her get a bullet to the head for switching out his gun of choice with a bubble blaster”
“I called my father and asked him how much money he owes Bartoli. Seems like Daddy Dearest is up to his eyeballs in debt to Bartoli because he got the man to make some problems go away and by problems, Dad hired him as a hit man to take out some competition. Dad told me if Bartoli has his sights set on Presley, it’s best to take the least challenging route, give him what he wants and pray he doesn’t try to extend the contract. Dad said if he were us, he’d tell her to do the IVF, get three embryos implanted in case one of them isn’t viable, have the babies and be home within the year.” Cruz was furiously chomping on the roll. “I swear to f**k if Bartoli hasn’t already killed Odin, I might. I can’t f*****g believe he brought this s**t to our doorstep.”
“Get in line,” Gavin grunted. “I want to do what that Algernon guy said and throw him in with some chum to
the sharks.”
Presley stood up from the table, tears on her cheeks.
“What? Where are you going?” Cruz asked her angrily.
“Since there is no way out of it, according to you two, I’m going to go find Liborio Bartoli and tell him to get me pregnant.”
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