“What are you talking about—”
“The way Izzy left suddenly when the two of you saw the newscast got me curious as to why the death of an inmate would shake you so,” he said. “The death of that inmate was premeditated. They’re working out the kinks, but you don’t get to be as successful as we are by waiting for official confirmation of details. I called your uncle. Turns out he got a call from you a couple of weeks ago, asking to take care of him. Is that true?”
Fuck me.
“Yes.”
“Jesus Christ,” my father said. “Do you have any idea what the fuck you’ve done?”
“A pretty good one, yeah, considering—”
“No, you don’t. You have no idea. You dipped your feet into a shark-infested pool, and now this is a decision that’s going to ripple out and have unbearable consequences.”
My father was literally shaking with anger.
“If you knew what we went through as a family,” he said. “If you knew what we escaped, what sort of trials and traumas we had when I was a child, you would never have even considered doing this. We fought like hell to protect the four of you from exposure to that world. And now, you’ve unleashed that right back into this world.”
“Dad, I’m sorry—”
“Just shut up!”
I bit my lip. I was sure by now everyone in the family could hear us arguing. I just hoped that they couldn’t hear the specific details.
“I…I can’t even tell you what happened, because it hurts so much, what happened to us when we were young,” he said. “You think putting us back in that world is smart? Especially when your grandparents worked so hard and risked so much to get us out? And now you’ve ruined it all, and for what? Some girl?”
She’s not some girl, but I didn’t say anything.
“Your mother and grandmother will be worried sick. Fuck…and for a single mother.”
“Dad!”
Now it was my turn to lose my temper. We weren’t going to come to blows, but this was a fight rapidly escalating to the point of lingering for a long, long time.
“I’m sorry Izzy doesn’t fit you or grandma and grandpa’s vision of a perfectly devout and pious lady who goes to church every Sunday and doesn’t swear. I’m sorry that the modern world does not conform to your tight-knit ideals. Maybe Brett and Layla and Leo have to be more cautious about who they pick, but that’s not even the point. I care about Izzy because she’s a wonderful human being, not because I know bringing her around will piss off the family. I’d do anything for her, and it’s pretty obvious that I have. She is not just ‘some girl,’ and you would do well to treat her with some respect.”
My father’s nostrils flared a couple of times, slowing down ever so slightly.
“You’d damn well better be right, son,” he said. “You’d better damn well be right she’s more than just some girl. Because the cost that you and the rest of us will pay for your actions is going to be far higher than you could have ever imagined.”
With that, he turned around and slammed—I mean really fucking slammed—the front door shut, leaving me outside by myself. I felt a little tense and sick from seeing my father act this way; what the hell had happened all those years ago? He was usually the epitome of calm; he could get frustrated, but I never saw him get flustered.
This scared me.
But on the other hand…it was for Izzy. It was worth it. I didn’t care what anyone said.
Assuming she’s still around tomorrow.
Chapter 24: Izzy
I didn’t head straight home.
When I left Nick’s place, I felt sick to my stomach. I felt lied to, and worse, I felt like I was getting the go-around. Even when Nick had grabbed my shoulders and tried to say some sweet things to me, it hadn’t actually worked out quite like I had hoped. He had said he cared about me and all that…but he didn’t actually tell me anything I didn’t already know.
So, when I got to my destination, I decided that was home. That was good enough for Nick. If he wouldn’t tell me the whole truth, then he didn’t need to know the whole truth.
I went up to the front door of the house, which opened when I was two steps away.
“Sweetie?” my father said when he answered. “You’re home early.”
“With good reason,” I said. “How’s Ryan?”
“He’s fine; he settled in for the night. But what’s going on? Come inside.”
I did so. My mother was at the kitchen table, having a glass of wine and having put a book about gardening down that she’d been reading.
“Izzy?” she said. “What’s going on?”
“It’s…”
I had no reason to lie or hide anything. These were my parents, after all, not officers that could come in and shut down the Ferrari’s.
“I was having dinner with Nick’s family, as you know. We went into the living room to relax, watch some television, have some conversation, the usual. Well, on the TV station, just learned that Malcolm got murdered in jail.”
My mother gasped, but my father seemed pleased.
“Asshole got what he deserved.”
My mother didn’t disagree. I didn’t either. But that wasn’t the part that had put me in this funk, now was it?
“But I think the Ferraris had a hand in it.”
“What?” both of them said at the same time.
I shook my head, knowing there
