Page 89 of His to Love
Tyson’s head snapped to his left. He rubbed the area I had just slapped and looked back at me. “I know you think I deserve that,” he started, but I interrupted him.
“Think? You just arrested mydad. On the same day we buried my mom!”
He nodded once. “I’ll allow the hit, Blue, but there are things going on that you don’t know or understand. Things I’ve tried to tell you, and I held off the team as long as I could.”
“Well,” I leaned back and sneered. “How noble of you.”
He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply just as men began trailing out of my house. Their hands were filled with files and paperwork from my father’s office. Two men were carrying boxes filled to the brim with what I assumed were other files.
Fury continued rolling off me.
“I hate you.” My teeth ground together as I stared at him. “I loved you, and you betrayed me. I never want to see you again.”
I spun on my heels, rushing back toward the house, only stopping briefly when I heard Tyson shout from the driveway, “We are not done!”
“We sure as hell are,” I spit, and entered the house, slamming the door behind me.
Fuck him.
Eleanor met me at the doorway to the kitchen, her arms open wide, and a pained expression on her face. I imagined it mirrored mine.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered as I collapsed into her hold. Her hand brushed down my hair in a futile attempt to soothe me. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Chapter 21
THREEMONTHSLATER
When you feel like you’ve lost everything, it’s a miracle that life still goes on.
Twenty-four hours after the FBI infiltrated my childhood home and arrested my father, Malik Rilotti was arrested at his home, the Palace.
Three days later, Claude, Clarissa, and I were essentially evicted from the house when the FBI and other government officials froze all of my father’s assets, including his property. Eleanor had stayed as long as she could but it was only a few days after that when I finally sent her home. At the same time, my father had an initial hearing followed by a detention hearing where a judge declared he would be detained in Wayne County Jail until his trial.
Since I’d lost my home, I ended up moving into the apartment in Latham Hills, after agreeing to a month-to-month lease stipulation. I planned on moving out soon, but since my furniture had all been delivered by that point, it didn’t make sense to immediately pack it up and store it until I found another place. I was now looking for a new place south of Detroit. Or west. I didn’t plan on staying in Latham Hills and I had at least been fortunate to not run into Tyson again.
Two weeks ago at my father’s preliminary hearing, I learned of all of the charges against my father.
Racketeering and money laundering along with obstruction of justice.
Drug trafficking—and not just marijuana and cocaine, but heroin and crack. An entire warehouse was seized. Thousands of pounds of drugs intended for distribution would ensure my father and Malik wouldn’t see a life outside bars for a long time.
But that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Sex trafficking charges were filed against both of them and five other men connected to the Galecki family.
Those women whose disappearances had made Tyson tense during our breakfast months ago? They had presumably been taken under orders from Malik…that surely came from my father.
My eyes widened each time a new charge was read until I couldn’t stand the sight of my own father. My gut churned at the mention of the last one. I had always known my father did despicable things. I had assumed drugs and murder would have been included in his charges. But to hear he’d been a part of sex trafficking? I had to choke down my vomit. When that final charge was brought up in the courtroom, Tyson glanced at me with one eyebrow arched.
I looked away and I haven’t seen him since.
I had sat on a wooden bench, watching as piece after piece of evidence piled up against the man who fathered me and the man who had wanted to marry me. My disgust grew with every witness who spoke.
When I later learned a grand jury had formally indicted him, I wasn’t surprised.
My father was more of a monster than I could have ever suspected.
My life had become a flurry of courtroom visits and meetings with attorneys, but after that day, I’d decided I was done with all of it. My father had never once stood by my side, and I would no longer pretend to stand by his.
