It’s ludicrous to even think it.
“That’s not what we agreed on,” Dad says when the guy hangs up. “We need the deed. Not money.”
“That’s not what we agreed on,” my dad snaps once the man hangs up. “We need thedeed. Not money.”
The man tilts his head, his beady eyes narrowing. He strokes the scruff on his chin with a dirty hand.
“There’s been a change of plans,” he says. “I might’ve been dipping into the profits. If the boss finds out, I’m dead.” He shrugs, unconcerned, and reaches behind him. “The cash will help me disappear.”
When his arms swing back around, he’s holding a pistol.
I gasp.
“Sorry, old man,” he says with no remorse. “But I can’t afford to share. And we can’t have you blabbing.”
My father hits the ground before he can say a word.
And my scream tears through the air.
Jagger
My fingers thread through my hair, gripping at the strands until pain erupts through my scalp. I’m wearing a path in the rug with my pacing. Explicatives tumble from my mouth without thought. “Five million dollars!”
“Jagger, calm down,” Graham says as his phone rings. He answers it, walking to another room.
Disbelief and outrage rumble in my chest. I can’t fucking calm down because I don’t have what they’re asking for. Not that I can get before morning, anyway. He has no right to tell me to calm down. If this were Casey, he wouldn’t be remotely calm. He would be setting New York on fire.
I threatened to, but he made me promise to let him work on something.
He’s been working for over an hour. I’m running out of patience.
“I-I’m sorry, Jagger,” Renee tells me for the dozenth time.
Annoyed and terrified, I spin to face her. “You’re sorry?” I’m trying, so fucking hard, to not unleash on her, but I’m struggling. “You do realize I don’t have what they’re asking for, right? That it would take me days, not hours, to ever get it.”
“It was just supposed to be the apartment.” She sniffs and rubs her hands over her eyes. “That’s all Dad wanted. It would’ve been his if Nana hadn’t changed her will.”
“She changed her will to make sure you and your sister would be taken care of because he wouldn’t. Remember? He left you guys with her? Didn’t even look back.”
“I thought he changed,” she yells at me, leaping to her feet. “He said he wanted to get to know me!”
“But not your sister? That didn’t strike you as odd?” Her eyes flash with old resentment, pissing me off because she has no fucking right to be angry with Poppy over anything. “Don’t look at me like that,” I warn her. “And don’t you dare start feeding me the bullshit. Even if what happened between you was true, which I don’t believe it was, she gave herself to them foryou!You brought them to her door. Tell me which one sounds like the traitorous sister?”
Her shoulders slump. Fat tears well in her eyes, then slip down her cheeks. Her hands come up, covering her face as heavy sobs shake her entire body. “Brett promised it was just to scare her into giving them what they wanted. He said he wouldn’t hurt her. He promised Dad and me.”
My head tilts to the side, my heart slamming at this new piece of information. “Brett?” She presses her lips together, guilt coloring her cheeks. “The guy who threw you to the floor? You knew him on a first-name basis?”
“He said he loved me,” she whispers with another soft cry.
“Jesus Christ, this was always the problem with you. Anyone gives you a little affection and supplies your habit, and you do anything for them until they’re through with you.”
“I guess that includes you, too, right?” she snaps. “Since you threw me away, too. And my sister, Jagger!”
“First, no. That’s not what we were. We met at a party. We bonded over drugs, booze, and trauma, but we were never together. We were just friends, and you know it. ”
“Friends who fucked?”
“Exactly that. We weren’t even good friends, Renee. We were toxic. We enabled each other’s misery and habits. And what’s with the damn name? Why introduce yourself as Renee? As far as Poppy goes, you don’t get to be indignant. Not when you cut her out of your life.”
