“Kevin...” She hurried to him, but stopped on a harsh gasp when two guards half carried, half frog-marched her father in. They set him on the end of the closest double bed and retreated to the hall without a word.
“Dad!” She steadied him with a grip on his shoulders and twisted to Kevin. “Jesus Christ, you both look like shit.”
A new man she’d never seen before strolled through the door and the guards pulled it shut behind him. “This is what happens when people don’t cooperate with me, Miss Drummond.”
Great. Another smug asshole. Just what she needed.
Bonnie straightened and squared her shoulders. “Are you the one who did this?”
Asshole #2 stopped well out of reaching distance. His guards moved in on either side of him as though they expected her to lunge for the new man’s throat. Smart, because she was ready to throttle someone after too damned much time alone with her thoughts.
“My name,” the man said, “is Erick Rossi. You know as well as I do, your father’s health is failing. I do not beat on dying men. But your brother? Yes, I’m responsible for his condition. A consequence he earned by his foolish actions.”
Bonnie spun to Kevin. “What the hell did you do?”
“He tried to blackmail me,” Erick said. “Tried to steal more money from me after a job I paid him quite handsomely for.” He cocked his head. “I don’t take kindly to blackmail, Miss Drummond. Do you?”
“Boy, you’ve got shit for brains! What the hell were you thinking?”
“You can call me whatever the hell you want, but if you think Bonnie’s gonna have enough to bail you out with Pauley, you’re out of your mind.”
The argument between her father and Kevin came back crystal clear in a blink.
“This is what you two were fighting about?” she said to Kevin.
Kevin shrugged, but for the first time in Bonnie’s life, her brother looked like he had zero fight left in him. “What the hell else was I supposed to do?” He jerked his hand toward their dad, whose head was down. As it was, it seemed it took everything in him to stay upright. “He needs a fucking liver. The only way to get one at this point is black market. Were you gonna be able to pay for something like that?”
“Um, no. I’d have done the right thing, told him to lay off the booze and tried to get him on a legit donor list.”
“He ain’t gonna do that!” Kevin fired back.
A garbled laugh that was closer to a gurgling cough ripped up her dad’s throat. “Damn right I’m not.”
“Jesus,” Bonnie said to no one in particular. “You’re both fucking stubborn idiots.”
“Indeed,” Erick said, suddenly deciding to chime in. “So, as you can see, I’ve merely taken measures to protect myself from your brother’s actions. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” Bonnie said, stepping forward before she could check the action.
Erick’s guards pressed closer, and one of them pulled a gun out of his holster.
Bonnie backpedaled enough to get the guy to lower his gun, but kept on going. “Don’t go making this about you being a victim. You beat the shit out of an idiot who clearly doesn’t have good sense and sent men after me. Not once, but twice. And trashed my freaking apartment. That doesn’t make you innocent. That makes you a power-hungry douche!”
Erick’s mouth twitched as though he found her pathetically humorous. “I don’t care what it makes me. Business is business, Miss Drummond. For your sake, I hope the Russian you’ve been so familiar with of late appreciates that reality more than you and your family have.” He smirked and cast disapproving leers at Kevin and her dad. “Enjoy your time catching up.”
With that, he turned and left the room, his guards filing out into the hallway with him—including the one who’d watched her all night.
“’Bout damned time,” her father grumbled as soon as the door closed behind them. “Thought the lot of you were gonna talk me to the grave.” He started to stand, but fell back on his ass before he’d made it fully upright.
Bonnie caught him before he fell all the way to his back. “What the heck are you trying to do?”
“Tryin’ to get where I can look at the two of ya so I’m not lyin’ on my back.”
Kevin limped toward the bed and tried to heft their dad upright. “He’s gotta be propped up. All that fluid’s building up, and he can’t breathe if he lies flat.”
Right. That made sense.
Grabbing ahold of her dad’s other arm, she added her weight to the process. “Better?” she said once they got him so his back was up against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him.
He nodded, but the way his breath was rattling in and out of his lungs, you’d have thought they’d made him sprint a mile under water. “Yeah. Better.”
Behind her, the mattress of the other bed groaned as if slowly taking on weight. Bonnie twisted and found Kevin curling up on his side in a fetal position facing away from them.
She sat on the bed next to her dad. “Looks like you’re not the only one in a bad place.”
Buzz huffed out a rough exhale. “He’s gonna hurt like hell for a week or two, but he’ll live. Those guys know what they’re doing. Broke a few ribs and probably rattled his brain more than they should’ve, but they weren’t out to kill him.” He shook his head and looked at his boy. “Fucking idiot.”
Harsh words considering how Kevin had paid for his actions, but there was love behind the statement, too. A kind of you might be an idiot, but you’re my idiot tone.
Bonnie let out a sigh and squeezed her dad’s hand. “I’m sorry we got you into this.”
He smiled, but it lacked any energy. “You didn’t get me into anything. And I’m the one that’s sorry.” His gaze got distant and a sadness that broke her heart settled over his face. “Made a lot of bad decisions in my life. Didn’t think about how my shit was gonna rub off on the two of you.” He shook his head and huffed out another broken chuckle. “But it sure rubbed off. Wouldn’t be here right now if I’d done better. About a lot of things.”
Bonnie blinked. Several times. As though the physical act might somehow bring clarity to his words. Her father wasn’t a reflective man. Never had been. At least not without the aid of a whole lot of booze and none of his friends around to keep his mind off dangerous thoughts.
“I owe you an apology,” he said so low it was almost a whisper. “I wronged you and your brother. Taught your brother how to find the easy way outta everything and you how to be afraid.”