I’ll see her.
I’ll see her because I must. She’s part of me now.
I’ll find a way to keep her safe, even if I have to rely on my old man.
As much as I hate to admit it, my old man came through for me when I needed him after I got shot on the island.
He brokered the deal with the Feds, and he made me…
He made me invisible.
The decision to come back was mine, not his. Mine, because of Katelyn. Because I want to be worthy of her.
I’ve been back from the tattoo place for several hours now, and I had to bury my phone under a bunch of bedding to keep from texting Katelyn back.
I need to talk to my old man. I need to find out what he knows about that island, and why he was there. The last time we talked I kept mum about it. We thought, and we strategized.
I grab my phone from underneath the pillows. Nothing more from Katelyn, thank goodness. Really, I ought to block her. But I can’t. That would hurt her so badly and I can’t bear the thought of it.
I shove the phone in my pocket and head upstairs to the basement and then to the main floor.
My mother lights up when she sees me. “Are you going to join us for dinner, Lucy?”
“I suppose so. I need to talk to Dad. Is he home?”
“He’s in his office. Dinner will be served in about a half hour. I’ll have Dina set you a place.”
“That would be nice.” The least I can do for my mother is eat dinner with her as her son. She deserves a lot more than she ever got from me. I turn toward the office and then look over my shoulder. “What’s Sandy up to these days?”
“She’s still trying to break into acting,” Mom says. “She lives in an apartment near Hollywood.”
My gorgeous sister always had the acting bug. She’s beautiful and built but unfortunately doesn’t have a lot of acting talent. I tried using my underground connections to get her into the movies a couple years ago, but I didn’t have any luck. She blew all the auditions.
“I’d like to see her,” I say.
“I can invite her to dinner next week,” Mom says.
I shake my head then, changing my mind. “No. Never mind.”
I already put my brother in danger by going to his place of business. He was the only person I wanted tattooing me. The only person I could trust to keep his mouth shut.
“I’m going to see Dad,” I say.
Mom nods and smiles. Then she comes to me, embraces me, and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “I love you, Lucy.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
My father’s office is on the east wing of our manse. I knock on the door.
“Yeah?”
“It’s me. Trey.”
“Enter.”
Classic Lucifer Junior. He never says come on in, or anything like that. It’s simply a solemn enter.
I enter. He doesn’t look up from us desk.
“Dad, I need to ask you a question.”
“Sit.”
I sit.
“What is it?” Still not looking up.
“I need to know…what you did on Derek Wolfe’s island.”
Yup, that got him. He finally looks up, and his eyes—a darker blue than mine—look anything but happy.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I clear my throat. “We’ve been through this. I have it on solid authority that you were on that island.” If you call Yellow Eyes Pollack solid authority. I’m not sure I do, but my father doesn’t need to know that.
“That island doesn’t exist.”
“Not anymore. The Wolfe family—”
My father’s fist comes down on his desk. I don’t jerk. I’m used to this kind of display from him.
“That island doesn’t exist,” he says again, this time through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, I get it. No one is supposed to know about it. Or was supposed to know about it. Most of the guys who went there seem to have walked free.” Yourself included. But I keep those last two words to myself.
“How do you even know about it?”
“You think I never heard things? Maybe you and I didn’t run in the same circles, but I had access to a lot of information in my line of business as well.”
“In the drug business?”
“You know what kind of money is in the drug business,” I say.
He flattens his lips. For a moment I wonder if he’s going to rise and come grab me by the shirt.
I’ve never been afraid of him. Not since I went through puberty. I’m younger and stronger than he is, and I can take him. Still, my father will put up a hell of a fight, so I’d rather settle this with words.
“Listen, Trey. Whatever you think you know…there’s no truth in it.”
“You’re saying you never went to that island?”
He doesn’t reply. Which I take as an affirmation of yes, he was on that island.
“I know all about the place, Dad. I know what you did to women there. Quite frankly, I’m disgusted.”
“Disgusted? You ran drugs, Trey. You contributed to the opioid epidemic. You contributed to all the meth and cocaine and fentanyl coming through the border.”
“I won’t apologize to you. I’m working on righting my own wrongs. I may never be able to do it, and I accept that. But you? If you were on that island—and I have it on pretty damned good authority that you were—anything I did pales in comparison.”
“Some of your old girlfriends might not agree with that,” he says.
“Low blow, Dad. I never raped anyone.”
“No, you just exerted so much control that your women wanted to run away from you.”
“I’m not proud of who I used to be,” I say. “I’m here because I want to try to make up for it.”
“And you think that’s possible?”
“No, I don’t. I don’t labor under any delusion that I can make up for everything I’ve done. But I can do what I can. What are you going to do?”
“Who says I did anything wrong?”
“If you were on that island—”
“What if I was? You can’t prove a damned thing.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Dad. I can prove it.”
30
KATELYN
Luke doesn’t return my text, of course. I’m not sure why I’m surprised.
At least I know he hasn’t forgotten me. He had my name tattooed on his shoulder. His right shoulder.
That means something, right?
I smile. He still loves me.
When I return to the guesthouse, Jed greets me with a panting tongue in a wagging tail.
He also greets me with a floor full of white stuffing from a pillow he chewed up. I suppose I should be happy it’s only one.
“Bad dog.” I point to the pillow.
His tail is still wagging.
I can’t resist. I kneel and hug him to me. “It’s okay. It’s your first day alone in the house. I’m lucky you didn’t do anything worse.” I open the sliding back doors that lead into the fenced yard and let him out. Then I scope out the first floor for any accidents.
Other than a tiny puddle in the kitchen by the door, it’s clear. A puddle by the door just means he was trying to go out.