Chapter 122: JOSHUA

We bought ice cream after we finished shopping for clothes for Mellisa and groceries for the kitchen. Again, this was a first for me. I hadn't gone shopping since I was little. It had always been the maids' job. I stood in the grocery aisle like I was in a strange place. I felt like I was in the wrong place. I knew more about guns and stuff like that than about the dozens of brands of wheat or pasta on the market.

"You take Mellisa inside. I'll check on my captive in the garage."

"Okay. Don't stain the garage floor with his blood. I just cleaned it two days ago."

I ignored him and walked straight to the garage. Jimmy had regained consciousness and was making noises behind his duct-taped mouth.

“What? I can't hear what you're saying.”

I peeled the tape off his mouth. Curses mixed with groans spilled from his goddamn mouth. He shot me a scornful look.

“You… What did you do to my man, huh?”

“Don’t you remember what I did last night? I was partying at your bar.”

He looked absolutely pathetic. Sitting tied to a chair. He smelled like shit. And I think he peed his pants. The floor beneath his chair was wet. Erick wouldn’t like this, since he was the one cleaning the garage. All the arrogance I’d seen weeks ago was gone from his face. He was completely afraid of me, but he was masking it with what little courage he had left.

“What are you doing in my bar?”

“Doing what I should have done weeks ago when you ordered your men to hunt me down and kill me. You know, you’re playing with the wrong person.”

I punched him square in the nose. The bastard fell to the floor with his chair. He was like a cockroach just waiting to be stepped on.

But I still wanted to play with him before sending him to hell. I returned his chair to its original position.

"I burned your bar down and destroyed it last night. Some of your members were burned to death, while others were killed by my bullets. It makes no difference to me. What matters is that they died."

“Bastard!”

I put on latex gloves and grabbed one of my favorite knives.

“Next time, check your target’s background before executing them. You idiot.”

I carved a hole in his face. The bastard was screaming so loudly and noisily, I was worried it would carry inside the house since the garage was next to the hall. I grabbed a rag I found near my car and stuffed it into his mouth.

“This will muffle your awful voice. My daughter is sleeping in her room.”

I carved abstract carvings into both of his cheeks. Blood ran down his neck and stained the front of his shirt. I would make more carvings on the rest of his body.

“You’re the only Nightwalker left. No one will come to help you.”

I stabbed the knife into his thigh. He screamed loudly as I dragged the blade along the thick flesh of his thigh. It was so exciting to be playing with someone’s life again.

“What kind of death do you want, huh?”

That bastard Jimmy looked up at me and laughed evilly.

“Fuck you.”

I punched his mouth twice. It was torn and bleeding profusely. I did exactly what Mellisa had done to me.

“Bad mouth. You need to be punished.”

“I remember, you have a toddler daughter. Issac told me.”

“What business do you have with my daughter?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to say, look at you. You’re not fit to be a father. I heard the rumors about you,” he grinned, his mouth full of blood, most of which dripped onto the floor.

“You want to threaten me with my daughter, huh? No. I won’t let you get close to my daughter, let alone hurt her. You’re just waiting for your death, Tucker.”

My palms clenched tightly as this bastard began to ramble about Mellisa.

“I am. But does your daughter know what her father did to afford her all the luxuries she has today? Does your daughter know where you got the money to buy her that violet dress with floral accents?”

I pressed the muzzle of my gun to his temple.

“Daddy...”

My body stiffened when I heard Mellisa's voice behind me.

Shit!

How could she be here?

"Your daughter will see her father's brutality," Jimmy grinned.

I hit him in the head with the butt of my gun and he passed out. I'd had enough of his nonsense.

"Daddy, what are you doing?"

I turned quickly, flashing him a fake smile. Mellisa was staring at me with her innocent eyes. One arm was cradled around a bunny, while the other was playing with the flowers from the hem of her dress.

I quickly hid my gun behind my back.

"What are you doing here? Where's Erick?"

"I'm bored. Do you want to play with me?"

I approached her and picked her up. I tried to keep her away from the disgusting sight behind me, but Mellisa was a curious toddler. She stole every opportunity to see what was behind me.

“That man is bleeding. Do we need to treat him, Daddy?”

“No. He's a bad man. He's being punished.”

“Did you punish him, Daddy?”

I paused for a moment, thinking.

Should I lie to her?

“Yes. He's a very bad man. Don't ever go near the garage again. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

I intertwined my pinky with hers. This girl wasn't hysterical or scared. She seemed fine, even though she had just seen a stranger in her garage, covered in blood. She wasn't afraid when she saw me dying in the car, covered in blood. She was very calm. She held my hand as if the bloody scene around her wasn't something frightening to her.

“Erick, you let Mellisa wander around the garage.”

"Is she in the garage? I left her in the TV room watching her favorite cartoons. I was doing laundry in the basement."

"You should be careful next time. This little missy is very curious. She saw me beating Jimmy."

“Really?” Erick widened his eyes in surprise.

“She looks fine. She’s not scared?” Erick touched the top of Mellisa’s head.

“She’s not scared at all. This makes me think she was born to be my heir. She’s not afraid of blood, and she slept soundly on my back when I destroyed the Nightwalker nest last night. She wasn’t bothered by the gunfire around her last night.”

“Are you thinking the same thing I am?”

“I decided I wouldn’t hide my true identity from her. She needs to know what her father is really like. Besides, I’m tired of pretending to be someone else around her. I’ll be her father for life, not just for a month or two. I can’t keep pretending to be a civilized man in front of her.”

“So, what are you going to do next? Fiona definitely won’t like this.”

I stared intently at my daughter’s face. She was busy with her own imagination, talking to the bunny as if it were a living, breathing doll.

“I don’t need Fiona to like what I do. If she wants a family, she has to learn to accept all my flaws and jerks. We have to compromise with our own lives for Mellisa.”