Chapter 42 WENT COLD
THANE
“We…” I stopped myself, forcing the words back down as I tried to choose them carefully. “He quit that a long time ago. Joe took his damn car and they got into a fight. All I did was get him out on bail as his lawyer. That’s all.”
His palm slammed hard against the desk, making both of us flinch.
“Go tell that to the fucking cops, boy!” His voice rose, loud enough that a few heads outside the glass office turned to look at us. “I have no goddamn business with it. And for God’s sake, go get yourself ready. The flight’s at eleven. We don’t want to be late meeting our client.”
Frustration burned through me. Why the hell didn’t he care about anything except himself and whatever benefited him?
This was about Noah. And he talked about him like he was just another criminal.
Before I even realized it, I was already standing right in front of his desk. My teeth ground together as I forced my gaze to stay steady on his.
He didn’t flinch. Not even a little. Instead, he sat there calmly, his eyes locked on mine like he already knew something I didn’t, that no matter how hard I pushed, no matter how loud I argued, he would always win. But I was ready to prove him wrong.
“I guess you’ll have to cancel that flight,” I said tightly. “Because I’m not getting on it. Unless you’ve got some kind of trick to make that happen.”
He didn’t respond. He simply picked up his phone and scrolled through it, like I wasn’t even worth the effort of a response.
I watched him carefully, my chest tightening with every second.
I had never imagined there would come a day when I’d want to punch my own father. No matter what he did before, the worst I’d ever done was argue with him. Maybe walk away and give him space.
But right now, watching him lift the phone to his ear like nothing I’d said mattered… the urge to jump across the desk and drive my fist into his jaw burned inside me. Still, I held myself back.
I wasn’t going to become the monster he always expected me to be. I’d promised myself a thousand times I would never reach that point. But something ugly and fierce clawed inside my chest the second time, like it was driving me to move thia time.
“Yes,” he said calmly into the phone. “When does the flight leave tonight?”
My stomach tightened as I tried to understand what he was doing.
“Alright. I think I’ve changed my mind,” he continued smoothly. “We’re moving her to the community health center…” His eyes lifted and locked onto mine for a second.
And that was when it clicked. My hands slammed onto the edge of the desk.
“Fuck. Pops, no.” My voice rose, panic tearing through my chest. “Don’t fucking touch Mom.”
He didn’t even look bothered. “What were you saying?” he asked me, not dropping the phone, his expression still completely unchanged.
My throat felt tight. “Leave Mom out of this!” I growled.
His voice dropped slightly. “Hold on,” he said calmly into the phone. “I’ll call you back.”
The moment he ended the call, my fist crashed down onto the desk with all the anger burning inside me. Pain exploded through my knuckles as I felt the hotness of the skin split open.
“I told you not to drag her, or anyone else into my shit!” My voice shook with fury. “You were really going to move Mom to some fucked-up mental prison over this? Were you actually gonna do that?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. You wouldn’t let that happen.”
“That’s fucked up, Pops!” I snapped. “She’s your damn wife!”
His face hardened. “She was,” he said coldly. “Before she started doing drugs and screwed you up. I don’t need to remind you of that.”
My veins throbbed beneath my skin as I glared at him. “I hate you,” I said quietly. So quietly I barely recognized my own voice.
He didn’t respond. He just watched me like he was trying to measure the weight of my words, but I knew none of it mattered to him. His heart was made of steel. It hadn’t even twitched when he locked Mom away in that rehab.
“If you want me to keep seeing you as a boy,” he said calmly, “then keep throwing childish outbursts like this.”
His eyes dropped briefly before meeting mine again. “You might hate me now, but I’m not sorry for anything I did to protect you. One day, you’ll thank me.”
“Right,” I said with a bitter laugh, letting go of the desk. “I guess you already know where that leaves us then.” My voice hardened. “‘Cause some of us are actually willing to go to crazy lengths for the people we care about.”
I didn’t wait for his answer. I turned and stormed out of the office, leaving the door wide open behind me. And I prayed so damn hard I wouldn’t listen to the voice in my head telling me to turn back and tell him the truth… That whatever tiny bit of faith I still had in him… was officially gone.
I didn’t care how many eyes followed me as I barged out of the office. Through the hallway. Across the lobby. Straight into the elevator. By the time the doors opened, my legs were already carrying me across the parking lot toward my car. I slammed the door shut behind me. Only then did I realize how much I was sweating. A drop slid from my temple down to my jaw. The car felt like it was on fire.
I yanked open the top button of my shirt, trying to breathe. My knuckles throbbed from where I’d slammed them against Pops’ desk earlier, but the pain barely registered. My head felt like it was splitting open.
For one second… I wished it wasn’t even mine. The steering wheel became the only thing my brain could focus on. The only thing close enough to take the anger exploding inside me. My fist slammed down on it as much as I could take. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Each punch landed harder than the last until the pain finally shot through my hand like lightning. That’s when I stopped. I gripped the steering wheel with both hands, until the leather creaked, my breath coming in short, ragged bursts. Blood had already smeared across the back of my knuckles and the skin there.
Bile burned at the back of my throat. My eyes stung like tears were about to break loose, but nothing came. Sometimes pain runs deeper than tears. Your body just vibrates with it, like your bones are cracking from the inside. The pounding in your skull grows louder and louder, but the tears never fall because even they know they won’t fix anything. That kind of silence is worse.
For a second, I knew exactly what I would normally do in moments like this. But strangely… All I wanted was Rachel.
The thought of her wrapping her arms around me, the way she touched me like every damn mess would disappear… it made the chaos inside my head shrink. Like it could all fit into the size of a tennis ball. But that was impossible.
I shoved the key into the ignition and started the engine. Maybe I’d been stupid enough to believe that fantasy could actually happen.
If I was going to fight Pops, I had to cut myself off from everyone I cared about. That way he couldn’t use them against me. And that way I could dig deeper into Molly’s case, even if he already knew I was snooping around it.
The second I pulled out onto the road, I dialed Tiara’s number. It rang once before someone picked up.
“Hey,” I breathed.
“Hi.” My brain instantly registered Rachel's small, tired voice.
My grip tightened on the wheel. “What’s up, shorty?”
She paused. Then her voice cracked slightly, the hurt from earlier still lingering. “I guess I’m fine.”
My chest tightened. I wasn’t supposed to care. I definitely wasn’t supposed to ask questions. But the words came out anyway. “What’s wrong? Is T alright?”
“Yes, we’re good,” she said softly, though the edge in her tone made it clear she was still upset with me. “Just tired. We’re at our place. Should I hand her the phone?”
“Our place?” I frowned. “What about Noah?”
She sighed. Her voice was quieter now, carrying that same cold distance from the car. “I tried to tell you what happened earlier…”
“Listen, shorty,” I cut in, running a hand through my hair. “I know about it. I’m going to fix it. Just calm down, alright?”
“Okay… but I don’t know how Simon found out, but he got Noah out a few minutes ago.”
My chest twisted. “What?”
Her voice was quieter now. “Yeah. He got him out.”
My jaw tightened. To Pops, everyone was just another pawn on his chessboard.
Rachel hesitated. “I think he might be mad at you for…”
My phone buzzed loudly in my hand. Another call was coming through.
The name on the screen made my stomach drop. Molly. I stared at the screen. Then Rachel spoke again through the phone.
“Thane…?”
“I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you back.”
I didn’t wait for her response before ending the call. The second the screen flashed, I swiped to answer, but the line dropped immediately.
I didn't get to think when her message notification popped up.
Molly: I bet you thought you won after killing my twin. Since you’re such a daddy’s boy, I’ll go after everyone you care about. Noah was just the beginning.
I read the message once. Then again. My entire body went cold.
Shit. How the hell did Mylla die?