Chapter 18

Eighteen

Regan

I sat back with my tablet, clicking Dateline on while I worked on my next drawing.

Unlike all the other days I'd done this, today, I didn't feel dull. Maybe what I was doing wasn't all that different, but it didn't feel as boring now. I suddenly felt oddly good about the pace of my life.

Things had changed, and this felt more like a break from the chaos more than another boring day of my life. The nagging need to find more excitement in my life finally quieted now that I was at least trying new things.

My dad stormed into the room, the anger etched on his face making me immediately shrink back into the couch. I hated when he was mad at me, and I knew I would always go overboard to make him not mad at me anymore, even when I didn't want to.

"What happened at dinner last weekend?" my dad demanded, his voice icy as he stood in the doorway of the living room.

My stomach flipped, memories of every second with Rook flashing through my mind, but I tried to calm my face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why did one of my biggest clients just pull out of his contract, which had a large fee if he did so, because of you?"

"He said he did it because of me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady, already knowing exactly who he meant. The guy I told we wouldn't work with anymore because he liked underage girls.

"He did. Could you explain why and who went with you? Because I heard a few things about that, too."

"Oh," I said, my hands going clammy as I tried to think of any excuse. "I saw a friend when I got there, and we ended up hanging out most of the night."

"And this friend's name?" he pressed, his eyes narrowing.

I hesitated, unsure if I should tell him Rook's name. Technically, my dad could be on the list of people Rook worked with. He could also be on the list of people Rook knew secrets about. Neither option seemed great.

"Jake," I said, hoping the lie would hold. "I don't know if you know him or not."

"No. I don't think I do. And he was causing trouble with you?"

"We were just having some fun. Some of those guys suck, and I politely pointed it out. We weren't causing trouble."

"We don't politely point anything like that out, Regan. We keep our mouths shut and work. Those are men that give us business, and pay us to do business."

"But what business are you wanting to do with disgusting old men?" I almost yelled, frustration bubbling over. "Protecting them or their stuff? That's gross. Just let them fend for themselves if they are going to be disgusting. He's a literal pervert. Why would you want to work with him?"

"If I cared about everything people did behind closed doors, I wouldn't be able to make any money."

My stomach churned. I had watched Rook stick a knife into a man's neck and even he wouldn't do business with this guy because of the terrible things he did. Rook couldn't really have better morals than my dad, could he?

"So what? I'm just supposed to deal with these guys, knowing what they do behind closed doors? I'm supposed to find respect for them, knowing those things?"

"Yes, actually. You are, because you are no one to them. They have the power, not you. You are a damn spoiled little girl in comparison and they don't care who the fuck you are when you bring their shit out into the open," he yelled. I coiled back further, not expecting the angry, hateful tone. For all the things my dad did, he rarely screamed at me like this. His attacks were more calculated than uncontrolled rage. "You think they wouldn't ruin you if you are trying to tell people their private business?"

I kept quiet, taking in the words that were exactly the opposite of what Rook told me. To him, the secrets were power. To my dad, they were ruination. I didn't understand how two seemingly powerful men could have such a drastically different outlook on the same thing.

Rook had given me secrets, and the men seemed to run from me in fear of those secrets being told. To my dad, the secrets these men kept were power, but power over him.

"I wasn't trying to upset you. You should calm down before it causes you any issues."

My head was swimming in information as my dad continued to yell at me.

I wondered if that was the difference between an upstanding business like my dad ran, compared to the less than legal business that Rook seemed to run.

I wasn't sure, but I did know that he was calling me a spoiled little girl, and it was a harsh reminder that was all he saw me as.

"I don't want to be a spoiled little girl. I'm an adult. I'm a full grown woman and I would like to be treated like one," I demanded. "I have asked over and over to help you. I hate sitting around here. I hate that you're hurt and suffering when I could help. I could help and do the right thing by you. I'm trying . I want to learn, but if I'm kept in the dark with you and your company, there's really nothing I can do."

"And why the hell would I want to tell you anything if you insist on talking about business to others when you don't even know what the fuck you are talking about?" he screamed. "Do you know how much money you cost me? How much we've lost now, thanks to you? Now, I'm the one that has to fly out, go to his boss, and try to fix this. Why did you think talking back was a good idea?"

"Because he's gross, and… Jake said he wasn't a great person."

He stomped closer and, for one beat of my heart, I thought my dad was going to hit me. He never had before, but there was something different on his face as he came over. The unhinged, wild look in his eye as his hand twitched at his side.

He seemed to change his mind, stopping a foot from me. "You think you should listen to Jake over me? That his opinion is more important than mine? I want you to listen for once in your fucking life. I don't give a fuck who is a good person and who isn't. If they pay us, I don't care. They pay for our lifestyle. For you to sit around here with everything you want, to watch your stupid shows and color on your tablet. You will not talk back to them. You will not care about their business outside of work, and if you think I will give you my company just for you to ruin it because you think you are better than them, when you have never had to deal with the world, you are wrong. You are supposed to inherit this business, Regan. You can't be a little girl anymore, and I don't need a little art girl either. I need a cut throat daughter who understands the world isn't perfect and beautiful. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "I understand. It won't happen again," I said. I understood what he was saying. "I can't sit around doing nothing, and if I want to run a business, I have to keep my own thoughts out of it."

His shoulders sagged as he took a deep breath. "This," he said. "This is the daughter I want to give my company to. I'm glad you understand. I know you are smart, Regan, but you have to use those smarts in the right way. We aren't here to be the judge of people's lives. We are here to get paid to protect them or their property. These aren't little home alarms, this is high-level, dangerous work for men that can be dangerous. They aren't people whose buttons you should push. It's not something a quiet, shy girl can run if she wants to sit in the corner and judge people. Do you understand, Regan?" he asked, the words a little too condescending, as though I wouldn't be able to comprehend how important all of this was.

"Yes," I said. "Yes, I get it. I thought I was doing the right thing. It won't happen again."

"Good. Until I clean this mess up, I want you to stay home and not cause more problems. Are you able to handle that?"

"Yes," I said, trying to pull my shoulders back, but the weight of it all made me slump. I tried to do something good, and it made him more pissed off than I had ever seen him.

"Good. I'll be gone for a few days. Stay here and don't cause trouble, and we will be fine."

"Will you let me help with the business more, so I don't make any more mistakes?"

He grimaced, pulling out his phone as he headed towards the door. "Let's see how things go for a bit, and we will talk about it when I get back. Alright?"

"Yeah, alright," I said, a little more defeated. I understood I had messed up, but to be told that I had to keep waiting really sucked. "Love you," I said, halfheartedly.

He stopped, looking back at me with his eyebrows furrowed. "Love you, too. Have a good weekend."

He left in seconds, and I was surprised when anger boiled up. One more week of sitting around. One more week of being told to be good and then I might be thrown a bone. If he wanted a cut throat daughter who could handle a business, would she really sit around here quietly?

I pulled out my phone, already calling Harper to come over. There was no way I would sit around doing nothing this week.

The next morning, I paced my room, the heavy weight of my curiosity making it hard to think straight. Harper sat cross-legged on my bed, watching me pace with her eyebrows up. She had stayed up most of the night with me, listening to me rant. The ranting went from me nearly in tears about making my dad upset when he was sick to me nearly yelling that I wanted more. Harper dealt with it all until we sat and made an actual plan.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked for the third time. "I mean, it's your dad's office."

I stopped pacing and turned to her. "I have to. If he isn't going to let me in and show him I can handle things, I'm going to have to do it myself. His doctor's appointments are becoming more frequent, he now has a rage issue, apparently, because I have never seen him as mad at me as he was last night, or when he had that phone call last week, and on top of all of that, he still won't give me a sliver of information about his company. What if he's being secretive about the appointments because he's getting worse? What if he passes away and I know nothing?"

"And figuring all that out starts by breaking into his office?"

"Do you have a better idea? I've been waiting around, hoping he would notice, but apparently, I'm failing him. I have to take some sort of initiative."

Harper gave a sharp nod and stood up. "Alright, then, let's do this."

We headed down the hall, the house feeling eerily quiet even though it was always this way. My heart pounded in my chest as we reached the door to my dad's office. I reached up, punching in the code as Harper turned the key.

He didn't know I had the key to the door, but one day I had found the spare in his hiding spot. The beautiful antique-looking key was too hard to resist keeping. I didn't even know what it was for until I saw his identical one a few years ago.

The lock clicked, and I swung the door open.

The office was dimly lit, the heavy curtains drawn to block out the afternoon sun. We slipped inside, closing the door quietly behind us. I glanced around, taking in the imposing desk, the walls lined with bookshelves, and the faint smell of polished wood and leather. I had been in here so many times in my life, but never without my dad in there with me.

"Where do we start?" Harper asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

I pointed to the large oak desk in the center of the room. "There. He keeps everything important in his desk."

Harper started rifling through the drawers on one side while I tackled the other. My hands shook as I sifted through papers, trying to stay quiet and efficient.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Harper asked, glancing over at me.

"Anything that seems out of place," I replied, my voice tense. "Something that might explain why he's so secretive about the company? Papers from doctor's appointments? Anything."

After a few minutes of searching, I pulled open the bottom drawer on my side and found a small locked compartment. My heart skipped a beat. "I think I found something."

She came to my side, looking down at the small lock. It didn't look all that complicated, and my eyebrows shot up when Harper pulled out a bobby pin from her hair. "Let's see if this works," she said with a grin.

"How do you know how to do that?"

"You think we sit around watching true crime and I haven't tried a few things? The better question is, how have you not tried to do this?"

After a few quiet moments, the lock clicked open. I carefully lifted the wooden lid, revealing a stack of documents.

"Weird place to store more documents."

"Really weird. And with how security-crazy my dad is, I don't think he would leave really important documents in a place like this."

"Okay, then, what are they? What kind of documents is he locking up that you don't think are important enough?"

I pulled out the documents and scanned them, my eyes narrowing with each line. They detailed a series of names, addresses, and shipments. The addresses were recognizable, places around our smaller town, Havenwood, but a lot of them were in the city of Valeport that we connected to, and ones in the actual boat port.

There wasn't much information past the dates and port names, but a few had smaller amounts of money marked next to them.

"Maybe shipments he had to help keep safe?"

Harper shrugged. "It's plausible, but weird. Does he do security for literally anything?"

"I don't know. I guess I assumed only people and buildings." I pulled out the next page. The transactions were a lot bigger for a few of those. "These all have weird names next to them. Starlight, Black Pearl, Silver Bullet . Those sound like nicknames or something."

"For what? A fucking pirate ship?" Harper asked. "What does that mean?"

"It could be boat names, maybe?" I pulled out my phone, taking a quick picture before flipping to the next page. "Don't these payments seem a little high for a security company to make from one shipment being watched?"

"I would say so, but then again, what do I know about what he would charge? Maybe they were more important items."

I flipped to the next stack underneath these, the lab results and notes from doctors making my throat tight as tears bubbled up. I hated facing that my dad was sick. That in a few years, I could be all alone.

I was already so alone. What would I do when he was really gone?

The lab results all showed numbers next to them, each one green besides a few random ones that were in the red.

"Why would he keep those locked up?" Harper asked, looking them over with me.

"I don't know. He's shown me plenty of the lab results before. I think he's even shown me these."

"So what's the secret? Is he worried someone is coming in here to steal lab results?"

"I mean, he hasn't wanted many people to know he's sick."

"Is he getting worse and doesn't want you to know?"

"I don't know. Set it down. I want to take some pictures of these."

Harper laid them out, helping me snap a photo of each one.

Something banged outside, making us both jump.

"We should put it back," she said. "Being in here freaks me out."

I nodded, but my mind was racing. This document raised more questions than it answered. I laid the papers back in the compartment and closed the drawer.

We quickly made sure everything was exactly as we had found it before we slipped out of the office. My heart pounded with a mix of fear and adrenaline as we made it back into the hallway.

"Okay, what are you going to do?" Harper asked.

I swallowed hard, flopping back on the bed. "I think I need to keep digging. I mean, right? I've been patient and waited around for years for my dad to let me in, and he hasn't. I either need to be let into whatever he's doing or move on with my life. Can I move on with my life? It's not like I can leave when I know how sick he is, but I can't stay locked up in this house just waiting for him to pass away. That seems so gross."

"If I were you, I would dig and figure out what's going on and why he won't let you help. Or at least, that's what I would want to do. But you should be careful. Your dad... I don't mean to be a dick, but he freaks me out sometimes."

"After yesterday, I get what you mean. He's all perfect and powerful and it can be a lot. He's definitely not someone I want to be pissing off. If he doesn't care if I take over the business, he needs to tell me. I can't waste any more time doing nothing, and if this is going to cause issues between us, I would rather spend the time we have left together doing things we both like doing instead of him avoiding me or making me parade around at parties for no reason."

"Is that why you're always doing what you're told? You're scared of him?" she asked.

It wasn't like it was something we hadn't talked about, but she had never asked me so bluntly. It honestly wasn't even something I thought about so bluntly.

"I guess, in a way. Not that I've ever thought he's going to hurt me or anything, but just make my life hell if I start going against the things he wants from me."

"And the things you want from you?"

"I'm starting to think those two things are at odds with each other."

We hung out for a few hours around the house after ordering food, but I was growing restless. The words my dad said to me could have been a knife to the chest. I had done the right thing, and now I had ruined something for him. I hadn't been trying to. Rook had just been helping me get better at dealing with those situations.

"He really told me to not cause more problems?" I said for what felt like the hundredth time, making Harper's eyes jump to mine.

"You good, babe?" she asked.

"No," I demanded. "I'm not. He told me to stay home and not cause more problems. I rarely cause problems. I sit around here all the time doing nothing and not causing any issue, and the moment I stir things up a little, he freaks out. Not like gets a little mad, he full on freaked out."

She grinned, sitting up more. "Okay, hear me out. What if you do stay home but cause problems? Is that acceptable?"

"I wouldn't see why not," I said, laughing. "What are you thinking?"

"A party?"

I thought it over. I wasn't a huge fan of parties because of all the people, but it would be a way to have some fun without leaving.

It would also be a good excuse to see Rook.

Twenty minutes later, Harper walked into the kitchen with her phone in hand.

"Alright, we have, like, twenty people saying they are coming, which means forty because you know they are all bringing someone or an entire group. Did I miss anyone?"

I tapped my phone, the message to Rook sitting there unsent.

"I have someone I kind of want to invite."

"Who?" she asked, a smile growing on her face.

"Rook."

"Biker boy? I thought he freaked you out."

"I mean, he does sometimes, but I don't think he actually wants to hurt me. He seems to… care about me, maybe? I'm not sure, but he's been almost sweet to me."

"That's almost hilarious. I'm still a little scared of him after the whole knife to the chest thing, but in a still laughing way, you know?"

"So, you would be okay if he came? He would probably bring his friends."

"I mean, are they going to kill someone while they are here?"

"I don't think so."

"Don't think so? Is there a way to get a guarantee?" she asked, fighting a smile.

I shrugged. "I guess I could ask."

She sat up straighter from her perch on the stool, smiling as she laughed. "Oh my god, please ask that. I need to see what he says."

Regan

Hey.

Rook

Hello.

Regan

If I ask you to do something, can you promise not to kill anyone?

Harper howled with laughter, nearly falling off her seat.

"Shouldn't you be freaking out? I freaked out. He actually does this, Harper."

"To who? Like strangers on the street? Or bad people?"

"I don't know. Both? So far that I've seen, it's just with problematic people, but I don't actually know how often this happens."

My phone dinged, and she sat back up.

Rook

Seems like a setup.

Regan

Or what normal people do??

Rook

I might be able to take a night off for you.

"You're flirting about killing people!" Harper screamed, laughing harder. "You little freak. What is going on? One day you're with douchebag Elliot, and now you're flirting with a hot tattooed biker man who scared you to death because you thought he would kill you." The phone dinged again. "I hope that's a text saying he's coming because I can't wait to hear this in person."

Rook

You going to tell me what you want?

Regan

I wanted to invite you over, but no murder allowed.

Rook

Where?

Regan

My house. My dad is out, so we are having a party.

Rook

Such a Rebel.

What's in it for me?

Regan

Nothing except having fun.

And seeing me.

Rook

Fine. This is for all of us to come, or just me?

Regan

Everyone's invited, but if you all aren't on your best behavior, I will personally be kicking you all out.

Rook

One little rebel against six bikers? And Evie? Good fucking luck.

Harper leaned over my shoulder, reading the texts, and blew out a hard breath.

"Six hot bikers is a party I for sure want to go to."

I glared over my shoulder at her.

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Take Rook out and make it five. I don't care. I'm still in."

Regan

Are you coming or not?

Rook

We'll be there, Rebel. I'm sure you'll hear us coming.

Regan

One more thing…Could you possibly get into his cameras to shut them off for the night? He changed the password after I snuck through the backyard and now I can't.

Rook

Ahh, finally, the real reason you wanted us there.

Regan

No! I did actually want you to come. I just thought you might have an easier time getting in than I would since you seem to have already broken into it.

Rook

We will put up dummy footage. Give me twenty minutes before you flood the place. I'll be there in thirty.

"Okay," I breathed, my hands suddenly turning clammy. "They are coming. Him and his entire friend group are coming here."

Harper jumped up. "Then let's go. We have a party to start."