Mine To Protect (Mine #6)(7)

He was…and other hitmen were out there, too. “The bounty on your head just keeps rising.”

Zoe glanced away from him. Her stare went to the little TV that was on a stand near the foot of the bed. Judging by the look of it, Victor figured that TV hadn’t worked in years.

“So many people hate Luther,” Zoe mused. “And they never seem to think…I hate him, too. I want him to pay, too. It’s not like Luther Bates will win the award for Father of the Year.” Her eyes closed. “Everyone knows he was a monster. So what the hell do people think he was like when I was a kid?”

He’d been curious about her life with Luther, but she hadn’t told Victor jackshit before. He leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest, and wondered if this was the turning point for them. Was she finally lowering the wall she’d kept up? Finally trusting him?

“At first, when I was younger, I wondered why he hadn’t married my mom.” Her eyes opened and she turned her head, meeting his gaze. “That’s what a five-year-old wonders, you see. Why don’t mom and dad live together? Is something wrong?”

He waited, silent.

“When I was ten, when I barely saw him at all, I thought…we’re his dirty little secret. He’s ashamed of me. Of my mom. So he keeps us away from everyone else. He doesn’t take us out to dinners or on trips. He doesn’t come to my school to see my plays because he’s embarrassed. I’ve embarrassed him. I’m a disappointment. That’s what a ten year old thinks.” Her lips curved down as sadness chased over her face.

You aren’t a disappointment. You could never be a disappointment.

“Then, when I was fifteen…I saw his face on the news. I wondered…why is my dad on the news? And then…then I heard what the reporter was saying. That he was a criminal. A killer. That he was some kind of suspected mob boss. My mom was in the room with me, watching the news, and she was crying. That was when I knew…”

When her voice trailed off and Zoe didn’t continue, Victor waited a moment, then pushed, “When you knew what?”

“That my father was a monster. My mother was always so careful around him because she was terrified of him. And he kept us hidden because…” Now her laughter came once more. Sad. Painful. “Because he knew we would be targets. He knew people would hurt us in order to get to him. That’s what his world was, you see. The an-eye-for-an-eye mentality ruled there. Survival of the fittest dominated. Good and evil—those concepts didn’t matter at all.”

“You confronted your father. About what he…was.” This was the part he needed. He had to learn what secrets Zoe had been keeping. And he suspected there were plenty of secrets.

“Of course, I confronted him. When you’re fifteen, you think you can change the world.” Her smile stretched. “You think that maybe you can still get the happy life you always dreamed of. You think you can change the monster.”

Nothing will change Luther Bates. Victor had spent too many hours staring into that man’s cold, dead eyes. Luther was evil. Pure and f*cking simple. Luther had ordered the deaths of so many people…and never even hesitated. “What happened?”

She pushed off the bed, rising to her feet. “Oh, the usual. My crime boss father instantly became good and charming. Everything that a girl could wish her father to be.” Zoe hurried toward the bathroom. “I need to shower.”

He moved, blocking her path. “What happened?”

She lifted her chin and stared into his eyes. “You’ve met Luther, haven’t you? Stared at him, face to face?”

Yes.

“I told him that he had to stop. That he couldn’t keep doing those terrible things.” Her breath whispered out. “At first, he laughed at me.”

“Zoe…”

“And then he hit me so hard that I flew across the room.”

Fucking hell. Victor’s hands fisted.

“I got a concussion. Six stitches in the back of my head.” She shrugged. “Apparently, no one questions Luther Bates, not even his daughter.”

He wanted to touch her. So badly. He also wanted to beat the ever loving hell out of her father.

“My mother saw what he’d done. She’d always been there for him, smiling so brightly when he appeared at the door, only waiting to cry when he left. But that day, when she picked me up from the floor and my blood was on her hands, she stopped smiling for him.” Her voice lowered with each word she spoke. “She told him to leave. Not to come back.” Her lashes fell, shielding her eyes. “Luther Bates doesn’t like to be told no.”

He thought of Zoe’s file. Fifteen. She’d been fifteen and—

Hell.

“If you read my file, you’ll know that my mother…she was…killed in a home invasion. That attack happened just a few days after she told Luther to stay away from us.”

Had Luther ordered the attack? Paid for it to look like—

“Two months after her death, Luther shipped my ass off to boarding school. Some fancy ass place where I didn’t belong. But at least I wasn’t with him anymore.”

Holy f*cking hell. Just what had happened during those two months that she spent with her father? He sucked in a deep breath and tried to figure out where he should push the hardest. The mother. Start there. “You had to know your mother’s death was suspicious.”