After his speech, Marta left momentarily to fetch and recall the aquarium waitstaff. Apparently, it was okay for them to come back now that all the blatant talk about illegal activity and murderous intent was done for the night. People murmured in low voices at their tables and ate and drank as if it was a grand celebration. After they had finished eating, I saw my father and Marta get up from the table and begin to make their rounds to talk to all their guests. That couldn’t happen; I couldn’t be at this table when they got here.

Even though it had been years, I knew that my father would recognize me, and Marta certainly would as well. I needed to leave for just long enough that I avoided his table visit and perhaps come up with a plan to attack him on the way to his car or something. I also needed something bigger to use than just a single steak knife. I got up and started to walk toward the stairwell. I would take a minute or two in the restroom to gather my thoughts and formulate an amended plan.

“Beautiful dress,” a voice said from behind me.

It was my father’s voice, and I tried to bury the utter fear that rose up into my gut.

“Thank you,” I said without turning around.

He chuckled. “Your mother always admired the color garnet.”

I reached into the bodice of my dress to grab the knife. I may not be able to kill him, but at least maybe I could hurt him badly enough to escape.

“I wouldn’t,” he said as I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder.

I could try to run, I thought as I eyed the stairwell. I would have another chance to kill him another time.

But, Dad spoke as if he could read my mind. “I’m sure you’re thinking about how fast you can make it to that stairwell and maybe even how quickly you might be able to make it out of town,” he said as I struggled to hear anything over the pounding in my own ears. “But your boyfriends won’t make it out at all if you choose to do that.”

I turned around slowly to look at him. I tried to channel my mother’s strength and call his bluff. However, I had to bury a moment of laughter as I looked up into his slimy little face.

He was every bit as leathery and pungent-looking as I remembered him to be.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

He eyed me with determination. “Yes, you do. I’m talking about those three young men that you seem to be so fond of: Julian, Adam, and Michael. I believe those are their names?”

“They’re in jail,” I answered back with great satisfaction knowing that he couldn’t touch them in there. “They’re safe from you.”

My father laughed. “No one is safe from me, Lisette. Surely your mother’s death should have taught you something. Come,” he said as he held his arm out for me to take. “I think there’s an exhibit in the aquarium that you might be interested in seeing.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I hissed.

He clicked his tongue. “Pity. I’m not sure how much longer those boys will last.”

I felt sheer dread overtake me as I suddenly realized what he was talking about. Somehow, he had gotten hold of them. Somehow, he had been able to get Michael, Adam, and Julian out of prison and into his clutches. His arm was still extended, and as much as I would have rather stabbed myself with the steak knife than touched this man, I put my arm in his and let him lead me off of the rooftop and down the stairs.

“I’ve missed you,” he said as we walked alone together.

I was surprised that he didn’t have his own personal security guards, but then again, I guess he didn’t see me as that much of a threat.

“No, you haven’t,” I said.

He laughed. “I guess that means you haven’t missed me?”

“I’ve missed my mother,” I said with as much hatred and bitterness as I could muster. “I’ve always been happy to think that you were dead.”

“And now tonight, you’ve come here to try to kill me.”

“The night isn’t over yet,” I said, knowing that any chance I had of being able to kill him was now long gone.

“I like your spunk. You must get that trait from me.”

I scoffed. “I don’t get anything from you.”

“Oh, I think you get a lot more from me than you know,” he sneered. “Now, here we are.”

I hadn’t been paying attention to where we had been walking in the halls. We were standing in front of a giant jellyfish exhibit with a large round tank in the center of the room. When I looked into the tank, I thought I could make out faces coming from behind the other side of the glass. I dropped my father’s arm and ran around the giant cylindrical aquaria. When I got to the other side of it, I stopped and put my hand over my mouth.

All three guys were there, each one held by one of the Lineage guards.

Michael had two guards holding him, one on each arm, which made me think he must have put up one hell of a fight. They were all shirtless, and their chests were so covered with cuts that they looked as though they’d been used as target practice. Adam was the nearest to me, and I ran up and dropped to my knees in front of him. I put my hands against his bloodied chest and winced when I saw how much it hurt him.

“I told you guys to leave,” I cried.

“Yeah,” Adam said as he strained to speak without choking on the blood in his mouth. “I guess we didn’t listen.”

I held his face in my hands and kissed his cheek. Then I went to Julian and then to Michael, holding each of them for a moment and kissing them on the cheek or forehead, or anywhere that there was an unwounded section of flesh.

I was so enraged that I pulled the knife out of my bodice and ran toward my father before I lunged toward his throat. The guards didn’t even try to stop me, either. They just held fast to the guys and watched as if my feeble attempt was entertaining to them. My father laughed so loud that the sound seemed to bellow against the glass and make the sea creatures agitated. He easily grabbed my wrist as it flew toward him and plucked the knife from my hand.

Then he slapped me across the face with the back of his hand so hard that I slid several feet across the floor.

“Just wait, old man,” Michael growled from behind me. “I’m going to cut that hand from your arm and shove it down your throat until you choke on your own fingers.”

I watched as my father stepped closer to Michael and leaned down so that he could look him in the eyes. “Your father always thought he could do more than what he was actually capable of, too,” he taunted. “One of the best things I ever did was put that man down. Obviously, your mother wasn’t too happy about it at first, but she came around.”

My father grinned, and his discolored teeth popped over the top of his lip. “Or didn’t she ever tell you about that? Did Marta forget to mention that I was the one who killed your father? It was a great little arrangement we made back then, for you and Lisette.”

Michael looked at him with violent bewilderment.

“She didn’t tell you about that yet either, I see. Perfect, we can all have fun with that game a little later on together.” He turned toward the guards and told them to take the boys back to Lineage and wait for us there. “You, dear daughter, get to come back to the party with me.”

He stepped over to help me up off the floor, and as soon as I reached my feet, I spit in his face. He grabbed me stiffly around the throat and pushed his face against mine.

“You won’t be doing that again,” he threatened. “You will act in exactly the way that I tell you to act, or your boy-toys will start losing appendages one by one. Do you understand?”

“Don’t listen to him, Lisette, get away from—” one of the guards pummeled the crown of Julian’s head with his fist, and Julian’s head drooped down over his neck as if he were a rag doll.

“No!” I shouted. I looked at the other guards who were holding Michael and Adam by their throats.

Then I looked back at my father. “Okay,” I said in defeat. “I understand. I’ll do it.”

“Good,” he smiled. “Let’s go rejoin my celebration.”

24