"No more than I hate you, you little shit. I should've taught you to respect your elders a long time ago. Maybe it's not too late."
"Let me go!"
Lester grinned.
"My pleasure."
He shoved the kid back down so hard that Tyler's head thudded against the wall. Lester watched as the boy's eyes closed, then reopened. But they were dazed. He knew Tyler had taken a dangerous lick.
Lester made a face as he kept his eye on the kid. Hoople would have his balls on a platter if something happened to the boy before they got the money. Knowing Cassie, she wouldn't part with a dime until she had seen the kid, which meant Tyler had to be in mint condition.
"I wanna go home," Tyler pleaded, rubbing eyes that were swimming with unshed tears.
"You'll go when I say you can and not before."
"I don't want you for my daddy."
"I don't want you for my kid, either."
Tyler straightened.
"When I get home, I'm going to tell my friend Austin on you."
Lester's fury flared, since he'd always suspected that McGuire was the one who had humped his old lady and gotten her pregnant. But he'd never had proof of that, and Cassie had refused to tell him, regardless of how much he had harassed her.
"Ah, so you're going to tell on me, huh?"
Tyler jutted his chin.
"Yeah, and he'll beat you up."
"Not if I kill him first."
The boy's face turned pale as sand, but he didn't flinch. Lester had to
hand it to him. For eight years old, he already had balls. In fact, if this kid had truly been his son, he would be proud. As it was, he didn't
give a rat's ass about Tyler.
If things didn't go as planned, and Cassie jerked them around and didn't come through with the money, he would kill the kid, wouldn't think twice about it. After all, he had nothing to lose. If he got arrested, he
would never walk the streets again, so he might as well have a damn good reason for going back to the pen.
Anyway, putting a bullet though the kid's temple would make his day.
Lester chuckled. Hell, he deserved a reward after baby-sitting this kid.
Thinking of "mamma" brought Cassie back to mind. He hated that bitch.
She had made him out a fool when she took Tyler and ran. He'd had no
idea she would do anything like that. It had taken guts.
Now he was the one with the guts who was getting even. And while he was
at it, his group would get richer. Cash flow had been a problem for a long time.
"How's the kid?"
Lester swung around and watched as Grant Hoople strode through the open
door.
"Asking for a butt bruising."
"Why can't I go home?" Tyler demanded, his eyes on Hoople.
"Shut up," Hoople said without looking at him. Then, to Lester, "Come
on. We've got work to do."
"Don't you think we should lay low for a while and let her stew?"
Lester scratched his head.
"Don't you think that'd be smart?"
"Are you questioning my judgment?" Hoople's voice turned mean.
"Huh? No, of course not," Lester said hurriedly, feeling himself flush.
It wouldn't be smart to piss off his leader. Hoople and the othersthought he could walk on water because he had the means and the power toget them over their present cash crunch.
Lester wanted his elevated position to remain secure.
"Let's just hope you're right about your ex and her willingness to play ball."
"You can trust me on that," Lester said in a scoffing tone.
"She thinks this little bastard here makes the world go around."
"Let's just see to it that he makes our world go around."
Lester slapped Hoople on the back.
"You just leave everything to me.
She'll be a piece of cake." Lester mentally patted himself on the back.
"This whole scheme will be a piece of cake."
Thirty-Seven xiow could you have done such a thing?"
Cassie swallowed a sharp retort and let out a harsh sigh instead. Herdaddy was peering at her through eyes that were filled with hostilityand disappointment.
She had expected as much. When she displeased him as a child, Jameswouldn't talk to her. That silence had hurt more than if he had taken a switch to her legs.
Her mother, on the other hand, vocalized her disappointment in acondescending way that frightened, then alienated, Cassie. Because oftheir demand for perfection, she had striven to be perfect, which meantshe had lived under a microscope and under pressure.
With James continuing to stare at her, Cassie could feel that pressuremore than ever. Suddenly she was a child again and had committed anunpardonable sin.."
But she was not a child; she was an adult. They couldn't bully orintimidate her anymore. She had been through a hell that neither of themcould imagine.
She wasn't afraid of them or anyone else--except Lester, and him onlybecause of what he could do to her son.
Cassie cringed. It had been two days since Lester had called. Sincethen, she hadn't budged from the house, fearing she would miss his nextcall. She hadn't slept or eaten, either. She didn't know how much longershe could hold herself together.
Now she was being put through a delayed inquisition by her daddy.
"Cassie, I asked you a question."
"I don't know why it happened, Daddy. It just did."
They were in the breakfast room, the three of them, having coffee andwatching the phone. Cassie quelled the urge to scream at the damn thingto ring.
"It just did?" His usually low-key voice rose the way it did when he wasbehind the pulpit.
"I won't accept that. Behavior like that doesn't just happen."
"It was my fault," Cassie admitted in a dull tone, knowing that shecouldn't avoid this verbal skirmish. Besides, she owed them the truth.
"I refuse to believe that."
"Believe it because it's true."
After she had blabbed her secret, she had beaten up on herselfunmercifully.
Only when she realized she couldn't change the situation did she stop.
Besides, Tyler's safety was all that mattered.
He had to be safe. She couldn't afford to think otherwise. If the cops
didn't find Tyler Austin would.
Austin. She couldn't think about him, either. Not now. When she did, her
entire body felt as if she had stuck her finger into an electrical outlet.
"Oh, Cassie, how could you?" Wilma asked.
"How could you do that to us?"
Cassie shook herself out of her reverie and said, "I can't answer that
either. Mother."
"That's because I don't think you're telling us the truth."
"It is the truth. Daddy. You just don't want to accept it."
James's face was stroke-level red.