Chapter 21

I’d rather have an enemy that admits they hate me versus a friend who secretly puts me down. - Anonymous

Kenna

After my talk with Phoenix I tried to tell him that I didn’t need him to guard dog me while I went to speak with my father. I knew that it was something we should do together, but at the end of the day I also knew that this conversation wasn’t going to be easy and I’d most likely turn into a raging bitch. I didn’t have to do it alone, and that’s what I appreciate the most about Phoenix — he’s shown time and time again that he will always be here for me when I need it.

I may have argued, but in the end,  Phoenix won this battle. I hopped on the back of his bike and he drove us right into South Beach where I knew my father would be. He loves to eat dinner at this high-class restaurant called Lario’s. He’s told me multiple times that they have the best Cuban food. I must agree. They are one of the absolute best, and if I can get some Chino Cubano while I’m here….I’ll be happy. Lario’s is located right on the beach; my father practically owns a table in the back and when Phoenix parks the bike out front I make sure to lead him right to where I know my father will be sitting. I did a damn good job with concealer and foundation but I’m not one of those famous YouTube makeup artists. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be able to see a good bit of the bruising over my face.

I asked Phoenix if my father knew what happened to me, and he told me that he had Leo give him a call with an update, but my dear old Pops didn’t decide to come see me at the club. I can’t help but wonder why that is. He also didn’t fucking call me either. Not gonna lie, I’m a tad upset with him about that. I could’ve died and he’s acting like everything is peachy keen. It would’ve been a little nice if he came to visit, or even called, but no — he couldn’t be bothered to do that.

I take a seat directly across from him, he doesn’t make a movement besides his eyes skimming over me, and then to Phoenix as he pulls out the chair besides me.

“Hi, Daddy,” I greet, my tone full of anger and frustration. As much as I’d love for this to be a casual conversation, it won’t be.

“Kenna. How are you feeling?”

I want to throat punch him right now. He’s acting as if everything is normal. No, he only does this shit when he knows something that I don’t. I’m his daughter, I recognize his behaviors.

“I’m just a ray of fucking sunshine, Daddy. Now let’s cut to the chase because I know you’re keeping something from me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be acting so calm and collected right now.” I spit out calling him Daddy, my anger radiates through my entire body until I can almost feel the steam blowing out of my ears. I’m livid.

He picks up his phone, ignoring me like I am nothing but a small child. It only serves to make me grow more frustrated. After a moment, he takes a sip from the glass in front of him which I am sure has tequila and looks me directly in the eyes. “You have always been such a curious girl, mija. One with good intuition at that.”

“Like father, like daughter,” I coldly, comment.

I see a waiter coming in our direction with a bottle of wine. He approaches our table and pours it into the glass in front of me and then goes to Phoenix’s glass. “Aw, nah, bro. I’m more of a bud light kind of guy. You got any of that?”

“Uh...no. Would a Corona do, Sir?” Phoenix nods at him and the waiter scurries off to fetch his beer. If things weren’t so tense right now, I’d laugh at what just happened.

“Why aren’t you speaking? Your silence is only pissing me off,” I grumble, taking a sip of the wine before me.

“Because, I am thinking on how to word what I have to tell you. Patience is never something you will understand, is it? Sometimes you must wait for things, including this, but there is no easy way for me to say it. Philip was never just your bodyguard, mija. He is much closer to our family than that, much closer to you and me than just a man on our payroll, and this is why I feel much guilt for what it is you have endured...I will never be able to forgive myself for it, for not seeing the signs of what was unfolding…”

He goes silent, and Phoenix grabs my hand under the table. Our waiter approaches with Phoenix’s Corona, leaves it on the table and then returns to wherever it was that he came from.

“What are you trying to tell me?” I ask, trying like hell to not show the emotion in my voice. I hate it when he withholds information from me. It makes me feel as if he doesn’t trust me enough to share.

“When I was young I did not make the best choices, I will be the first to admit that. I only had one objective, and that was to have control over Miami. I didn’t care as to what I did, or the chaos that I had caused in achieving what I now have today. I made many mistakes during this time, and the biggest one...well, that resulted in Philip.”

I start to move my lips, to ask him what he means because I’m not following when he puts his finger up in the air. A small order of my silence. He grabs the drink in front of him, taking another sip before continuing to speak.

“I had knocked up a woman before I met your mother. It was just before her and I started dating. A few months into my relationship with your mother, this woman had approached me and let me know about her pregnancy. I was a bit shocked, to say the least. I had brought up abortion, but she was against it. While I respected her decision, I was not in a place in my life where I wanted to be a father, and I would have been a shit one at that. I needed to be ready, and I wasn’t. Fast forward a few months down the line and I heard of his birth, his name was Philip. I had seen his mother once more where she asked me for money and of course I obliged. Even though I wouldn’t be around to take care of him, it was my duty to make sure he was provided for. So, I made sure that he was. I’ve always made sure he was provided for. A year goes by and I get another request for money, so I send it. Another year, and another request, so of course I send it. The next year I didn’t hear a word, it felt out of the normal that I was used to. I had spoken to your mother about it and we both agreed to explore it further, it’s when we discovered that Philip’s mother had died from a drug overdose. Turns out that my money wasn’t just for taking care of Philip, but her nasty habit as well. At this point, Philip had been in foster care for quite a while. We had just found out your mother was pregnant with you and we were in no position to bring him out of social services; not when your mother was terrified of being a mother. You were a surprise, but a welcome one at that. Philip had been safe, for once he was with people who could take care of him and I didn’t feel the need to disrupt his life.”

“Disrupt his life? You’re his father.” I mumble it out, grabbing my wine glass and take a long sip. I can’t believe what he’s telling me. Philip isn’t just a bodyguard. He’s my half-brother. That just makes all of this so much worse.

“I am, yes. But what good of a father was I back then? I was a shit one. It was better for him to stay in a foster home. You may not see it, but it was a better decision. It was better for him. He was safer there than with me.”

“You ain’t ever seen no foster care kids, have you Vernon?” Phoenix chuckles, shaking his head. He and I both know that there is no possible way that Philip would’ve been safer in a foster home. Sure, there are good foster parents and bad ones, but the bad heavily outweigh the good.

“I made my choices back then, and I will not damn myself for them now”

“You should, considering they got my girl in that fuckin’ position,” Phoenix snarls out, squeezing my hand in his. “You even care what they fuckin’ did to her, hmm? Sure, you can’t tell ‘cause she’s got all that damn makeup caked over her flawless face, but she’s black and blue all over. Broken nose. Broken ribs. They fuckin’ beat her to bits and she’s walkin’ around like she doesn’t wanna cry every time she moves. She does, ‘cause it hurts and you’re the reason she’s here. You. If you hadn’t of pushed your damn son outta your life then maybe we wouldn’t be in this position now, would we?”

“True. Maybe we wouldn’t. Maybe we would. When Philip became old enough, I approached him. I told him who I was, and I gave him a job. He trained with the best of the best, and then he was here to protect the most precious thing in my life.”

“That worked out really well,” Phoenix grumbles, I intertwine my fingers with his, needing him to feel closer.

“We see that it hasn’t. No need to rub my mistakes in my face, Phoenix. Although I do appreciate how protective you are over my Kenna”

“She ain’t your Kenna old man. She’s mine to protect now, and I’m not gonna fuck up like you have.” Normally I would tell Phoenix to pipe down and not speak to my father in this way, but I agree with him; he’s right.

“I’m handling the situation, mija. I hope you trust that I am.”

“I hope that you are, but all I see is you drinking your tequila in a dimly lit restaurant, enjoying the beautiful night. I can try to trust that you are, but I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t expect you to handle it. I’ll handle it because I always handle everything. Now, here’s my question. My evil, older half-brother tried to hand me over to Donnie so that Donnie could become king of Miami? Why. What does he get in all of that?”

“Donnie and Philip had a deal. If anything happened to Donnie, Philip would be the newfound Prez of those fuckin rats,” Phoenix adds, I turn my face to look at him when it all clicks inside of my mind.

Philip is so much smarter than I thought.

“You should probably go ahead and make sure all of your men are actually loyal to you. Philip wasn’t planning to just hand me over to Donnie. I was being led to my deathbed, a future where all of us would end up dead in a ditch somewhere and the only person left to reign the city would be my dear brother.” I tell my father. “I’d watch your back. He didn’t just start a battle, Daddy. He started a fucking war and I’m going to end it. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this like I always take care of everything else”

I stand up and exit the restaurant, hearing Phoenix’s combat boots heavily chasing after me. He’d best hurry up. I’m a little hungry for blood tonight.