Chapter 17
Dalton
Today I had accompanied Tommy to a job. We had paid a man named Phil Whistler a visit, and Tribado had joined us. I had read about Phil in the envelope Tommy had delivered to me. Phil was in a relationship with Francesca Veron, a distant friend of a member in the gang, and a few of our members had been tasked with tailing him the past week. Five of us had headed to Phil’s apartment at a time when we knew he would be alone and his girlfriend was out at work.
The five of us had memorized the information from the envelope: Phil was an abusive boyfriend, constantly leaving Francesca with bruises and cuts in places no one could see. She had come to her friend in our gang and asked for assistance. Today, we were going to show Phil that we were always watching and if he continued to harm Francesca, then we would harm him even worse. What troubled me was that Francesca still wanted to be with Phil, and didn’t want us to hurt him too badly.
“What if he hurts her even worse after we show up?” I had asked that question every time I had been asked out for a job. Each time the response I got was, “We’ll cut his manhood off.” This answer never quite satisfied me, and I never knew what happened to the offenders after our visits. Most of our visits didn’t progress into violence, and only once had I seen Tribado torture anyone. It had made me sick to my stomach, and ever since then I was restricted to lookout duty.
Today, though, had been different because Tommy had told Tribado about when I’d told him I wanted out of the gang. Today I had witnessed four men beating up on one man inside Phil’s living room, midday trash television drowning out Phil’s screams as I watched in horror. Tribado barked at me to join in or get my own fill of a beating, and once again I vomited at the sight of violence.
“It’s not like you haven’t done this before. What the hell is wrong with you?” Tribado had spat at me. Then he grabbed me by my shirt collar and dragged me over to where Phil lay spitting up blood on the floor. “Hit him.”
I couldn’t.
Tribado socked me in the gut when I didn’t obey at first, and a large ring on his middle finger dug into my kidney as he did. “Hit him, or maybe you don’t value Brittany enough.”
I whipped my head up in shock, first wide-eyed at Tribado and then glaringly at Tommy. My queasiness instantly disappeared and rage took its place, an old sensation climbing through my skeleton. The old Dalton was slowly pouring himself back into my blood, and with a crack I slammed my fist into Phil’s chin.
When we were done and Phil was bruised and spitting blood from his mouth, I washed the blood off my knuckles in Phil’s bathroom and looked in the mirror. James Krall seemed to stare back at me with my own eyes.
In that moment, I formed my plan on how to remove myself from the gang, and it involved bringing the gang down completely. I could no longer permit such violence to continue, even if it was in the name of protection.
When I’d gotten back to my apartment, I’d felt ill. I hated that I’d been a part of that violence. Sure, the guy deserved it, but this was no longer the way to do things.
My life had to change, and it was up to me to change it.
I’d called my father. “I’ve fallen in love with Brittany. Nothing you can say will change the way I feel for her.”
“Stop being a dumbass,” he said. “This is just so you can secure your access to the money.”
“I don’t give a damn about the money.” My voice was strong with conviction as I paced my bare apartment. “If you want to kick me out, then you should.”
The line went silent, and I wondered if he’d hung up. “Are you still there?” I asked.
He cleared his throat, then said, “If you make an honest woman out of her, then you will get access to the money. But if you tarnish my name by creating a scandal and if you break the rules of the trust fund, then you will never see a penny.”
My mother spoke up. “If you marry her before your thirtieth birthday, you’ll have every penny of your millions.”
“Mariah,” my father barked, “get off the other line. And most of all, don’t contradict me.”
Her voice was quiet. “He’s still got two more years, August.”
“But if he screws up before then, I am stuck with an even more complicated problem.” Addressing me again, he said, “Court her as defined in the rules of the trust fund outlined by your P.O., and if I find out you’ve done otherwise, then forget about your millions.”
I had followed the rules about gaining access to my money through marriage religiously until I had met Brittany, and by following the rules I meant not giving a care in the world about them. I had ignored searching for a partner completely and turned down any and every woman who made a pass at me ever since Talia. I had only broken the rule about not engaging in criminal activities, and at first I didn’t consider my vigilante gang to be a criminal activity until Tribado had taken over. Then, after meeting Brittany, I had consequently broken practically every rule concerning how I should interact around a potential partner which I was courting for marriage.
All of that had led me here, to Brittany’s door. Now, I stood in front of her. She had just confessed that she was possibly falling in love with me. My heart sank, knowing that her feelings would change after I told her the truth I should have divulged after we had made love.
“Oh,” was all I could manage to respond. I wanted to tell her I was falling in love with her too, that she was the only girl in the world for me. I wanted to grab her by the hands and take her away from this place, away from her overbearing father to a place where she could truly be happy. That was impossible now as I took the plunge and came right out and said it. “I assaulted James Krall.”
As I said his name, Brittany’s face went pale and she took a step back from me as if I was a mad dog with foam leaking from my lips.
I couldn’t end my confession there, though. “I had dated Talia before she dated James, and I saw everything he did to her. I couldn’t take it, and I blacked out. When I came to, I was standing over James and covered with blood. He was in the hospital for six months, I was in jail for six months. I was in there when he…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t admit that Talia was gone forever even after so many years. “I thought you had a right to know, and I know this will probably change how you feel about me. That’s okay, I understand that, but can we still be friends? I’ll always be here when you need, and after I fix one last thing I’ve been neglecting in my life, I’ll always be here to protect you when you need me.”
Brittany waved at me to stop talking, then slowly opened her mouth. “Please, leave.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted, grasping at any chance to remain in her life as it dawned on me that this could be a fool’s dream and I would lose her forever.
“I need time to digest this.” She shut the door on me and I stood in front of her closed door, my arms limp at my sides and my knees shaking violently.