Dante
My dad had already phoned the coppers, giving them Clara’s description of the place. Though, it could be any number of houses along that road; a road I was fortunately familiar with, since I’d sold drugs down there. He’d also called through to Murderer and Nike, filling them in. The two of them had been at the back of Ant’s property, waiting for me to give the orders to go in—which I had. Nike and Murderer were now taking care of the Kara situation, while me, Dad, and Ash took care of the Clara one. I felt guilty for leaving Kara behind, but my mind was screaming at me to save Clara first. Plus, Nike and Murderer didn’t need my help. If anything, I’d probably hinder those two, each of them more than capable of springing Kara on their own.
My brother took another sharp turn, so tight he was shaving seconds off the trip. I was grateful he’d been with me when Clara had called, my bro the level-headed one. He was more rational in situations like this, unlike me, since I was panicking, terrified for Clara’s life.
Ash headed for the motorway, breaking every road rule there was for me.
“Slow down, Ash, or you’ll get us pulled over,” Dad piped up. “The pigs will pro’bly take one look at us and think we stole the Mustang, which means we won’t be able to save the paedo.”
I turned my head to glare at him through the seats. “Stop callin’ Clara a paedo!”
He rolled his eyes at me, but for once didn’t reply with an insulting remark. He hadn’t wanted us to save Clara or Kara, since he didn’t like either of them. He’d only gone to Ant’s place because he was afraid I’d get myself and my bro killed, and since we were both heading for West Auckland, he wanted to watch our backs. He wasn’t worried about Nike or Murderer getting Kara. My dad had complete confidence in Murderer coming out unscathed, but he was afraid for me, especially since he thought I was too gung-ho.
I went to face forward, only just catching him mutter, “Paedo,” under his breath, the prick unable to help himself.
I snapped my head back around. “Shut the fuck up! You’re here for one thing, and that’s to help, not to fuck me off even more.”
He cocked his head to the side and raised a brow at me, giving me a small, but extremely irritating smile, the type that used to piss off my mum when she was alive.
“You’re such a bastard,” I growled.
“True. Your grandpa wuz pro’bly a john,” he said, referring to a prostitute’s client. “He would’ve paid your grandma pennies, while givin’ her sumpthin’ priceless.” He pointed to himself. “Me.” He sniggered, looking well pleased with himself.
I shook my head at him and turned to face the front once more. Ash slowed down a bit. Unlike our dad, he was anything but happy, anger vibrating off him. I knew why, what was happening to Clara and Kara similar to what our stepdad had done to him. After our stepdad had escaped from prison last year, he’d drugged and kidnapped Ash, taking him to a cabin, the pervert wanting to keep my brother as his own personal sex toy. Chaz had even killed a couple of cops to hide what he was doing. Luckily, Ash had been saved by sheer chance when our li’l bro’s best mate turned up to the cabin unannounced, finding Ash naked and chained to the bed. Tama, who was also Chaz’s nephew, attacked his uncle, almost killing him. Chaz was now back in prison—hopefully there until the day he dies.
“You all right, Ash?” Dad asked, obviously picking up on Ash’s mood too.
“I will be once I’m away from you,” Ash replied.
Dad grunted. “For fuck’s sake, son. It’s been years since shit went down between us. When the fuck are ya gonna forgive me? Cos I’m sick of bein’ your personal punching bag.”
Ash gripped the steering wheel tighter, making the veins on his hands stand out. “Then fuck off once this shit is cleared. You won’t hear anything from me after that.”
“I’m not gonna fuck off,” Dad spat, for the first time snapping back at my brother. He usually backed down, so careful not to upset Ash, tiptoeing around him, acting as though my tough-as-shit brother would break. He’d done everything he could to make it up to my bro, but Ash wasn’t the forgiving type.
Dad exhaled, sounding like he was trying to calm down. “Just gimme a chance, son. I’ll do anything to fix things.”
“You can’t fix what you broke.” Ash picked up speed, as though he wanted to get this over and done with so he didn’t have to be near our dad. “You ruined my fuckin’ life.”
“Don’t put all of this on me, son. Yeah, I admit I wuz a godawful father. I regret everything I did, starting meth, raising a hand to you, but I went to jail for it, and what happened while I wuz away wuzn’t my fault. It wuz your stepdad’s.”
“You left us with that pervert!” Ash yelled.
“That wuz your mother’s doin’!” Dad yelled back, finally losing it. “She wuz the one who married that piece of shit. I didn’t even fuckin’ know him, so don’t put that on me! Stop blaming me for what he did. You know I’d castrate the sicko if I could, killing him slowly, making him pay for all the pain he put you boys through. I don’t even bloody care if the pigs throw me in the slammer for it. I’d do anything for you two, anything. Why the fuck do ya think I’m ’ere? It’s not for that goddamned paedo, it’s to make sure you two are safe.”
Ash didn’t reply, turning onto Lincoln Road.
Dad started up again, “I wanna see you more, Ash. I also wanna see my grandkids.”
“No,” Ash replied, swearing as a light turned red.
I swore too, thumping the dashboard as he slowed down for it.
Dad stuck his tattooed face between the seats. “Yes. I’ve never pushed before, outta respect for you—”
“You don’t respect me!” Ash barked.
“I do. I respect the hell outta you, son. You looked after Dante and the twins—”
“You shoulda been lookin’ after me, like Hunter did when I got outta hospital.”
“Hunter?” Dad made a scoffing sound. “If that prick bloody looked after his own kids, maybe I wouldn’t have been forced to adopt them, payin’ for the li’l fat fucks to eat all of our food.”
“Don’t insult Sledge and Juliet! And they ain’t fat.”
“Not now, but they bloody ate me outta house and home when they were younger. I wuz finding it hard enough supporting you, Dante, and your mother, then she goes and forces me to raise two more kids that weren’t even mine. You don’t understand the stress it put me under, how I went off the fuckin’ rails tryna put food in yours and those bloody kids’ mouths. That’s pro’bly why Hunter took you in after what that shitbag stepdad of yours did. He felt guilty.”
“He didn’t make you take meth, didn’t—”
“He sold me the shit!”
Ash froze. “What?”
“I never fuckin’ told you cos you love that rat bastard, but he wuz the one who put it in my hands. You treat him like a bloody god, yet he gave me the thing that destroyed our family, even helped inject it into me a few times.”
Ash’s mouth fell open, but nothing came out, his expression shocked.
Dad exhaled, sounding like he was expelling his demons. “I’ve held back from tellin’ you, tried not to since I know you love him, but I’m sick of you treating me like dirt while you treat Hunter like the dad I wanna be. I wanna see my grandkids so fuckin’ bad. You take Angelo to see Hunter, and I bet you’ll take the new kid to see him after the wee one’s born. That ain’t fuckin’ right, boy. I’m their grandfather. I needa see ’em. It fuckin’ burns that Angelo is turning ten and you won’t even lemme come to his birthday. And this new kid... You were even willing to let Beth’s parents adopt it—”
“I’m not now.”
“But you were, yet I get nuthin’. For fuck’s sake, I didn’t even know you were having another kid until Dante told me. And if you’re afraid of me hurting the kids, you shouldn’t be. I looked after my sisters, raised them instead of my mother, fuckin’ whored myself out as a kid to put food on the table for ’em, yet you think I’d hurt your kids?”
“You hurt me.”
“I wuz high on meth at the time, a savage cos of that drug, a drug I haven’t touched in over a decade, doin’ everything I can to make it up to you. Please, even if you hate me, just lemme see my mokopuna,” he said, saying grandchildren in Māori.
Ash pulled away from the lights, silent, his expression strained, though the nod came, ever so slight, but still there. “Only with me there,” he said.
“Of course,” Dad replied, sounding happy. “I’ll be on my best behaviour. I’ll do whatever the fuck you like.”
“Fine.”
“Sweet, I’m really grateful, son, I—”
“Quit the happy family shit,” I snapped, having had enough of their fucking soap opera. “Ash agreed, now will you shut the fuck up?”
“I’m helping you, so don’t disrespect me,” Dad snapped back.
“Right now, all you’re doin’ is irritating the shit outta me.”
“Me talkin’ won’t slow us down, the traffic will still be chocker, plus the pigs have pro’bly dealt with the situation by now, so chill.”
“Clara would’ve called back if that wuz true.”
“I’d be happy if that paedo never called again.”
I spun around in my seat, jabbing a finger at him. “You fuckin’ agreed to stop callin’ her that!”
“No, I agreed to accept her, doesn’t mean I won’t call her what she is.”
“She isn’t a paedo! And if you wanna stay in my fuckin’ life, you’ll shut your fuckin’ trap.”
“I won’t shut shit if you don’t show me some respect.”
“How can I respect you after you whored yourself out for my boss?”
“He did what?” Ash said, his voice shocked.
“For a shitload of cash,” Dad trumpeted. “Not like I’m gonna turn down five grand for some cum.”
“Find another cum dump,” I growled.
He snorted out a laugh. “Cum dump,” he repeated. “That’s a good one, son, and if it bothers you so much, I’ll make Jade pay for a hotel and screw the money outta him there.”
“How fuckin’ romantic,” I snapped, laying on the sarcasm. “You make me wanna chunder.”
“Keep disrespecting me and I won’t ask for a hotel, I’ll keep doin’ your boss in your house.”
I bit back a remark, definitely not wanting that to happen.
Ash finally turned down Henderson Valley Road, pulling my attention back to where he was driving. “Look out for the driveway,” he said.
“It’s not on Henderson Valley, it’s offa it.” I craned my head, spotting the road in the distance. “That one!” I pointed at it, recognising the magnolia tree that Clara had described, also recognising the road. “It’s the one we sold on a few times.”
Ash took a right down the road. “I didn’t deal out ’ere, and you weren’t s’posed to either. It’s not our territory, you reckless prick.”
“What’s done is done,” I replied, still clutching onto my phone, my eyes peeled for the driveway. “Look for a place with massive trees and overgrown brush.”
“What ’bout that one?” Ash asked, indicating to a place with a two-storey villa.
“Nah, I can see the house, plus it’s too nice. It’s s’posed to be really rundown.”
We continued, spotting a cop car parked further up the road. The officers were talking to a middle-aged, balding man in a tracksuit.
“Pull over,” I said. “We have the place.”