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He took one last lingering look at her before h it wasn’t his father’s anymore Within a matter of seconds, he remembered all the times he’d been yelled at, called names, told he was useless and a waste of space It wasn’t hard to keep up with all the names He’d relished each time he’d pissed his father off No matter what anyone said to him, he’d been more than happy to be the fa he caused them trouble It probably shouldn’t, but it did He didn’t want any of them to have an easy life

Without knocking, he entered the office and found his uncle looking over several files The ht, but no one would be able to tell fro at him

He never allowed anyone, even family, to see a weakness

“I haven’t given you free rein over this house Tellaround as if you own the place”

“You also haven’t put a guard onyou’re not too concerned withoff”

“Touché”

“What are you doing?”

“None of your business,” Rick said without even looking up He typed so on the computer “What do you want?”

“To talk about Jade”

“You’ve got no power here, Landon What I need to do will be up to me to decide” Rick looked up

“Are we clear?”

“You can’t send her back”

“You should’ve thought about that when you let me know your location”

“She’s not part of the deal”

Rick got up froe woodento talk deals towith a bounty on your head, one that is ironclad, a wife back hoot the Castillos who are aware I’ve been able to locate you They want a piece of you, and until I deal with all of this shitstoriveto your fucked-up needs This is real life If you wanted to protect her, you should have put her in a safe place like you did Taht”