Page 17 of Burn Baby Burnt
Jasper:And I have no problem being its father, if it is mine. We’ll see when the time comes. As of now, we will not be involved with each other. Contact an assistant if you need to speak with me. Goodnight.
As I finish up, I press dial on a number I never wished to call again. The recipient answers immediately. Her voice is just as unpleasant as it used to be.
“Jasper?”
“Anne,” I reply coldly.
“Is something wrong? It’s been a long time.”
“Yes it has. Four years since I left you, and three years since you blackmailed your daughter into leaving me.”
She doesn’t speak for a moment; a dead giveaway of guilt.
“You’ve seen Dixie then?”
I want to throttle her.
“Good for you Anne, understanding who you can and can’t manipulate with lies.”
She huffs. “Did I really lie though? You left me for my daughter, it’s not exactly reaching to assume you primed her to be yours one day, Jasper.”
Delusional bitch.
“I met her less than a year before she turned eighteen, in a state where the age of consent is seventeen. I never once touched her before she was eighteen and asked me to. You’re well-aware of that fact, but you're jealous of your own daughter and you always have been. The fact that you had the nerve to use her condition against her to get her to leave me shows just how unworthy of happiness you truly are. Dixie is mine again, and she willneverleave me. If you even consider trying to smear her name or mine, you’ll be in for a world of surprise when you realize I have far more of your dirty little secrets wrapped up than you can imagine. Understood?”
Her breath catches. “She came back to you?”
Yeah, she did. She’s not getting away again either.
“Yes,Anne. Love doesn’t die out because you try and force it to. Fate brought her back to me, and I’ll die to keep her here, got it? I’ll also kill to keep you the fuck away, so bear that in mind, hm?”
I hang up, not bothering to wait for her understanding. Ihopeshe tries to go to the press. Ihopeshe gives me an excuse to destroy her like she did me. Giving her name to Gio on a little black card would be simply too satisfying to pass up. Maybe it’s just because he’s on my mind, but if I’m being honest, it’s probably because the idea of Anne disappearing off the face of the planet is goddamn beautiful.
The next call is an obvious one. He picks up on the second ring, always available despite his schedule.
“Jasper. How’s it going?” Gio’s rough voice is unmistakable and funnily comforting.
“I got her back.”
His smile is practically vocal. “She’s in so much trouble. Isn’t she?”
I can’t help the grin that takes over my face. “Yes and no,” I admit. “She thought she was protecting me.”
“Doesn’t she know that’s my job?” he jokes. “From what?”
I explain the diary and her mother’s threats and he hums in understanding. “I would be more pissed at her for not thinking I could handle her mother if she didn’t tell me the insult to injury bit of it.” Pausing to scowl, I crack my neck to rid the uncomfortable feeling. “Her own mother looked her in the eyes and told her a man like me would never be happy without a family of his own and she could never give me kids.”
Gio makes a gruff noise on the other side of the phone. Pissed. “And it poisoned her into thinking she wasn’t good enough for you. Have you taken care of that cunt yet?”
I sighed. “A warning for now, but I will. Not to worry my friend, I will.”
“Good.”
“She’s still perfect.”
Chuckling, he responds, “I bet. Better than that arranged shit you had going on that’s for damn sure.”
For someone in organized crime, Gio was surprisingly adamant when telling me to avoid a marriage of convenience but of course, accepted my decision. Apparently his family doesn’t fuck around when it comes to marriage.