Devil's Daughter

Chapter 11

Blake's pov:

Valentina and I follow one of her men to the building. He leads us to a table which has half of her men and half of mine. They are all looking at the laptop in front of them.

"What did you find?" Valentina asks as they slowly turn the laptop.

"We managed to access Smith's bank account." One of the guys says. "And we found a payment coming from Los Angeles correction facility."

I stare at the payment as a ridiculous thought runs through my head. It can't be my dad can it?

"Did you trace the payment to an inamte?" I ask, my heart picking up the pace.

"Yes." One of my guys says.

"Well who is it?" Valentina asks as me and my men exhange a glance and then I know my ridiculous thought isn't as ridiculous anymore.

"Alexander Duarte." One of her men says and my heart drops. I knew it was true but hearing it out loud makes me feel so much worse.

"That's-" Val starts turning to me.

"My father." I cut her off. Valentina looks at me for a second tears filling her eyes before she storms out of the building back into the cold night.

One of her guys starts going aftee her but I stop him. "Let me." I say and he nods.

As quickly as I can I follow after her but the headache that has built up and the shaking of my hands slows me down. Where thr fuck is Jay with my drink?

Cold air greets my skin and I see Val leaning against one of the cars staring off into distance. Carefully I come closer to her and she scoffs when she sees me.

"Is that why you wanted to help?" She asks bluntly.

"No, Val I had no idea." I defensively say moving to stand in front of her.

"Sure you didn't." She scoffs looking anywhere but me.

"I swear I had no idea."

"Your family does have something to do with this Blake. I was right all along." She says running a hand through her hair.

"My father isn't a part of this family anymore." I sternly say becoming increasingly frustrated with her claims.

"Oh really? Why?" She asks stepping closer to me. "Why's that?! Huh?" Her voice increases with anger.

"Because-" for a second I want to say the truth. I want to admit what he did and why he's in prison. But I decide against it. "Because he did something which betrayed me and my siblings. He has nothing to do with us Val."

"Why should I believe you?" She questions.

"You broke my ribs and I'm still helping you." I say with a laugh. "I'm being honest Val. Please believe me." Honesty laces my voice as Val meets my eyes. Her hazel eyes gloss over with tears and she pushes them back. I know this hurts her. The fact her sister is taken because of a 'family business'. It's really not right.

"You're not lying?"

"No. I swear on everything Val." I say as she looks away from my eyes to the side. Her bottom lip shakes and tears start to stream down her face.

"It hurts Blake. It fucking hurts." She says her voice cracking and her teary eyes looking into mine again.

"Hey, hey you're okay." I place my hands on both of her arms and rub my thumbs over them.

Her eyes meet mine once again before I feel her launch herself into my arms. The action takes me by surprise but nevertheless I wrap my arms around her, rubbing her back soothingly. Her tears stain the collar of my shirt but I don't bother pulling away.

The truth is I haven't forgotten the way we were back when I was 23. This feels like the old us. I don't hate her. I never did. I do pretend like I do just to make it easier on my heart because I know I can't have her.

After a few minutes of holding her her tears calm down and she pulls away, brushing the remaining twars from her cheeks with her hand.

"I'm sorry." She apologises as I shove my hands into my pockets.

"It's okay." I smile.

"Boss." I turn my head when I recognise Jay's voice. I smile at him and he comes over handing me a bottle of wine.

"Thanks." I say and he smiles going away.

"Wine huh?" Val asks and I chuckle.

"I asked for whiskey but hey this will work." I laugh opening the bottle and taking a sip from the wine. As the wine goes to my system I feel my headache suddenly become better and my hands calm down a little bit. I take a few more sips before offering Val some.

"No, thanks." She smiles.

"We'll find her Val." I say closing the wine bottle.

"I know we will."