Crazy House

Chapter 29: He had a knife the size of Texas

typos ahead

Chapter 29: He had a knife the size of Texas

I stare at the TV in shock for a second before sliding out of Roman’s -who's still sleeping- arms. I stumble into the living room and find Aunt Lauren and my Dad sitting at the table drinking coffee. They both look calm, but I know that they know about Rick. I don’t know how I know, I just do.

I sit down at the table and they both watch me. “What happened?” I ask looking at my Dad.

He glances at Aunt Lauren, “I’m going to go wake up Roman.” She says before leaving the room.

For a while my dad and I just sit in silence. “Ariel, my family, our family is involved in the mafia.” He says and he studies my face.

For some reason, this doesn’t come as a surprise to me.  Somewhere deep down I already knew that my dad was involved with something like the mafia.

“Is that how you knew the guy who Tristian owed money to?” I ask as things begin to click.

“Yes.”

I run a hand through my hair, “Did you kill Rick?”

I already know the answer but I still have to ask.

“Yes.” He leans back in his chair a little, “He came here last night prepared to kill you and Lauren.” He says, “Lauren shot at him, and he ran.”

“How do you know he was going to kill us?” I ask him.

“He had a knife the size of Texas in hand when Lauren saw him.”

I know that I should probably be freaking out or something, but I’m not. I guess I understand why my dad did what he did. And plus I think a small part of me is happy that Rick is dead. OKay, maybe it’s a big part of me.

“How did aunt Lauren know how he looked?” I ask and for a second he looks shocked, and then I realize it’s because I said ‘aunt Lauren.’

“I showed her a picture, of course. I had a feeling he would try to do something.”

I look at the table for a second not sure how to process all of this. And then I think about my mom. “My mother.” I say knowing she’s going to be heartbroken.

“I’ve already talked to Amanda.” My dad says surprising me.

“Really?”

“Yea, I stopped by last night, afterwards…” He runs a hand through his hair, “We had a talk.”

“Does she know?”

He nods his head with a grim expression on his face. “She knows, and she’s not going to say anything to anyone.”

Why?

“Did you threaten my mom?” I ask him in surprise.

He looks shocked from the accusation, “No.” he says shaking his head. “I told you we had a talk, and I didn’t threaten her.” He says sitting up straight.

“Ariel, your mom wants for you to come back and stay with her, but she understands if you don’t want to.” He says and I can tell that his body is tense. He doesn’t want me to move back.

“I don’t know…” I like staying in the crazy house, and I love my mom, but there’s so many bad memories here.

“Ariel, your mother is going to lose the house, her and Rick had been using the money you made modeling to pay for all their nice things.” He says and there’s a spark of his temper coming in. “I told her that I’d pay off a small house for her, but other than that I’m not going to help her.” He says.