Irritation flashed in Raith’s gaze, the first time I really saw a hard emotion from him and he leaned forward. Resting his arms on the table, he angled his head toward me. “We know you recognized Heckler. And since you’re aware the lengths we’ll go to silence one witness, you can imagine what we’ll do with you. You alone can link us to that kidnapping last night. Now.” He paused, glancing to Derrick, and he took a deep breath before turning back to me. “Pops has been adamant that you won’t say a word, but Pops is new and a lot of the guys haven’t seen him in action. We’ve also done a few favors for Pops regarding yourself and your brother, two bounty hunters who could turn around and track us if you’re seeing a dilemma here. Not to mention that a lot of my men don’t know Pops either and they’re going off my shared experience of living with your father in prison.”

I glanced at my dad, whose head was low, but his gaze was on me. Those eyes—I flinched. They were heavy and hard, resting right on me and pinning me to my seat. “So, what do you want?”

“Besides a guarantee you’ll never talk about who you recognized?”

“Yeah. Besides that?”

He stared at me, long and hard again.

There was a whole beat where no one moved, no one said a word, and a shiver went down my spine.

I was in trouble. Very real and serious trouble here.

They took someone right in front of me, infiltrating an entire party with masks and guns. They were prepared and they moved almost as one unit. That spoke of a seriously tight unit.

And they were here, knowing I’d been called to the police station and they went the distance to clear out any witnesses.

I had nothing.

I had nothing to bargain with them, no way out, no escape plan, no way of fighting. They were a force I’d never even knew existed, but they were here and my dad was one of them.

Blood.

Family.

Loyalty.

All three of those were held in high regard with them.

I had all three on my side, which was why I was even getting this sit-down.

That realization hit me hard, and I had to blink back some tears because it wasn’t until just now that I thought I’d been about to be killed by their hands, because I recognized one of them.

I looked at my father, though my words were for his President. “I never visited you in prison, and I’m sorry about that.”

He sucked in his breath, an audible sound to it, and his head jerked as if I slapped him.