Chapter 083
ASHER
"Bring me everything you can get on her," I heard my father say. "Everything. Even the things that do not seem important."
Pushing open the door, I quietly walked into the room.
My father was sitting on his throne-like chair. Standing in front of him were two men dressed so identically that they could have passed as twins, though in build, they were very different from each other. One was tall and broad-shouldered. The other was shorter and stocky.
They were dressed in dark black suits with dark glasses dangling from their fingers. Looking at them in profile, I was sure I had never seen them before.
My father met with all sorts of men, but these men looked like private investigators. I wondered what my father had asked them to do.
My father threw a finger at them as he went on, "I don't have to remind you that money is no object, do I?"
The men, in unison, bowed a little and said they were aware of that.
"Good," my father continued. "Spend any amount to get me the information I need. There is always someone willing to talk for the right price. And then there is one more thing." He leaned forward in his chair. His eyes shone with a cruel light. "If you have the opportunity to get close enough to her, forget about the first part of the plan, bring her here. Alive, you understand? You can rough her up if you want, but I want her alive, so I'll deal with her myself. But if you can't get her, just get me the information I need, then I'll take it from-"
He broke off, looked over the men's shoulders and saw me.
"That's all. Go now," he told them.
They bowed. Moving in sync, they turned and left the room, putting on their glasses as they went. They looked like professionals. I heard their footsteps echo in the corridor, and then that was gone, too.
"Who are they?" I asked my father. "What information were you talking about?"
"No concern of yours," he grumbled.
He picked up a newspaper lying on the chair beside him and apparently became so engrossed in it that he forgot I was in the room.
"Dad?"
No answer.
"I heard part of what you told them," I said. "Who is this woman that you need so badly?"
That got his attention. He put down his newspaper with a grudging air and folded his hands in his lap.
"What are you asking me, Asher?" he asked. "Since when did you get so nosy?"
"If there's something going on in the pack, don't you think I should know? I'm next in line, after all." I answered. "Besides, I can help with whatever you're looking for."
He considered that. "Those men are private investigators I hired to get information on Hannah."
His words didn't sink in immediately. When they did, I literally rocked back on my heels, stunned. My father had picked up the paper again and was flipping idly through the pages like he hadn't just dropped a bombshell.
"What the hell, dad!" I exploded when I could finally force out the words. "Are you talking about Hannah? Hannah Baker?"
His eyes flashed. "Don't be stupid! How many Hannahs do you imagine I'll be interested in? Of course, it's the traitor's daughter."
"But- but- we had an agreement to stop going after her after what happened at Wallace's pack the last time and- and what happened to me and Julia. I can't believe you're still going after this. I thought-"
"Well, think again!" There was a crackle as he crumpled the paper in his fist. "You're a fool if you actually thought for one moment that I would let Hannah go after what she did. Can't you see that letting her go simply means we have lost? She is the one person who will never be happy and free as far as I'm alive."
"What she did, she did it to me!" I argued, then added grudgingly. "Besides, Julia and I attacked her first. She only tried to defend herself."
He glared at me like I was dirt under his shoes. "Sometimes, like now, I doubt if you are really my son. If your mother were still alive, I probably would have had her tortured so she could tell me the truth about your birth. I've always had this feeling that she cheated with an imbecile. And the product was you, a half-wit and a weakling!"
"Dad-" I began, but I didn't know what else to say.
"That filthy half-breed dared to put her hands on you. Her life is worth less than a dog's, so what does it matter who attacked who? What does it fucking matter if you tortured her, hit her or her whore of a mother? The point is she undermined my authority in this pack and yours, too, even if you're too much of a moron to realize it! She must pay. Do you understand?"
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