Fire and Silk

Chapter Twenty Two

 "A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss... That's the trade-off. But i'll take it all."

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THE new message burned a hole in the screen of my phone; all day it had been going off with new threats. It reminded me of Randy with the way they spoke, you'd think Matt would of scared him off by now. The temptation to delete the messages and pretend i never saw them was there or even to tell Matt. Threats were directed at my parents, Penny and even Jackson; one certain text which read "I see you, i hear you and i'm always near you. Don't try and hide Zoe because i'll just kill and kill until you come out." Penny had asked Zac to give us a lift to my parents house; upon arrival i offered for him to stay for dinner i felt bad dragging him all the way out here just for him to come back later to pick us up.

So now we sat at the table in my parents home; dinner in front of me and i couldn't help but sit and pick at the food nervous as heck to have this conversation with my dad. Penny had been talking his ear off and my parents have been drilling Zac's intensions with their basically adopted daughter.

"How is your boyfriend sweetie?" Mum asks, "I hope he is a suitable man."

"Actually," Penny says before i can open my mouth, "He is a very lovely guy and he's actually funnily enoug-."

"Jackson," I blurt out, "His name is Jackson."

"Wait Jackson your friend?" My dad asks, "I thought he was gay?"

"Dad," I mumble; i glance at Zac and Penny who were giving me 'just tell them' looks, "I didn't want to tell you guys."

"Why?" Mum drops her fork, "Who is he? Some drug dealer?"

I awkwardly laugh to fill to silence followed after her questions, "It's Matt Price." I mumble.

My fathers silence is what scared me the most; i hadn't had plans on telling hell i wanted them to never find out but of course the conversation had to come up and i know Penny would of given me an ear full because she had given me a while spewl in the car on the way here about how i shouldn't hide it or be embarrassed. "Your parents are cool, they'll understand." She wasn't there when i got out of Matt's car when we pulled up to the hotel; the look on dad's face when he saw me with Matt was scary.

"He's your professor isn't he?" My father clears his throat.

"Price?" Mum grimaces, "You're dating a Price." I watch as my mum grabs dads hand on the table and squeezes it tight before looking at him, "Honey."

He nods understanding what she was talking about; whereas i sat looking back and fourth between all four of them confused as to why it's such a big deal. My dad sighs and stands up from the table.

"Zoe," He says, "Follow me."

I slowly stand up from the chair sending Penny a 'help me' look and she shakes her head. This was the long awaited conversation, the one my dad had promised me years ago and what triggered it was me dating Matt. I follow him into his office and he closes the door behind me before walking around his large wooden desk, he motions for me to sit in the chair across from him and i do as i'm told. I rest my hands in my lap feeling the intensity of the conversation rising before it has even started.

"You need to stop dating Price," was the first thing that comes from his mouth, i go to argue but his hand comes up and i lean back in my chair with a closed mouth, "Before you argue your reasons you need to understand the business both Price and I work in."

"Okay," I whisper watching him intently.

He leans forward resting his arms on his desk with a serious look on his face, "Our business isn't normal, it's not some office job like i had been telling you for years. Your mum is apart of it, your grandfather and so fourth. This work is dangerous and i had been working hard to try and keep you out of it considering usually this 'business' gets passed down to son's not daughters."