“Your car was smashed up.”
“What did you just say?” His voice almost exploded through the phone.
“You’re not joking, are you? That’s the soul ferrying car! Who’s insane enough to touch it?”
I calmly gave him a rough account of what happened, including Emily’s situation.
My father roared,
“Send me your location right now. I’ll dispatch people immediately!”
Before I could answer, Tony noticed me. Thinking I was begging for money, he snatched the phone.
“Hey, you must be the kid’s old man, right? You’ve got twenty minutes to cough up a million, or I start chopping off your boy’s fingers, one by one.”
My dad froze for a few seconds, probably stunned by such arrogance.
“So you’re the bastard who smashed my car and threatened to cripple my son?”
Tony didn’t realize he was already doomed. He smirked.
“Damn right. Now stop wasting my time. You paying up or not?”
Even over the phone, I could feel Dad’s fury.
“Pay? A million’s too cheap. How about I send you a hundred million instead?”
“Enough to buy your life.”
Tony sneered, caught off guard that Dad wasn’t backing down.
“Old man, you think you’re hot shit? You ever even seen a hundred million in cash? If you’ve got it, I’ll take it. Bring it to 18th Street in Chicago if you dare!”
He hung up, then grabbed his woman and kissed her roughly, basking in his bravado.
