Page 128 of Retribution
“When were you planning on telling me any of this? I tell you I love you, and you keep this shit from me. I guess this explains why you don’t feel the same.”
“I was worried you’d kill me,” I whisper.
Lorcan’s jaw turns to granite, and disgust passes across his features. “Were you? You’re still here. What does that say about you?” His annoyance bores into me like a drill. “I’m not Finn. I don’t work that way.”
“Unless you feel justified.” I raise my shoulders in a tiny shrug. “This wouldn’t feel justified?”
“Maybe. If it were anyone but you.”
I search his face, trying to figure out where this conversation is headed. He’s not full of rage anymore. The new emotion spilling out of him might be worse. His disappointment in me is clear.
“It’s fucked up.” Lorcan’s fingers tuck a few tendrils of my hair back behind my ear. “Your father. Who was he?”
I gesture to the mess of papers on the bed. “You didn’t get that far in your snooping?”
He raises one eyebrow. “Your mum died today. I haven’t seen you for hours. I was worried about you and came looking.” With a frown, he glances at the bed. “I didn’t expect this.”
“How could you? I didn’t even know it existed.”
“So you coming here, it wasn’t for revenge?”
I rub my forehead. “I didn’t realize we were connected until I saw Chad’s picture in Derry’s hallway. Then I started digging, and things slotted into place, connecting our families in ways I would never want.”
“Who is your father?”
“Axel Henhawk.”
Lorcan frowns, and then his eyes narrow. “Name doesn’t mean anything.”
“You have a file on him in your office.”
A spark of surprise strikes Lorcan’s face. “Not the only one snooping.” He takes my hand and links our fingers together.
A sigh escapes me, and we stare at each other for a minute.
“What the hell are we gonna do?” Lorcan asks.
“I want you to tell me what happened to my father. I need to know. I… If you see the file, do you think you’ll remember?”
“Maybe. What then? I’ve done things, a lot of things. And you work for the FBI.”
“They were willing to make you a deal.”
“If I turned on Finn.”
“You’ve got your confirmation.”
Lorcan frowns. “I need to be sure.”
“Or else what?”
“I help you get out, and I go down with the ship. I can’t let him take the fall for all of it.”
“Why does it matter so much whether he killed your father or not? He’s done so many terrible things.” I’m almost pleading. I can’t be a party to Lorcan’s prison sentence.
“Family is everything. You know that.” He examines me. “If he can kill our father, regardless of the reason, someday he could kill me. For the rest of my life, I’ll be waiting for the knife in my back from the one person I should trust the most.”
“Your father had his wife killed, and you trusted him.”