AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A gun was hidden in one of the leather-bound editions across the library. All it would take was a silenced little pop and Henri could have the peace he deserved, and I could ensure he didn’t hurt anyone else.
I went to stand.
Henri muttered, “My bargain to myself was…I’d ask for help before it was too late. From the only person I have left. So…I’m asking you. Brother to brother, stranger to stranger…c-can you help me?”
My legs refused to move.
Henri never looked away.
The imploring desperation in him made my hardened heart kick. I shut down any empathy I had toward him. I nodded, eyeing up the book that housed my murder weapon. “I’ll help by—”
“Q?” The double doors cracked open as Tess stuck her head in. “Is everything okay?”
Fuck, not now.
She always did have the worst fucking timing.
Always messing with my plans by making me fall in love with her and proving I wasn’t so unredeemable, after all.
My eyes narrowed on my delectable wife. “Not now, Tess.”
“But—”
“I said…not now.”
Her eyes fought mine. I had no doubt I’d get a tongue-lashing later, but I didn’t want her hearing this. Seeing this. Not because she couldn’t tolerate the darkness Henri spoke about but because she’d cajole me into letting him stay.
She’d force me to welcome him into the family.
She’d command me to give him somewhere safe.
She’d do that because…he was me.
This fucking stranger was me.
And it twisted me up in ways I didn’t want to acknowledge.
I want him gone.
Now.
“I’ll be out in a minute, Tess. Go.”
Clenching her teeth, she paused for a moment then obediently drew the doors closed, leaving us alone again.
Sighing, I looked at my half-sibling. Perhaps killing him would be an overreaction. Eviction would have to do. “Look, I’m sorry for your loss and for everything you’re dealing with, but you wasted a trip coming here. It’s time for you to leave—”
“Wait!” Henri shot to his feet, towering over me where I sat. His black shirt and jeans sucked up the light in the room like a dead star.
Ever so slowly, calculatingly, I stood until our eyes were in line, our hearts at the same height. “Don’t ever think you can command me in my own home, boy.”
“Boy? I’m only eight years younger than you.”
“Just because you saw my date of birth online doesn’t mean—”
“I know because my mother told me you were sixteen when you shot your father. That you freed them. That you did everything you could to get them home to their own families.”
I froze.
