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“What? Did he find you out? Find out you were—”
“He wouldn’t hear me! Wouldn’t hear what was best for the family, for the city, for—”
“You. Let’s not fuck around, Superintendent. You wanted money.”
“I wanted to win!”
“To prove you were—”
“My father wouldn’t listen!” Just like she wouldn’t either. The man was losing control of his own family; he couldn’t run a department if he couldn’t keep his own people straight. “He needed to listen! He’d be alive if he’d just listened to me!”
Spinning around, he shoved half the contents off the mantle, scattering them across the hearth and floor.
“You feel that, Ronald,” Conn murmured, though not to her. “Feel yourself losing your grip? It’s over. You’re through.”
“No,” her father exhaled. “No. No!” Spinning around, he swept something up from the mantle. It wasn’t until the silencer barrel was aimed right at her that the firearm took shape. “You will listen to me, Sersha.”
“I’m listening.” Her hands opened and arms rose when Conn tried to move around her. “What do you want? You want me to listen? I’m listening.”
“You’re a McLeod.”
“Okay.” Appeasement could be their only hope. “Whatever you want.”
“Macushla.” Conn yanked her hard, forcing her behind him. “You want to aim that at someone, aim it at me.”
“You took my family. You took my authority.”
“Aye,” Conn said, head held high.
What the hell was he doing?
“Now you force me to hurt my own daughter. Sersha, get out here. Move over.” He gestured with the weapon and she stepped out, but Conn went with her, using himself as a shield. “Get out of the way!”
“You shoot, you better kill me, Superintendent. The second you pointed that at my girl, you signed your death warrant. I told you, I warned you, Macushla is the primary McDade concern.”
“You corrupted her!”
“Aye, you’re fucking right. Every damn night, I corrupt her over and over,” Conn snarled. “I’ve fucked your little girl every way a man can. Think a man like me hears no? She’s my whore. Begs for it, begs on her knees, worships my cock every fucking minute.”
She needed him to stop. “Conn!”
Conn wanted to redirect her father’s anger, to put himself in the firing line and save her. She couldn’t breathe. He had to stop. How could she make this stop?
“Doesn’t matter now. The McDades will come for you,” Conn growled, taunting him. “Put a bullet in me or her, they’ll make it their mission to take you down.”
“I am Superintendent!”
“This city is run on power and influence, not job title. You couldn’t convince your own daughter to stand with you. Your father fought against your pathetic authority.”
“And died for it. He wouldn’t listen. I talked, I told him; he wouldn’t listen to me!”
The quiver in her throat hit with a clarity that fired heat behind her eyes. “It was you,” she whispered, inching aside to look her father in the eye. “We knew you knew but… He let you in. His son. He welcomed you into his sanctuary and—”
“He made his choice! He wouldn’t keep quiet! He found out Silvio and I had an arrangement—”
“He learned you were dirty.” God, a lump rose in her throat. “You killed your own father. You killed him for…”
Being righteous. Being right. Standing up for himself and the city.
