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Of course they hadn’t. The old man wouldn’t resurface until the time was right. He was as sharp as a tack. He knew how to play the system better than anyone.
I didn’t want Molloy to have to hear any of this. I didn’t want that man tainting her life any more than he already had.
“They’ll find him, Joey,” Darren continued to say. To fucking lie. “The Gards are scouring the countryside looking for him. He won’t get away with it. Not this time.”
“Not this time.” I repeated his words slowly, my gaze flicking from Darren to Mam. “What makes you think this time is different?”
All along they had been in contact with each other. Never once in the past five and a half years had he attempted to reach out to me.
When I thought about Shannon and how my disappearing for five years would affect her, I physically recoiled. I could never leave them like that. Knowing that he could and did made me so fucking resentful that I was practically choking on my hatred.
I knew he had to get out, we all did, but it didn’t change how it all rolled out. Now he was here, acting like the fucking savior of all things Lynch, and I despised him for it.
“Because Mam is ready to leave him.” Darren’s tone was laced with sincerity, which assured me that he truly believed the shit he was spurting. “This time she’s really ready, Joe.”
“She’s not ready,” I replied flatly, ignoring the way my mother nodded eagerly like a loyal dog. “She won’t leave him until she’s in a box, and you’re a fool if you believe otherwise.”
“That’s not true, Joey,” she tried to coax, closing the space between us and taking the spot my girlfriend had vacated. “I’ve been to the court. There was an emergency hearing. I’ve been granted a safety order.”
Words.
They were just words.
I’d heard them all a million times before.
They meant as little now as at any other time.
Promises made, promises broken.
It was bullshit.
“And you?” I turned my attention to the turncoat bastard I hadn’t laid eyes on since puberty hit me. “What’s your angle?”
Darren’s brow furrowed. “My angle?”
“What do you want?” I asked, tone void of all emotion. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m back to help,” he said, roughly clearing his throat. “I came home for my family, Joe.”
“Your family.”
“Yeah, my family.” Tears filled his eyes. “I missed you so much, kid.”
There was so much resentment built up inside of me that I was honestly afraid to open my mouth out of fear of what might slip out. It was a good thing that I was heavily medicated in this moment or I might have lunged for the prick.
“Have you spoken to the Gards?” Mam asked, pulling a tissue from the sleeve of her cardigan and wiping her nose.
“Why?”
“Because I think we need to get our stories aligned,” Darren answered for her. Another man answering for her. Another fucking boss. “We need to figure out how we swing this to the Gards.”
“There’s no story to align,” I said. “I won’t lie for either one of them. Never again. As far as I’m concerned, she’s as responsible for what happened to Shannon as our old man is. So you two can swing whatever the fuck you want, but leave me out of any bullshit fabrications.”
“Come on, Joey, I know you’re hurting right now, but you’re not the only victim here. Mam is a victim, too.”
“Did I say I was a victim?”
“No, I’m saying that you’re a victim—”
