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He reaches for me, but I throw up a hand, halting him. There's more I need to ask, other secrets that might just destroy everything. And I can't have his hands on my body while I ask.
"Karina—"
"My father came to see me today."
It's like watching a storm cloud gather over him, darkening his eyes and his aura. His jaw clenches, cold rage simmering in the depths of his eyes. "Your father should have heeded my warning," he growls.
He warned my father to stay away from me?
Of course he did.
"Why did he want me to ask you about your parents, Coda?"
"Your father…" Coda trails off with a curse. "Karina, do you understand what you're asking?"
"No!" I cry, frustrated. "I don't understand. That's the problem, Coda. I'm only just realizing that you and my father have all the pieces to this twisted and are playing some game that I can't comprehend. I'm caught in the middle, and I don't even know what I'm standing in."
"I never meant for you to feel that way," he says softly, his expression pained.
"Well, I do."
His gaze meets mine again, and I see a glimmer of regret in his eyes. "Your father is more connected to my world than you realize. Twenty-five years ago, our parents were friends. Your father was a beat cop. Mine worked in the evidence room. They were skimming small amounts of drugs until things went south."
Even then, my father was corrupt. The realization hits me like a punch to the gut.
"What happened?"
Coda takes a deep breath, as if steeling himself for against painful memories. "From what I've been able to work out, your father got involved with the wrong people. Dangerous people. Mine decided enough was enough and told him that it was over. He had a wife and kid to protect and wanted out. Your father didn't trust that he'd just walk away, so he ensured he wouldn't ever be able to betray him."
My heart pounds violently against my ribcage, each beat reverberating through my body. A mixture of fear and anxiety consumes me, twisting my insides into a knot of dread. Even before he says it, I know.
"Your father murdered my parents, cara. I was hiding in the closet. I saw him do it."
My throat constricts as bile rises up, threatening to choke me. His next words hit with the force of a tidal wave, shattering any sense of safety or trust I had left.
"I've spent twenty-five years waiting to pay him back for what he did to them."
"And now you have," I whisper numbly. My father was right; I am nothing but a pawn in his twisted game of power and manipulation. Coda was using me like a weapon aimed at my father. And like a foolish lamb, I followed him blindly to the slaughter.
"Did you ever care at all, Coda?" The question is out before I can stop it, the hurt bubbling up like acid.
His gaze whips to mine—the predator snapping its attention onto prey again. I almost believe the horrified look in his eyes. Almost.
"Cara," he chokes out, dropping to his knees before me. "Every word I've ever spoken to you has been true. My heart belongs to you." He says it to manipulate, to keep me complacent, but all he does is make me realize the truth: his heart was never mine to begin with. He doesn't have one.
He wanted to destroy my dad. But he chose to destroy me instead. I was collateral damage, an acceptable loss. That's how he viewed me. An acceptable casualty in his fucking war with my father.
"Right." I swipe at my cheeks, dashing away tears I didn't even know had fallen. "You honestly expect me to believe you weren't using me to get to him?"
His jaw clenches. The muscles in his throat work as if he's swallowing the truth. "I wasn't using you, Karina. I swear it on everything I am. But can I say that your connection didn't play a role in the beginning? No, I can't. When I met you at the party, I was there to kill him."
"What changed your mind, Coda?"
"You," he whispers.
The raw honesty in his voice cuts deeper than any lie, confirming the dark suspicion my father planted. Every doubt and fear that I tried to push away erupts into a full-fledged betrayal, crushing me with its weight. One of the best nights of my life was a lie, orchestrated by a man who saw an opportunity to take something from my father and grabbed it—grabbed me.
"I was wrong, Coda," I whisper, my words choked with pain. "You're nothing like the man I thought you were. At least my father only pretended to love me in public. You let me believe the lie in private, too."
