Fine. Maybe it was. That was low on the list of priorities and insignificant.
Xander Cage might be his name, but what was he? Maybe that was the right question to ask.
A cop.
Maybe that was it. Cops and the feds were always trying to investigate Pa.
“Are you a cop, or fed?”
“No.”
Not that… so what was he?
“What are you?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
There… I was on the right track. I was inclined to believe he was lying until he said that. The question wasn’t who he was, it waswhathe was. That was the key here.What.
“Why not? Why can’t you tell me?”
“I just can’t.”
“You’ve come for my father? Is that what you’re doing? That guy said there was a mission. The man with the eye patch,Ethan. He said something about a mission.”
“Yes.”
So, who did I know that did missions? Xander was an ex-marine. Or was he? Maybe he wasn’t an ex. Or, maybe he was something else.
“An agent…” I surmised and when the blue of his eyes clouded I knew I was totally on to something. What was worse was I knew that if I was right then Pa was up to something really,reallybad. Worse than his usual stuff and it explained everything.
His behavior, the shootout, the freak out behavior he’d had over the last few weeks.
Funny how it all coincided with Xander’s arrival. Still, Xander came on the scene when Pa’s knights were killed weeks ago. I’d be willing to bet that was the perfect opening for him to step into our lives.
“What’s going on? What has he done? My father, what did he do this time?”
He shook his head at me and sadness filled his eyes. “Jia, I can’t. I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you anymore than you know.”
“But …you’ll kill him?” I had to factor that in.
There were so many people who wanted my father dead. Too many to count. So many I didn’t know about. A lot he’d kept from me.
I knew it would happen one day though. I figured either I’d see it happen or I’d get a call.
I didn’t want to see it happen, like to Ma.
I didn’t want to witness the death of another parent.
It would be different with Pa. I knew that. I definitely knew that because my father was old Lucifer himself.
The man before me was a devil who lied to me, but Pa was worse than anybody I knew.
Pa was the worst man I knew. I’d seen him kill mindlessly and only weeks ago for his stupid recruitment. If Xander killed him he might deserve it. He might deserve it for a lot of reasons. Including the fact that just yesterday he told me he’d kill Xander if I continued to see him.
Pa was going to do everything I never wanted and in the crudest sardonic of ways, by sending me to Europe like I’d wanted but as Armand’s wife. Pa had done so much to me in the last few weeks, enough to make me hate him forever.
But, he was my father. He was evil, pure evil, but he was my father.
