“No! No, get away.” I take a staggering half step backwards. “We’re done. Do you hear me? I’m done with this. Luke didn’t—he wouldn’t—I can’t?—“
“He did.” Liam’s tone is cold and dead. His face is hard. “You can’t live in denial forever.’
I get out of there. Hal tries to talk to me, but I blow past her. I don’t even know what I’d say: sorry about that scene, but my husband accused my brother of treason against our crime familyand now I’m pretty sure he’s going to die, it’s all fucked up, won’t happen again??
I burst onto the sidewalk, gasping for air, and I’m moving before I have time to think. It’s hard to see as I order an Uber. The driver doesn’t speak as he takes me across town. I’m hugging myself, memories swirling and slamming against each other, but I keep coming back to Liam’s cold, dead face, the harsh gleam in his eye like I was being a hysterical moron. I taste bile and metal in my throat, and I want to scream.
My father’s in his office. His secretary tries to stop me but I push past her and slam open the door. He glances up, brow furrowed, the phone crooked against shoulder and ear as he’s typing on his computer. “I’ll call you back,” he says, eyes narrowing at me as he hangs up. “Regan? What are you?—“
“It was Luke,” I say, the words coming out like blood from a wound. Dad’s eyes flit past me and he waves dismissively. I hear the door shut again.
“What was Luke?” he says, calmly, like he’s talking to a child having a temper tantrum.
“The files Kieren took. There was no way he had access to all that data, remember? It felt wrong from the beginning, like how would Kieren even know where to look?”
“I assumed he got it from you. Perhaps you left open an email, or he was looking over your shoulder?—“
“No, absolutely not. I was always careful when it came to the company’s books. I knew, Dad, I’ve always known how crooked this damn place is, and I wasn’t that stupid. You trusted Kieren, but I didn’t trustanyone.”
“This place isn’t crooked, Regan. I think you need to take some time off. Get yourself together. Spend a few days with your new husband?—“
“No, stop it, don’t dismiss me. It wasLuke, Dad, Luke’s the one who told Kieren where to look, Luke’s the one who stabbed us in the back.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not fucking wrong! Liam told me, Kieren admitted it!”
“Then I would’ve heard this from someone else. The Whelans?—“
“Are you that dense? I’m telling you the truth, and all you can say is you’d believe it if it were coming from someone else?”
Dad’s hands come down hard on the desk. The phone rattles from its cradle and falls to the floor. “My son wouldnotdo something like that, do you hear me, Regan? You’re being hysterical and I want you tostop.”
My jaw opens in astonishment.
I shouldn’t be surprised by his reaction. What did I expect? My father to suddenly take me seriously as a person? He’s been belittling me for as long as I can remember. Why would he change?
No, it isn’t him that’s different?—
I’m the one who grew up.
Now I see it so clearly it hurts. All the ways I’ve been like my father, or at least the ways I’ve molded myself into the image he wanted to see. The perfect daughter, hiding behind her flawless facade, staying safe and happy and never once taking a single risk that might actually fulfill me.
Until I met Liam.
That night standing near Kieren’s car changed everything. It showed me I didn’t have to be the perfect daughter, the ideal mafia princess, keeping her mouth shut and carrying on the family’s secrets for her tyrant father.
I could be more than that.
I could be my own person.
The truth lands hard, all the ways I’ve failed. I wanted to save Luke from this life while also forcing myself into a little box. How was he supposed to find his way free of this if I couldn’t even do it for myself?
I’ve been so stupid and blind.
“You arewrong, Dad. You’re wrong and you’re going to get your son killed because you can’t see it.”
“How dare you talk back to me?”
