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“How it was important?” Seamus snaps back at me. “Your stepfather is a fucking city councilor, and you didn’t see how it was important to mention that to us?”
“Fitzy,” Niall rumbles warningly in his Reaper voice.
It might make other people tremble and cry, but Seamus flicks him a dismissive glance, and Connor shoots a warning look.
“No, Niall,” Seamus spits back at him. “Truth time, Amelia. Fuckingnow.”
I bite back a gag at hearing him use my name in that tone. Just like Hart used to when I defied him. When Ideniedhim.
“Why did you want a job at Oracle so badly?”
I shift, trying to get closer to Niall, away from Seamus’s anger.
“I thought if I worked for you, he would leave me alone.”
Seamus’s eyes narrow dangerously on my face. “You used us.”
I shake my head, squeaking. “Not like that! If it hadn’t worked and he hadn’t left me alone, I would have quit. I would have left Boston altogether.”
“Why are you hiding from your stepfather?” Connor pipes up, lounging on the edge of the sectional.
I bristle at the implication. “I’m not hiding. They know where I live. Well,” I amend, “they did before I came to live here.”
Seamus doesn’t look happy at the admission that I’m living here in Niall’s apartment.
Connor shrugs, picking a piece of non-existent fluff off the sectional, his long, suit-clad legs crossed at his ankles.
“And yet you, a girl from fancy Beacon Hill, got a job at a strip club run by the Irish Mafia so he would stay away from you.”
Clearly, the Fitzpatrick men are well-versed in the old one-two punch of a joint interrogation. It’s like they’re two pieces of a whole, moving seamlessly through their lines of questioning, bouncing off each other.
“I’m from Southie,” I snap back at Connor. “I was born and raised there. I lived there with my dad.”
“And you what, justvisitedyour mother in Beacon Hill?” Seamus interjects. I flush darkly.
“I lived there half the time,” I grit out, balling my hands into fists. “Until I was fifteen. Then they let my dad have full custody.”
Seamus and Connor blink in surprise, and Niall stiffens again.
“Hart Remington let his stepdaughter move full-time toSouthie?” Seamus’s voice drips with disbelief. “That wouldn’t have been a good look for the esteemed councilor. Why would he allow such a thing?”
I shift in Niall’s lap, clearing my throat.
“There was an incident,” I admit with a whisper. Niall is suddenly snarling again.
“What kind of incident, lass?” he asks, his voice cold and controlled. I can hear the suppressed fury in it, making me shiver.
“I…uh….” I squeeze my eyes shut and bury my face in his chest. “I took some pills. Like, a lot of pills,” I mumble into his chest.
There is a hiss of the sharp intake of breath. So very gently, Niall puts his fingers under my chin, tilting my head up so he can see my eyes.
“Why,amhuirnín? What happened?” His emerald green eyes are soft like I’ve never seen them before. My own eyes well with tears.
“He….” I whisper, swallowing down the bile that threatens, my voice wavering. “He used to come into my bedroom at night.” My voice catches as uncontrolled rage rolls across Niall’s face. “I didn’t know any other way to stop it all.”
“Mellie.” Seamus’s voice cuts through the silence, ice cold. “Did he touch you?”
I chew on my lip, staring at my hands where my fingers twist around each other.
