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“I’m going to start by saying that you’re safe here. Only the Connollys know about this place. Stepanov and your brother can’t find you here.”
Emotion pushes up my throat, and I drop my stare to my hands to keep him from seeing the tears of relief swimming in my eyes. “Thank you.”
“To answer your question—no, I don’t bring women here. No, we don’t use this cabin like the shop. And if you want to stay here, you’ll never bring up the shop again.”
I drag in a stuttering breath. “I think we should clear the air about that, Heath.”
His blond eyebrow hitches up so far I wouldn’t be surprised if it shoots into his hairline. “Oh?” The single syllable comes out flat and singes me with fear.
But I’m not about to let this matter go. If we’re going to stay here together—for God knows how long—then I don’t want to be dancing around the real matter, which is my father’s betrayal.
“I think it’s important that you know I had nothing to do with what my father did to your family.”
The cold expression on his rugged features are foreign to me. He is no longer the boy I knew and loved. This is the face of a true mobster.
A truemonster.
“I didn’t know that my father planned to turn informant.”
“And if you had? What would you have done?”
“I don’t know. Tried to talk some sense into him.”
“You were sixteen, Serenity. Do you think he was gonna listen to you?”
“I-I don’t know. But I would have tried.”
“It’s in the past.”
What he doesn’t say is that the betrayal might be behind us, but it was far from forgotten. Not by him nor me nor the rest of the Connollys.
“Did you call your father just a bit ago?” I ask him.
His lips tighten, stretching over his teeth in an expression that is much more familiar to me. But this time the corner of his mouth tips into a snarl. “He doesn’t need to hear this—yet. I talked to Linc.”
“I see,” I say quietly.
He issues a rough laugh and jumps to his feet. In two strides he’s standing at the fireplace, facing away from me. Tension hums through his cut muscles.
“You don’t see shit, Serenity. You always thought you knew what the hell was going on, but you never did.”
I leap up from the sofa and face him, anger simmering through me. “You think you’re the only person who suffered after what my old man did? At least your life wasn’t ruined!”
He balls his fists and shoots me a glare that should frighten me, but I only draw to my full height and glare right back. “My family suffered plenty from what your father did to us. The FBI coming in and out of our house for months. We scrambled to keep my father out of prison, Serenity.”
I open my mouth, but his sharp words cut across me.
“Fuck! I’m already regretting this. I didn’t trust your father, I don’t trust your brother and now I’m not even sure if I should trustyou.”
My eyelids flutter at the claim. “You think I’m here for round two against the Connollys? You think I’m here to destroy you since my father failed to?”
His eyes flash with anger. “Let’s get one thing straight. We aren’t friends. Your father turned into a witness for the state to save himself. Good men took the fall to keep my father from going to prison. Men who are still paying the price, who will never get to see their sons grow up and have sons of their own. You know why? Because they’reloyal.”
I storm up to him and jab a finger into his hard chest. “You didn’t even give me a chance to show how loyal I was to the Connollys! You kicked me out of our apartment and I couldn’t even get a part-time job scrubbing floors in this town after you made sure to drag our name through the mud! Did you even give a thought to what would happen to me? No, you did not. Because you and your family don’t care about anything but—”
His fingers bite into my jaw, cutting off my tirade. The bruising pinch would have ripped a cry from my lips…
But then he slams his mouth over mine.
