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“I think you trained me well… I think there’s only one person left on this earth you’d sacrifice anything for, everything for…” Danny said. “That’s what you did. You sold us down the river so you could have her.” Danny’s chin bobbed her way, though he didn’t take his attention from the stranger behind her. “You betrayed your own for the mistake you made twenty-seven years ago.”
The hand on her mouth loosened just a fraction. “I don’t believe it,” the man behind her said, his tone deep, volume low. “You wouldn’t.”
Danny smiled, though it wasn’t a joyful, happy sight. The sick twist of his lips was beyond any rage, something embedded it in the hatred that changed his whole demeanor.
“If there was anyone…” Danny said in a rumbling growl. “Anyone who could do it… Anyone who could track them down… Precious Pandora…”
The hand fell from her mouth to grab on and plant her back on the wall. In the spin, her hair twined around her head, catching on her wet eyes and trembling lips. Nothing made sense. What the hell was going on?
“Daire…” the stranger whispered, peering into her.
“It’s in the eyes more than anywhere else and believe me, old man, I looked everywhere.”
The guy, whoever he was, kept his hand on her shoulder, holding her still as he scrutinized her features. Drawing in a shaking breath, Tess didn’t know what he was looking for or why he was so awestruck.
“One…” the guy muttered and suddenly turned to Danny. “Carrie?”
Becoming somber, Danny lowered his gun. He blinked and swallowed before shaking his head once. Her attacker gasped in a brief sound of shocked pain. Shoving away, he stormed toward his son, fury in his gait.
Danny raised his gun again. “It wasn’t me,” he asserted, fixated on the man stalking his way. “It wasn’t me!”
The other guy stopped. “Set?”
Danny shook his head. “I don’t know who, but it was no accident… The vehicle was sabotaged, she wouldn’t have stood a chance in that shit-heap anyway…” The stranger’s hand scraped across his stubble. “She asked for you.” What did he just say? Her attention rose. That couldn’t—he couldn’t mean… “At the end, she asked for you.”
The guy’s hand fell from his face. “What did she…?”
The gun went down in time with his chin until Danny was fixating on some spot on the doorframe, looking at no one. “She said your name… I told her who I was… She remembered me.” He gritted his teeth, rolling them over each other like he loathed the words. “It doesn’t matter—”
“Like fuck it doesn’t matter,” the stranger said, striding over, swiping the gun aside to grab Danny’s shoulder.
“It doesn’t fucking matter,” Danny said, smacking the guy’s arm away and backing off. “What matters is you lied to her, just like you lied to me.”
“I didn’t fucking lie. My word is steel!”
In a flash, those words struck her deep. Her lips parted, not that it mattered, she stopped breathing. “Oh my God,” she whispered. The guy whipped around to look at her. “You’re Hades… It’s you. You’re H.”
“Yeah.” Danny’s voice came from somewhere behind the bewildered stranger. “I hope you’re both very happy together.”
He appeared around H, the door in his sights, still refusing to look at her. With one step, Tess slid along the wall to block the door handle just as he reached for it. His gaze collided with hers.
“You lied to me,” she said, her lips dry. “All this time. You lied to me.”
“Yeah,” he said, his brow moving just a fraction when his chin rose.
Looking at her had been unintentional. He was avoiding her; he’d never done that. Discovering exactly what he was capable of was a hard lesson that was going to take time to process.
“All this time, you knew,” she said, trying to figure it out by saying the words aloud. “All this time you knew who H was, you knew C.”
“Carrie,” Danny said, still evading her gaze. “Your mother’s real name is Carrie-Anne… Carrie-Anne Tulay, but it doesn’t matter.”
Because she was dead. Every part of her chilled so fast, her fingers went numb. “Sabotaged… You meant my mother. You were with her… at the end.”
His attention drifted down to hers. What did that look in his eye mean? She’d cried in his arms. Laid herself bare for him. Given him her grief and all the time he…
“You asshole,” she whispered. A surge of anger smacked her hard. “You fucking asshole!” Slapping both hands to his chest, she shoved hard, wishing she could hurt him, but he didn’t move. “Why? Why would you—”
“I’ll move you if you don’t get out the way,” Danny said, an indifferent shutter closing over him.
