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“Why does Sophia have Bishop money in her dance studio bank accounts?”
Sophia’s brows shoot high enough that she almost loses them in her hair. “Come again?”
My blood surges hot at her shock. The truth is coming. It’s all coming. “I have my own way to find out information. I’ve studied you all, and when I happened across money that I know damn well doesn’t belong to a dance school for toddlers, I was forced to look deeper. It’s not just a lot of money, Sophia. I can trace it straight back to accounts that once belonged to Colum. So explain to me how you came to accept money from the man you claim to despise.”
“You ran me?” She slowly lowers the lid on her laptop and leans forward. “Youwere in my data?”
“Yes. I was in all of your data. I didn’t ask you out yesterday because you’re pretty. I asked because your name popped up in my searches way too many fucking times.”
“I mean, that’s better than hitting on her because she’s sexy.” Jay’s brows furrow. “I guess.”
“He thought you were nothing more than the brainless bimbo of this family, and the Bishops were hiding their money in your accounts.”
I turn to Libby with a snarl. “Are you done? Anything you else wanna share with them?”
“Someone’s gotta share something!” She thrusts a hand in their direction. “Just tell them already. This doesn’t have to be as scary as it is. Instead of brains, you’re all using testosterone, and,surprise surprise, the women are the only people here actually speaking.” She looks to Jay. “You’re a pussy too. You call him on his silence, but you’re not saying shit. You’re just making threats. And you.” She looks to Kane. “You give Jess the grumpy eyes because she speaks, but your hands shake, your eyes can’t move away from Gu–” She scrunches her face with exasperation. “Gah! Theo. You can’t stop looking at him. Why not?”
He says nothing, which enrages Libby more.
“Because you’re scared! You’re all scared, and when a guy gets scared, he hides behind a bad attitude. Justspeakalready.”
“Why were you in my data?”
“Why are you in possession of Colum’s money?” I counter. Sophia isn’t stupid at all. She might be the smartest of them all. “There is no way you can explain that and remain innocent.”
“Well…” She hesitates and glances to Libby. “Cop or friend? Off the record?”
Libby’s eyes cloud as she meets Sophia’s gaze. She’s a cop, and to be acleancop, she needs to take admissions of guilt straight back to work. She needs to follow the law to the letter, and not be the cop that will brush things under the rug.
She craves distance from her father’s reputation, but she’s already broken laws, and continues to do so the longer she sits in this boardroom. She’s an accessory to crimes simply by hearing the things that are being said and not reporting them.
Her eyes come to mine. She’s weak, struggling, and scared of undoing all of the hard work she’s put in over the years. There’s a massive part of me tempted to let her off the hook. I could stand and walk away. I could forget the anger I feel toward Colum Bishop and all of his sons. I could go back to the world I created, and simply pretend these people don’t exist. They won’t come looking for me, and if I stay away, we never have to cross paths again.
But as I sit merely six feet from men that look painfully similar to the man that raped and murdered my mother, I can’t. I’m choosing me over her, and for that, I’m a fucking asshole.
“Libby.” I grab her hand and draw her eyes around. “You need to leave. Walk out of this room and remain the person you worked hard to become.”
Her eyes sparkle with tears she refuses to let fall. “I’m already involved. I already know enough that my conscience doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Of course it matters. You don’t know anything that you have to report yet.”
“I know heaps!” she snaps. “I know that you came here planning to implicate and kill Bishops.”
Kane scoots his chair back so fast that the metal feet screech against the floor. From sitting with empty hands, to standing with a nine-millimeter Glock pointing at my face, he manages to move everyone back to be shielded behind himself, then his eyes burn.
Not at me. But at Libby.
“Get up and leave. Both of you.”
“No, we’re not leaving.” Libby snatches her hands from mine. “We are not leaving. Not now that we’ve come this far.”
“You said you were here to talk. You said that you weren’t bringing trouble to my family.”
“We’re not! We’re talking, aren’t we?”
“You came to ‘implicate and kill Bishops’.”His voice is mocking. “You said it your damn self. So which is it, Tate? Is history repeating itself? Is a Bishop gonna have a problem with another Tate? Because I will take you the fuck out.”
“No!” She pushes my hand off and begins to stand, only to drop down again when Kane shakes his head.
