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“Why?” I hissed, the words blistering in the back of my throat. “At least tell us that? Why did you do this?”
“I—” he started, then stopped, glancing at Helene. “I’d already had Helene when I met your mother, Ryth,” he said carefully. “By the time I found out what was happening and tried to stop it, it was already too late. They had my DNA…and they were already using it.”
Ryth burst out in tears, which only triggered her brothers, causing them to surround her.
“That doesn’t make sense,” London snapped, his eyes wide with fear. “You and Hale. I just don’t see it. You’re not even in his circles. You’re not like him.”
He meant Jack wasn’t a sick, depraved motherfucker and he wasn’t. One look into his eyes and you saw that. Jack Castlemaine, or Weylyn King, or whoever the hell this man was, wasn’t even in the same world as Hale.
“He doesn’t just hate you,” London snarled. “He wants to tear your world apart…” He glanced at me. “We need to know why?” He swung back to Jack. “At least give us that.”
But Jack scowled, stared at the concrete floor, and in a careful voice he said. “I took something he wanted. That’s all I can say. That’s all I will say.” He lifted his head and met my stare. “For now, until I have the opportunity to explain this privately to my daughters.”
Me.
He wanted to explain it to me.
London flinched, straightening his spine.
He didn’t like that idea at all.
I shook my head, glancing at Carven. But he just stared at Helene.
“That’s how you got out of The Order.” Caleb gripped Ryth protectively, shooting a glare at Helene. “The explosion…that was you?”
She gave a slow nod. “Yes.”
“Jesus.” He dragged his fingers through his hair.
“We need to find him, Hale and the others,” Jack urged. “We need to find them all before it’s too late.”
“What the fuck do you think we’ve been doing?” London glanced toward Colt. “Some of us have had reason to hunt the bastard down.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Ryth whispered, her voice thick. “Why couldn’t you tell me the truth?”
Jack took a step forward, his voice etched with pain. “Because I couldn’t trust your mother. That’s the truth. That day when I left you…the last time, before our house burned to the ground, I was getting you out.” He turned to look at me. “Helene had made plans for the four of us to just disappear.”
“Disappear?” I whispered.
“Yes.” He met my stare. “You, Ryth, Helene, and me. I would’ve taken you away and explained it all. But somehow, Ryth’s mother found out. The next second, I was being arrested and thrown into jail.”
“My mother?” I started. “Who is she?”
There was a tortured flicker in his eyes. “I never knew her. Hale had my DNA and had impregnated a number of women. They didn’t survive…only you.” He inhaled hard, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “I lost control of the information, only finding you years later. Well, after you were…” he glanced at London. “Monitored.”
There was a look of pride in London’s stare and the tight twitch of his lips said it all.
I beat you.
Everything with these men had to be a goddamn pissing contest until that gleam faded away. “Now Hale is out there, planning his new attack,” London warned.
“I know,” Jack answered, turning to Helene. “That’s why we’re here.”
She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a set of folded photos, handing them over to her father. Our father. The words filled me as he unfolded the images. “These were taken at six a.m. yesterday morning.”
My pulse thundered as we all surged forward as one. My gaze was fixed on those images in Helene’s hand. They were dark…really dark. A man stepped out of an open car door, heading to another. But he’d turned his head at the last moment and that’s when the camera took the snapshot…of Haelstrom Hale.
It was him.
