Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t,” I stressed, suddenly scared. “Treason will almost certainly be on the table for this. You got a Garda killed. The Irish will see to it you go to prison. But better that than to lose your life.”
Ronan nodded.
“I’ll contact my people when I get back to the hotel and make the arrangements.”
“Okay,” Ronan agreed and turned for the door.
I was on him fast, grabbing his bicep, spinning him around to face me. “Listen to me. I’m gonna leave, and you come clean with Sara right fuckin’ now.”
“No, Jared, I—”
“Yes,” I yelled, taking hold of both arms and shaking him hard. “She needs to know she and her child are in danger because you cheated on her. And if you don’t tell her the second I walk outta here, then I will when I get back here tomorrow.”
“He’s my son too,” he said raggedly, broken.
“I didn’t say he wasn’t, but you weren’t thinking of either of them when you fucked this girl and blew up your life.”
“You sonofa—”
“Fuck you,” I growled at him. “How dare you do this to her, and to your son. I can’t even look at— You tell her,” I insisted, taking hold of his throat. “She’s my friend too, and I will not keep something so vile from her. Do you understand me?”
He shoved me away, stepped back, and I could see it all over his face, how furious he was. But then, that quickly, it leached out of him. I saw him deflate right in front of me.
“You’re right. I will.”
“Swear to me.”
“I swear.”
“I will keep you all safe, but Sara has to know why.”
He nodded.
We left his office and went into the living room, where pie and coffee were waiting. Sara was sitting on the couch, and when she saw me, I got a warm smile.
“Everything all right? I thought I heard yelling in there.”
“Just giving your husband a little professional advice.”
“Are you not staying for coffee?”
“I can’t. I gotta get back. I have an early morning, but I’ll stop by tomorrow, same time as tonight. Okay?”
“Okay.” Her eyes narrowed, studying me.
I said my goodbyes and left, walking the short distance to the MTR station. As soon as I could breathe through my anger, I called Darius.
“What?” he asked when he picked up. “Are you coming to the bar or not?”
“Not. I’ve got a problem.”
Since he was actually the one with the contact at the embassy, I laid everything out for him. I needed him.
“He’s a traitor,” he said flatly when I was done. “He betrayed his oath.”
“I know.” It was killing me. One of my best friends was shamelessly corrupt. That he had been responsible for the death of an Irish policeman was eating a hole in my brain.
“We’ll fix it,” Darius told me. “But he’s finished.”
And I knew that.
“Thank you,” Owen said, sitting up and turning on the chaise to look at me. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“He was a good man until right there at the end,” I said, my breath shaky.
Owen nodded, smiling at me. “I remember that night, running out to see you, to shake your hand. You listened all through dinner about school and swimming.”
“You were so happy.” I smiled at him.
“I was,” he agreed. “Now tell me about her…and me.”
I shook my head. “You know we—”
“It’s necessary, Jared. We’ve been dancing around this for years. You’ve never told me everything, and it’s time.”
I searched his face.
“I’m safe,” he stated, taking hold of my hand. “So are you. And we’ll figure out who’s behind all this, but it’s like Dante and Darius were discussing with all of us last night—whoever this is came out of that time with me and my parents. Whatever this is, it has to do with that.”
He was right. Dante had come to that conclusion weeks ago, and Darius had agreed, and now, basically, we were waiting both for me to heal and for the other shoe to drop.
“Hong Kong and Macau,” Dante told me the night before, sitting beside me on the couch, Darius staring at me from a computer screen. “That is where your connection to Asia is.”
The memory hurt. “No… This can’t have anything to do with—”
“You just don’t want to remember because it’s painful,” Darius pointed out. “Well, some memories are, and just because you’ve shoved them so far down that it’s hard to retrieve them doesn’t mean the events themselves aren’t connected to this.”
“There’s nothing else it can be, and you know it,” Dante insisted. “Now we just have to figure out what this is about.”
“It’s time,” Owen said, bringing me back to the present, using his best Rafiki voice from The Lion King.
I scowled at him.
“What? I’m trying to add some levity.”
I scrubbed my face with my hands.
“Look at me, Jared.”
Dropping my hands, I looked at him.