“Where is she?” I asked, causing my father’s gaze to snap back to me.
There, for a fraction of a second, the ugly monster flared to life behind his eyes, showing how much I’d gotten under his skin. But in a blink, his mask was back in place.
“I don’t know,” he replied coolly. “It’s been such a long time, and my memory ain’t what it used to be.”
My jaw clenched as I bit the anger back.
“Fine,” I said, standing up straight. I turned to Silva, who very discreetly gave me a look of warning, like he thought I hadn’t tried hard enough. “Let me out. I’m done.”
Reluctantly, Silva raised his hand to knock on the door.
“I’ll have your visitation cut,” I said, hating that I was using my mother and my sisters that way. Even if it was an empty threat, it still churned my stomach to say it. “Mom and the twins won’t be able to—”
“That’s enough of that,” my father stated coldly.
I didn’t know why my mother was a soft spot for him, or why he seemed to care about the twins more than he cared about me or Braden. I probably didn’t want to know.
I had a hunch it would get to him given that Mom came to visit him several times a year and brought the twins, even though I’d told her it wasn’t a good idea on several occasions.
Or maybe he was just desperate for those visits.
Whatever it was, I had him.
Empty threat or not, I had him.
“Sit down,” he said with an edge in his tone I was all too familiar with. It was the one that had me fixing my attitude really quickly as a child. And though it sent me back to memories I didn’t want to relive and threatened to send a shiver down my spine, I pushed it down just to deny him the pleasure of seeing that he got to me. “You leave your mother and your sisters out of this and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
I turned around, my face a blank mask, and took the seat across from him.
I looked the monster in the eye and resisted the urge to smile.
For the first time in… probably my entire life, the man in front of me didn’t seem larger than life. The image of him in my mind shrunk until it dissolved into nothing but the tiniest of dust particles, then it faded away.
I would get closure for those families. Maybe it would give them some sense of peace. I would give the victims a true resting place, one where they could be remembered.
He was going to go back to his little cell and rot, having nothing else to hold over anyone.
While I was going to go back to a house that was full of warmth. To the man who lived in that house and loved me just as much as I loved him. To a family that might not have shared blood, but was the real, true definition of what a family should be.
***
I blindly followed behind Agent Silva as he lead me out of the room, not even aware of where we were headed. The last three hours had passed like I was in a hazy dream, and I still felt like I was stuck in it. It didn’t seem like we had gone far when he opened another door.
I blinked into the dimly lit room, not believing what I was seeing.
I opened my mouth to say…something, but I was so shocked and relieved to see Ford standing before me that I couldn’t even speak.
“My son might have mentioned that you’d probably like him to be here even if you’d never say so,” Silva said, causing me to snort. This confirmed it, Keller was officially one of my non-blood brothers. We looked out for each other, and this was looking out on a level I couldn’t even explain.
The door shut, leaving just the two of us.
Ford walked over and wrapped his arms around me. I fell into him, using his strength to hold me up. I buried my face in the crook of his neck.
“Wearing a visitor badge is weird,” Ford muttered grumpily.
His comment caught me off guard, making me choke out a wet laugh, and I wasn’t even embarrassed by it. It was everything I needed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
