“Why?”
Why would Dad risk everything?
“These were bad people. Involved in people trafficking and drug supply chains. You name it, they had a hand in every aspect of the underworld.”
“The files?” I say, locking eyes with Pen.
“Are the files we thought were lost. We assumed they’d been taken.”
I sit upright. “Taken?”
She goes to look at Elijah.
“Don’t look at him. Look at me. Enough of the half-truths, Pen. When did you assume they were taken?”
Pen’s eyes glisten in the light, her throat bobs.
“The night he died.”
A tear tracks its way down her cheek, and I follow its path.
Jax squeezes my hand.
“But Dad died in a car accident. A hit and run.”
Another tear follows the first. Elijah wraps an arm around Pen’s shoulder, pulling her into him.
My eyes flick to my brother. “You think Dad was murdered?”
“Not think, Kat,” he says, his voice both low and quiet. “We know he was.”
I make it to the en-suite just in time, throwing myself against the toilet bowl as I lose everything I’ve eaten this morning.
Comforting hands scoop up my hair, holding it out of the way, as my stomach retches until there’s nothing left but the pain. I drop my forehead onto the cold toilet seat.
The cool face cloth, placed on the back of my neck, eases the churning in my stomach, but does nothing to help the gaping hole that has been ripped open in my chest.
Dropping sideways, I lean against the wall.
Jax drops down next to me, pulling me into his side, running his fingers through my hair in the way he knows I love.
I rest against him, all my fight gone.
We sit in silence.
My head is buzzing, yet empty. Thoughts appear and disappear, nothing sticks.
Elijah’s words replay over and over.
We know he was.
I look up as Elijah appears in the doorway.
“Is she okay?”
“How do you think she is?”
Jax is angry. His arm tightens around my shoulder.
