“We’ll never know, will we? Because you made that choice for me.”
“Yeah. I did.”
“Without telling me.”
“Without telling you.”
“Without giving me a chance to make my own decision about my own life.”
“Because your decision would have been stupid.”
The words hit like a slap. “What thefuck?”
“Your decision would have been to try to handle it yourself. To think you could outsmart professional criminals or somehow find a way to protect everyone you care about without getting hurt.” His voice rises, shaking with frustration. “And you would have gotten yourself killed.”
“That would have been my choice to make.”
“Not when making it would have gotten you killed.”
“Says the guy who made a deal with the FBI without thinking about what would happen to me when their operation went to shit.”
“I thought about what would happen to you. That’s all I’ve been thinking about.”
“While you were lying to me.”
“While I was trying to protect you.”
“By betraying me.”
“By loving you.”
“Don’t you dare try to make this about love. Love doesn’t lie. Love doesn’t deceive,” I growl.
“Love does whatever it has to do to keep people safe.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit. It’s the truth.”
I stab him in the chest with my finger. “The truth is that you chose your father over me. You chose your freedom over my safety. You chose to cooperate with the FBI instead of trusting me with the truth.”
“I chose to try to save everyone.”
“And instead you fucked everyone.”
Silence consumes us, swallowing the white noise in my ears.
“Yeah, I did.” He lets out a deep sigh. “Look, just don’t go to Petrov’s meeting tomorrow. Pretend this conversation never happened and live your life.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I need to figure out how to explain to Morrison why his primary target isn’t going to cooperate anymore.”
“What will he do?”
“Probably arrest me for obstruction of justice. Maybe conspiracy, if he’s feeling vindictive.”
“And your father?”
