He goes on, voice rougher now. “I got into debt. The kind that doesn’t come with payment plans. They offered to clear it. Said all I had to do was hand over a document. Just one. Simple.”
My skin goes cold.
“It started like that,” he says, eyes bright with something that looks like shame. “Then it wasn’t one. Then it was favors. Then it was threats. And by the time I realized what I’d done, I was in it so deep I couldn’t climb out without them burying me.”
“That’s your excuse for killing my father,” I whisper, voice cracking. “For kidnapping me?”
Dave’s face twists. “I didn’t kill him.”
I laugh again, ugly. “You just delivered him.”
His eyes flash. “He wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t let it go. He told me to turn myself in.” Dave’s voice rises, just slightly. “He told me I had to pay for it.”
My chest caves in.
“You were his best friend,” I whisper.
Dave’s mouth tightens. “I was.”
And the way he says it makes it sound like a past tense he doesn’t deserve.
He steps closer again, and this time I don’t flinch. I plant my hands on the counter like I need something solid.
“Give me the drive,” he says, and his voice has changed now. Less uncle. More soldier. More command. “Now.”
My throat is raw. “I don’t have it.”
His eyes narrow. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not,” I snap. “Grayson has it.”
The moment the words leave my mouth, I wish I could swallow them back.
Because Dave’s face changes.
The control slips.
Anger flashes hot and fast.
“You gave it to him,” Dave says, and it’s not a question. “You gave it to Calhoun.”
“Yes.”
Dave’s hand slams onto the counter.
I jump.
The man near the doorway shifts, closer.
Dave’s eyes are bright now, furious. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”
I flinch.
Dave turns his head slightly, not taking his eyes off me.
“Lock her up in the guest room,” he snaps.
My blood freezes.
