“Care to explain,” Ryker snarled after exploding through the front door, “why you’ve been lying to me?”
Ryker’s voice cut through the living room like a blade, and my breath caught. I’d never seen him this angry, and honestly … it terrified me.
He filled the doorway, and something in his stance made my body remember. My third foster brother. The way he’d tower over me just like this, shoulders squared, fists clenched. Right before he’d grab my hair and slam my head into the wall for eating the last of the cereal.
Ryker wasn’t him. I knew that. But my body didn’t.
The man who usually wore suits with easy confidence looked wild. Tie yanked loose. Hair disheveled, like he’d been running his hands through it. Those eyes that normally looked at me with such patience now burned with something that made my stomach drop.
“You know where I just came from?”
Based on his body language, he expected me to cower, but I was done being weak. Done being the scared little foster kid who took whatever the world threw at her.
I stood, squaring my shoulders despite the tremor in my hands. “By the looks of it, court?”
“My office. Met with the ADA, Faith.” He slammed the door behind him, and I flinched despite myself. “Bennett Wolfe just showed me everything you didn’t tell me.”
Oh shit.
He crossed to me, crowding into my space. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? All those violent incidents? The hospital records? The interviews with other foster siblings? Their injuries? Theft?”
“That was years ago.” The words tumbled out, desperate and deflecting. “I was a kid, Ryker. It doesn’t matter?—”
“It doesn’t matter?” His laugh was harsh, incredulous. “It doesn’t matter when it happened? If the ADA has it, the jury will too. And if I don’t know everything, I can’t defend you.”
He dragged both hands through his hair, pacing now like a caged animal. “Your life is at stake here. Do you get that? Twenty-five to life, Faith. My career is at stake too. I put my reputation on the line for you.” He whirled to face me, and the raw pain in his eyes knocked the breath from my lungs. “And worst of all, I was falling for you. Hard. And you lied to me.”
Wasfalling for me?
Something inside me cracked. “I didn’t lie?—”
“Omission is lying!” he roared, the words echoing off the walls. “Every time you kept something from me, every half-truth, every deflection—those were lies, Faith!”
Each accusation dragged me backward through time.
“You punched someone?” My foster mother’s voice was shrill and disgusted. “Pack your things. You’ll be out by morning.”
“You threatened another student?” Principal Jackson said, looking at me like I was something stuck to his shoe. “Get out of my office. You’re nothing but trash.”
I didn’t realize I was shaking until I noticed the change in Ryker’s face. The rage evaporated like fog burning off in sunlight, his gaze tracking over my body, cataloging every tremor.
But I refused to tremble anymore. I was not pathetic, and I would not be pitied. Those experiences had shaped who I was, and he needed to understand that.
“You want to know why?” The words exploded out of me, years of pain erupting like a volcano. “Why I keep pieces of myself locked away? Because every time I’ve told the truth, people left!” My voice broke, but I couldn’t stop. “Foster homes. Friends. They all walked out the second they saw all of me. The broken parts. The desperate parts. The parts that did whatever it took to survive.”
“So, you thought lying to your defense attorney was a good survival strategy?” His voice dripped sarcasm, bitter and cutting. “Real smart, Faith. Real fucking smart.”
The words hit like a slap. “That’s not fair?—”
“Fair?” He barked out a laugh. “You want to talk about fair? I told you I need to know EVERYTHING!”
Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I was scared?—”
“Scared of what? Me doing my job? Me having all the information I need to keep you out of prison?” He stalked closer, and I retreated a step. “Or were you scared I’d figure out what you really are?”
“Stop—”
“A liar. A thief, apparently. Someone with a history of violence, going back to childhood.” Each word was a hammer blow. “Seven foster siblings willing to testify against you. Seven, Faith. And there’s video of you threatening someone with a broken bottle at a bar. ‘I’ll fucking end you.’ Ring any bells?”
