Page 120 of Bound Lies

“Barely. No thanks to you.”

“It wasn’t like that⁠—”

“Really? Because I’ve been locked in this fucking cell for weeks, and I’m supposed to believe no one breathed a word about me to you? Sounds pretty intentional if you ask me.”

“I just got back from Ireland. If I’d known⁠—”

“But you didn’t, that’s the problem. I was gone for years, Lorcan, and yet you never found me. I’m betting you didn’t even look.”

Lorcan stiffens. “I did look. For months. But you disappeared without a trace. There were no leads. Everyone assumed⁠—”

“Don’t say it. Don’t fucking tell me you thought I was dead. I know you. You don’t stop until you get answers. Unless it’s me, right? Unless it’s the stepson who didn’t fit the Sullivan mold.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No. What’s not fair is being chained to a chair for months while Ronan plays puppet master, and you pretend you still give a shit.”

The mention of Ronan has me stepping forward and pulling out my gun.

The click of the safety coming off echoes around the concrete room, but Finn doesn’t even blink.

“Watch your mouth. If you did as we asked, my brother wouldn’t have had to resort to such…measures.”

Finn huffs a laugh as his eyes flick to me. Any brightness that might have lingered there has long since vanished.

A shiver runs down my spine as I realize I might as well be staring into the eyes of a corpse.

“You Sullivans and your empty promises.”

“There’s one promise that I can assure you isn’t empty.” My finger hovers over the trigger of my Glock.

“Don’t.” Lorcan holds up a hand while his eyes stay locked on Finn. “You’re angry, and you’ve got every right to be. But Sean is moving in, and we need to know what you know.”

Finn’s lips pull up into a smile as he looks between me and Lorcan.

“What I know is that you’re all scrambling now because Sean is ten steps ahead.” He looks at me directly. “You really think dragging in old ghosts is going to make me crack? Because I can tell you one thing. I stopped giving a shit about your uncle the moment I realized he wasn’t coming to save me.”

Lorcan flinches, and I catch a flicker of pain in his eyes as I glance at him.

I feel sorry for the guy.

“This is bigger than the past, Finn. This is about family⁠—”

“Family? You buried me.”

“I mourned you. You weren’t just some kid I happened to raise for a few years. You were family, my family, and I grieved like I’d lost a son.”

Finn’s jaw tightens, but he says nothing.

“But you’re alive, which means we get another shot at fixing this.”

Silence stretches between them until finally, Finn speaks, his voice low and laced with bitterness.

“You’re wasting your time, so you might as well just kill me because I’m not giving you a damn thing. I don’t owe any of you shit.”

Lorcan is hurting, so I grip him by the shoulder and jerk my head toward the exit.

My uncle hesitates, giving Finn one last look before turning and stalking from the cell without another word.