A glass tank sat on a long, wooden table in the center of the room. When I reached the end of the stairway, I spotted a cage the size of a bathroom stall. Inside it was my father.
Or…what was left of him, at least.
Tyrone was shirtless, wearing what looked like pajama bottoms. His once salt-and-pepper hair was now completely white and in disarray. He looked gaunt, and streaks of filth adorned his cheeks and torso. When he saw us enter the basement, he rushed to his feet, tossing himself over the corroded bars, clutching them desperately. “Oh, Tierney! My sweet pumpkin. My little girl.”
I stopped a good ten feet away from him, staring him down.
“Pumpkin, I can explain,” he rushed to say. His upper lip curled over his gums, like he’d lost his front teeth, and his speech was off. “Everything. Trust me. This is all a big misunderstanding. Tell him to let me go.”
I flicked my gaze to Achilles. He said nothing. He was letting me lead the way. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Sure, I’ll hear you out.”
Tyrone licked his cracked lips, his eyes clinging to my face. He was calculating his next words. Like they could make a difference.
“Are you going to deny collecting intel on the Irish and your own family and selling it to Vello?” I probed. “Because we’ve got receipts.”
Vello himself blew Tyrone’s cover the day I met with Tom Rothwell, so there was no way he could deny it.
“Well, no, but?—”
“Are you suggesting, then, that Vello fabricated my meeting with Agent Rothwell on the same day I actually met him?” I proceeded.
Whatever little color he had in his face was gone now. “I’m not saying that.”
“What are you saying, then?”
“I’m saying I never thought this would blow back on you this way!” He rattled the bars of his cage desperately, tears streaming down his dirty cheeks. “I thought—I thought Tiernan would take care of it. He always does. The lad knows what he’s doing.”
“You sold me to the Camorra,” I said. “And the rest of your people, too. Why did you do that? Money? You’ve got enough of it.”
The Irish’s business was booming. The Callaghan clan was never as prolific as the Camorra—not in size and not in contracts—but Tiernan was doing very well for himself. He made sure to pay Tyrone a monthly cut. He lived in a lavish mansion and had luxury cars.
“I—I thought I was helping everyone!” he stammered. “I swear it. I thought if the Camorra knew they had an insider from the Irish operation, they would be less suspicious of us and do more business with us. All I ever wanted was to help.”
I tipped my head back and laughed, a laugh that felt bitter in my throat. “How stupid do you think I am,Dad?”
“I swear?—”
“All right, that’s enough.” Achilles cut in, taking a step forward. “Tyrone, any minute you’re not giving us the truth is a minute I’m not spending inside your delectable daughter, and I’m afraid I’m running out of patience. You have one more shot before I start cutting organs.” He flipped his knife open and angled it in my father’s direction. “I’m going to go slow and make sure you feel every single minute of it. Help me help you. Talk and get it over with.”
“You can’t let him kill me.” Tyrone’s head snapped to me. “I’m your father!”
“Sperm donor,” I corrected coolly.
“I took you in when you were broken—” he started, but I cut him off.
“Tiernan and I arrived at your doorstep after going through hell in Russia. You didn’t even look for us.”
“I tried, but?—”
“And when we arrived on your doorstep, tied up with a fucking bow, you knew exactly what you were looking at: Two well-trained killing machines who could work for you. You made us your soldiers.”
“I loved you from day one.” He shook his head. “Both of you. I…I…I wanted to find you, was desperate to do it, but I was grieving my wife. It was hard.”
“At least you got to know her!” The words ripped from my throat in a scream. “Now tell me why? Why did you betray me?Us?”
“Because you took her away from me!” It was his turn to roar in my face. The confession was filled with venom. He broke into tears, sliding down the bars to his knees. “You took Deidre from me. If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have been alone in that house in Dublin when Igor got to her. She didn’t want to leave. Ibeggedher to,” he growled. “I knew the Russians were closing inon us. But she wanted to raise you two in Ireland. Next to your family. You came first. And it killed me that she sacrificed herself and her happiness for you.”
I burst out in tears. It felt strangely good to be validated. I always had a feeling Tyrone and Fintan did not really love us. Now I knew.
