“While that is certainly good to hear, that does not negate the reason you are here,” Antoine began, lacing his fingers in front of him on the desk.
“I know.” I grimaced, shoulders up by my ears. “I’m sorry to make you all worry so much.”
Antoine’s pale gaze narrowed on me. “The fact that you are apologizing at least tells me you know what you did was wrong.”
“I know.”
“Reckless.”
“Yes.”
“Unbelievably stupid.”
I winced at each word, sinking further and further into the chair. Rarely had I ever been on the receiving end of one of my dad’s lectures, but every time I had, I felt worse about disappointing him than about whatever it was that I’d done to get in trouble.
This time was no different.
Blowing out a breath, I gripped the arms of my chair. “Yes, I know. I shouldn’t have left on my own without back up. It won’t happen again.”
Antoine straightened in his seat, Darren shifting at his side. “No, it won’t. At least we can agree on that.”
“What do you mean?” I stared at him for a long moment, not liking his tone of voice.
Darren fidgeted, which he rarely did, before speaking. “Jack, please understand, this isn’t a punishment. We’ve all agreed, and this is for your own good.”
It was never a good thing when someone told you it was for your own good. It meant they were taking your life into their hands and making decisions for you that you’d never have made yourself.
Having my dad say these words, I knew they were about tell me something I wouldn’t like.
My expression hardened as I bit out the words. “What did you do?”
Antoine’s brow arched at my tone. “I have been filled in on all of the activities you have been a part of during this little experiment. Mister Fawley was very forthcoming on each and every time you’ve gone off on your own without back up or without checking in with him first. Which tells me, tells us, that you are not trustworthy in the field.”
I snorted. “I hardly would call going to a bar to listen in on conversations a dangerous situation.”
“And the time you came back with claw marks on your arm?” Antoine pointed out calmly. “Or the time those two men of yours found you in the bathroom stall covered in someone else’s blood? Would you call either of those dangerous situations?”
“I call it doing my job,” I growled. “I’m here to catch the people who want to hurt our family. I can’t do that if I’m hiding behind a desk or in the library while our enemies run rampant.”
“And which of those incidents had anything to do with the rebel threat?” Antoine asked patiently.
I hated when he did that. All calm and logical when I’d much rather him yell at me and get it over with.
“Precisely,” Antoine continued when I didn’t answer. “We agreed to release your identity to the public to flush out the rebels because we thought you would be able to handle it—”
“I did!” I almost jumped out of my chair but winced, grabbing my side before slowly sitting back down.
Darren moved as if to come to me, but I waved him off.
“But not in a professional manner,” Antoine said in a retrained voice. “Arealhunter would have followed procedure. They would have reported to their partner and made a plan, not go running in halfcocked on their own.”
“I am arealhunter,” I argued. “And I don’t have time to get Julian’s permission every time I want to follow up on a lead. The note said I had to come alone.”
“The note?” Antoine paused. “Can I see it?”
I sat back and sighed. “I don’t have it on me. But it said if I wanted more information about our family’s enemies to come to this time and this place and to come alone.”
“I see,” Antoine drew out. “And you didn’t once think that this could be a trap? That it might be a good idea to bring back up just in case?”
