The tears come the moment I reach the corridor. I don’t bother wiping them away.
I just sold my life to save my father.
Or perhaps I did it because of the guilt I still carry over my mother.
Chapter 51
Piper
I’m snapped out of the memory when a hand cups my cheek.
Calloused, but impossibly gentle.
I look up at Hunter.
“Are you sure he’s to blame?”
“Yes. He helped kill innocent people because power mattered more to him than human lives. He never gave a damn about what he’d done. The only reason he panicked was because my father had leverage over him.”
“You have proof?”
He nods.
“Okay,” I say quietly.
I think a part of me always knew my father wasn’t a good man.
And even the Reyes Cartel or the Bellanti Mafia wouldn’t tolerate the killing of innocents.
And if he did, then he deserves to answer for it.
Even if losing him hurts.
Then again, when I think about it, I don’t believe I ever had him as a father.
I meet Hunter’s eyes.
“Do what you have to do.”
“I’ll have the divorce papers sent over for your signature and then returned.”
He stands, and I do the same.
For a long moment, he simply looks at me.
“I have to deal with the fallout of all this. Announce his death. Speak with my grandfather. Sort out the position at Wardgrave Dynamics.”
I nod. “Go.”
“This is your time to sort through whatever is going on in that head of yours,” he says. “Because I can see it. You still want to run from me.”
My stomach twists.
“But Piper, love... You still don’t understand. This ends with us. One way or another.”
“Hunter...” My voice cracks. “Too much has happened. Too much deceit and heartbreak. You...” I struggle to find the words. “You hate me.”
A hint of a sad smile appears on my lips. “I really don’t blame you.”
