Page 46 of Honorable Sins

It seems like Graham Casey isn't part of Kenneth's plans for a coup.

Jasper's head comes up fast, his eyes wild. "No, dad! I'm thirteen, not a little kid. I knew what I was doing and I did it anyway. The punishment is mine."

My phone vibrates with a text and I read it. Only because I saw my wife tapping on her phone out of the corner of my eye.

Kara: I don't think Graham Casey is part of Kenneth's little gang.

I nod my agreement and she looks worried. My wife doesn't want the innocent swept into the flood of my wrath with the guilty. The only problem is, this kid isn't wholly innocent, is he?

He still participated in the attack.

My gaze catches Jasper's and I hold it, letting him see my lack of empathy. "The punishment for rape in our mob is death. Trying and failing because my son stopped you does not change the charge against you."

"I know," Jasper whispers, but he doesn't break eye contact with me.

"Are you admitting you were trying to rape Sadie?" I ask.

"If Fitz hadn't come in, she would have been ra…" His voice trails off and he swallows, jerking his head in a nod.

"Would you have tried to stop it?" Wraith asks, his tone dispassionate.

Hindsight isn't always honest, but I'm interested in Jasper's answer to that question too.

The boy turns to meet Wraith's eyes, wincing at the anger he finds there, but again, he doesn't look away. "Yes, sir." His fists curl at his sides, his knuckles going white. "But I'm not as good a fighter as Fitz."

"Sadie told me Jasper stopped PJ from pulling her underwear off." Fitz scowls at PJ. "I should have broken your arm too." Then he says to me, "I didn't tell you last night because I didn’t know. I've been texting with Sadie today." Then my son gives Wraith a look of approval. "She's really glad you're dating her mom. She feels safer."

"Are you saying that Jasper didn't participate in the assault?" Kara asks our son, clarifying.

"No." The denial comes from Jasper. "I went along when PJ and Kenny grabbed her and dragged her into the locker room. I said mean things." He looks down now, his shame palpable. "Ugly things." Then he looks at his dad. "I'm sorry, da. You taught me better."

Casey shakes his head. "I should have pulled you from St. Patrick's when you started hanging out with Kenny Jr."

"What the fuck are you implying?" Kenneth demands, vibrating with umbrage. "You think your son is too good to be friends with a lieutenant's son?"

Casey ignores Kenneth and meets my eyes with the same steady gaze his son had done, but the father's eyes are shadowed with anguish. "The fault is mine. I haven't been the father I should have been since his mom died. I deserve the punishment."

"Don't be stupid. The boys made a mistake. Brogan will never let Mick kill them for it," Kenneth sneers. "We don't kill children in the Shaughnessy Mob."

Like him having the same last name gives him some kind of claim to my mob.

Gobshite.

"We don’t hold children responsible for the actions of their parents either," Kara says, her gimlet stare fixing on each father before shifting to me. "Can you wrap this up? Mamo will read you the riot act if you're late for dinner again."

"Wrap this up?" Duffy is finally sitting up straight in his chair. "You haven't even heard our son's side of the story yet."

"I don't need to," I dismiss. "Mine doesn't lie."

"He misunderstood what he walked in on and we need to discuss his overly violent reaction." Kenneth is wearing his uninformed arrogance like a suit cut just for him again.

"I didn't misunderstand anything," Fitz denies. "Neither did Sadie."

"Show some manners, boy. I wasn't talking to you."

"Has Miles been a good dog today?" I ask my son, not averse to following through on Wraith's earlier threat to cut out his tongue and feed it to our pet. "Kenneth seems to want to offer him a treat."

Kenneth blanches and his mouth, open to say something else, snaps shut.