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That’s when Dominik shrugged. “If he doesn’t want to give answers, though, I can.”
Dad growled. “You don’t know a damn thing.”
Dominik grinned. “You sure about that? Because if my running theory is correct, I’m pretty sure you’re in the Witness Protection Program.”
The second Dad’s eyes widened, the world ceased to exist. Sounds stopped humming and the car horns below stopped honking. I no longer heard the soft groaning of the air conditioning system rattling above my head, nor did I hear the gasp that peeled from between my sister’s gaping lips.
All I saw was the astonishment on my father’s face.
And I had no idea whether to be pissed off that Dominik knew this and hadn’t told me, or to be irate at the fact that Dad still wasn’t talking.
“Our family’s in the WITSEC program?” Em asked flatly.
“Sh-sh-sh-sh,” Jackson shushed softly before he kissed the top of her head. “Just take a breath. You’re safe here. You’re safe with me.”
I forced myself to turn back to the wall of information. Gone was the view of L.A. that I knew sat just beyond the covered window, and in its place was every single one of my family’s unknown, dirty little secrets. Jealousy bled through my veins at the sound of Jackson comforting my sister. Of course, she’d get her prim and proper happy ending with her skinny little ass. She got the good one while I was stuck with the sadistic porn star with coal for a heart.
“You dirty, rotten, son of a bitch!” Dad yelled.
“Clyde, that’s enough,” Mom hissed.
“Why aren’t you talking to us?” Em asked pleadingly. “Why don’t you just tell us what’s going on so we know how to protect ourselves?”
“Because I can’t! You knowing what I know only puts you in more danger,” Dad said.
“You mean, the kind of danger they’re already experiencing tonight?” Jackson asked.
“You shut your fucking face,” Dad growled. “I don’t even know who you are!”
“Who he is?” Em asked. “Well, Dad, right now? He’s the only man in this room that I trust!”
As my family bickered behind me, I allowed my eyes to caress all of the pieces of paper attached to the window. There weren’t just pictures and facts about my father’s past up there, I also saw a few sheets of paper with basic information about the Beauregard Family. Thaddius, and his daughter Lila. I recognized her picture from the party; the girl who ran through the crowd shouting that she had been accosted by one of my sister’s staff members in the back room. There was a picture of Thaddius and his wife, Isabella, all smiles as they held up glasses of wine.
Then, I came across the younger pictures of my father as he stood alongside a man with the exact same features as Thaddius himself.
They knew each other in high school?
“I won’t be telling you a single thing about my family or our history. I don’t know who either of you are!”
“You don’t really have a choice, Dad. They’re in this, whether you like that or not.”
“And what about that article!? Huh? The pictures of you and my daughter!”
“What about the article?”
“Why has Eden been lying to us about those working weekends when she’s been with you? Huh? Are you blackmailing her? Are you hanging all of this over her head!?”
“I don’t talk if you don’t talk. That’s how this works.”
As the fighting raged on in the background, I committed every shred of those papers to memory. I wanted photocopies of all of it. I wanted to pick through it with a fine-toothed comb until I had all the answers that I sought. I no longer trusted the word of my own father, and that broke my heart. Whether he was trying to protect us or trying to evade more danger, I wasn’t sure. But, as I stood there, I felt someone approach my left side.
And when I peeked over, I found Dominik standing there.
“We’re in WITSEC, aren’t we?” I whispered.
He nodded his head. “I’m afraid so.”
It was real. All of it was real. I wasn’t in a nightmare, and this wasn’t some terrible horror movie playing out in my mind while I was sitting at my desk with paperwork in front of me. This was actually happening, and as sick as I felt in my stomach, it only fueled my desire to know everything.
