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Mike wheeled in from the kitchen. “It’s getting late, Josh. Go finish up your math homework.”
Joshua nodded and left the room without another word.
Mike waited until the bedroom door closed before he spoke again. “It’s time to stop keeping so many secrets.”
She’d kept so many for so long, she couldn’t imagine what her life would be like without them. Her secrets had defined her for longer than she wanted to admit.
“He told me what happened the night you broke up with him.” There was a hint of accusation there. “You should know he had nothing to do with the fire, Amanda. The guy he was then wouldn’t have hurt a fly.”
“I can’t do this, Mike.” She needed a drink. Thankfully, she knew where her brother kept the bourbon. A dozen steps to the kitchen, then she had a highball glass in her hand. The familiar burn soothed the shards of ice in her chest.
But Mike was right behind her. He was clearly unwilling to let this go. “He was going to go buy you a ring, for fuck’s sake.”
She didn’t want to know that. More bourbon, more burn. “Leave it alone,” she rasped.
“I won’t!” he bellowed. “I should have never left it alone this long. What the hell happened, Amanda? I know you loved him, and the poor bastard obviously loved you too.”
“Stop.” Tears threatening, she pushed them back and drank from the bottle.
“It was your father.” He said it quietly, with no hint of doubt. “Nothing else makes sense. He never wanted you with Kane. What I don’t understand is how he got you to go along with it.”
What difference did it make now? “He would have put him in jail for the rest of his life,” she said dully. “He still could. There’s no statute of limitations on murder.”
***
13 years ago
October
A baby.
Amanda couldn’t help but smile as she held up the tiny onesie with the Atlanta Braves insignia. It didn’t matter if she was having a brother or a sister, this kid would be a Braves fan. She paid for the outfit and hummed quietly as she left the store.
The sunshine on her face was the cherry on top of the delicious fall afternoon. A cool breeze lifted her hair from her neck. She stood only a couple of feet from the curb when her father’s silver BMW pulled in front of her.
The passenger side window rolled down. “Get in.”
Ignoring her creeping unease, she climbed inside. “How did you even know I was here?” She’d been at her mom’s before she started shopping; she hadn’t even seen her dad in weeks.
He didn’t answer her question as he pulled back into traffic. It was only a few blocks to his house. He got out of the car without a word, assuming she would follow—which she did, but only after a deep sigh.
Surprisingly, he led her to his study, where he turned on the TV mounted on the wall. The news played; a giant fire blazed through what looked like an apartment building. The words on the bottom of the screen read:
TWENTY-TWO MISSING,
FEARED DEAD IN APARTMENT FIRE.
“How terrible,” she murmured.
“It’s going to send your boyfriend to jail for the rest of his life.”
She turned in time to see the hint of a smile on her father’s face before it disappeared. “What are you talking about?”
He steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “The urchin you’ve been seeing. He’s responsible for this.”
She didn’t believe him for a second. “Kane would never start a fire, Dad. Don’t be ridiculous.”
He entwined his perfectly manicured fingers together and dropped them in front of his waist. “What is ridiculous is my daughter, involved with a member of the Hale family. Those…people…live on the fringe of our society. Motorcycle gangs, drugs, and guns. It’s all beneath you, Amanda.”
