Page 128 of A Violet Obsession

He breathes in through his nose, and his posture eases a fraction. “I’ll give you the broad strokes. And later, if you have more questions, I’ll try.”

I give him a smile. “That sounds perfect. Same mother, different dads…” I prompt.

He nods. “I’m ten years older than you. My da was out of the picture by the time our mother met yours. We were living up north, and she met an American working on one of the oil rigs. She got pregnant. He hurt his back. We followed him back to the States.”

“So, I’m American?”

He nods. “You were born here.”

“What happened to them? Our parents.”

His face hardens, a dark cloud crossing his eyes. “Your parents. They died. Frank—your da—was an addict. He got hooked on the painkillers from his injury, moved on from there. He left right after your second birthday.”

I’d thought hearing this would gut me. But Finn was right. I didn’t know these people. “And our mother. Did she die? Is that how we ended up in the system?”

I watch Callum’s body grow stiffer and stiffer. “Aye. She had her own problems. We made it almost a year on our own after—I did the best I could to keep us fed, but there was never enough. And then you got sick.”

He stops, gets to his feet, and crosses to my tiny kitchen and stands there, still as stone, with his back to us. The line of his shoulders is rigid enough to crack. I look at Finn. He gives a small shake of his head, and I bite my lip.

A long moment passes. Then Callum’s voice comes out rough, still facing the window.

“The rest of it—how we got split up, what I was told—” I can see his jaw clench in profile. “That part’s mine. Not yours.” He turns just enough to look at me, and whatever’s in his eyes is so raw I almost can’t bear it. “You don’t need to carry what I did to make you end up here. You were three. None of it was ever yours to carry.”

“Callum—”

“Not tonight.” He shakes his head, and his face slams shut, every door in it closing at once. “I thought I could, but I⁠—”

He gives me one last tortured look then he’s gone, his boots heavy in the hallway.

“Finn.” I’m already half out of my seat.

“Let him go,” Finn says, Hera still tucked against his chest. “He’ll be back. He works with me, and he’s been waiting twenty years to find out he was wrong about losing you. He needs time.”

I look at the open door.

Yeah, but when?

I cross to Finn and let him pull me down onto the sofa beside him, Hera grumbling at the disruption, and I tuck myself under his arm and breathe.

For now, it’s enough to know I came from somewhere.

That someone’s been missing me the whole time.

47

FINN

1 week later

“Let’s get everyone current,” Brady says, dropping into the seat across from me. “Luke’s got the legal side. I’ve got the rest. Lily, stop me if you have questions.”

Luke slides a folder to her, and I press my knee to hers under the table.

“The police were more than happy to get a warrant for your therapist after listening to the video you provided of your hypnosis courtesy of Noah Tate. Apparently, there was also an anonymous hack of her private server which provided some information to corroborate the videos.” Luke arches an eyebrow at me, but I don’t react. “Also, the State will not be prosecuting Trevor Vale for the self-defense shooting of Joey Garza, per the recording from the Vale’s…” He pretends to look at the file. “I’m going to keep a straight face while I say this… in-home security cameras. And I thought my connections with law enforcement were good,” he mutters. “The video conveniently cuts off before Trevor is incapacitated.”

Lily doesn’t smile, though I can see her lips twitch. I’m not as amused by Trevor getting the credit for being her hero, but… whatever.

“As expected,” Luke continues, “Dawn didn’t keep anything that could implicate her. She’s careful. But not as careful as she thought, because on at least four separate occasions, her own computer auto-saved the footage of Dr. Williams’s sessions to her cloud backup. Backups she apparently didn’t know were running.” He spreads his hands. “The police used it to leverage them against each other. Williams is trying to bury Dawn. Dawn’s trying to bury Williams. Between the two of them, they’ve gift-wrapped the DA’s case.”