Page 17

Fuck.
I pale. "Seamus, I..."
"Stop. Just stop," he says, holding up a hand. "I'm going to need you to start from the beginning, Ro. Tell me everything."
I hesitate.
The part of me that's a trained law enforcement official wants to trust him. I want to tell him everything, just like he's asking me to do.
But the other part of me, who grew up among hardened criminals, is a little more concerned. I wouldn't say that alarms are going off with Seamus, exactly, but something is sketchy about this situation.
I take a deep breath, and settle for everything except the fact that I'm selling information to my brother.
"My mother was William MacAntyre's mistress," I say. "I'm younger than my twin brothers, and she managed to keep me hidden from him until I was ten years old. When I was ten, William found out about me and... decided that I would live with him and Kieran," I say.
Seamus is staring at me.
Gulping, I continue. "She disappeared, Seamus. Gone. I knew she wasn't dead because my father would get drunk and... he would get drunk and wonder where she was."
Seamus gives me a look, but I'm not going to give him more than that. Detailing how my father used to beat the hell out of me, blaming me for having my mother's face, isn't something I want to go into right now.
Instead, I hold my head up high. "I ran away as soon as I passed my graduation. Took the exam for the academy the next day. By the time Kieran and William knew I was gone, I was safely at Interpol."
What I don't tell him is how, years later, Kieran broke into my apartment in Dublin. How he showed me exactly how cruel he could be, and then showed me the picture of my mother.
My mother, who I joined Interpol to find.
My mother, who Kieran somehow knew was alive. Knew her location.
And I didn't.
He told me he'd kill her.
Unless I started reporting to him, as well as my boss.
Seamus sighs and slaps a file down. "For your honesty, Ro," he says softly.
Greedily, I grab the file and rip it open.
Reading it, my jaw drops. I look up at Seamus.
"I didn't do this."
He nods. "I know."
I shut the file. "Seamus. I swear. I didn't orchestrate that attack..."
"I know, Ro."
I shut my mouth and push the file back.
Seamus sighs. "At about six o'clock this morning, this email came across our desk. It was mine and one other higher up, and I knew the second that I saw it, it was bullshit. I figured that you might be related to Kieran, but I didn't know how."
I nod.
"For you to have put together that attack, you would have had to have been in two places at once. Because we also have a record of you here. Photo evidence here."
I tap the file. "But there's someone who looks like me here too..."