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“Dammit, Jazz. It’s?—”
“Trust is a hard thing for me, Xavier. You know that better than anyone.”
“I do, baby. But your health was, and is, my priority.” Surging up from his chair, he wrapped his hands around her upper arms and stared down at her. “You almost died, sweetheart.”
“How would you feel if the roles were reversed? Would you be okay if I kept information from you for your own good?”
Letting go of her arms, he turned away and shoved his fingers through his hair. She knew the answer to her own question. He would be infuriated. It was the same old excuse that had been used before. She was too young, too fragile-looking, too innocent.
“If you don’t see me as an equal, Xavier, how can we keep on working together? How can you trust me to watch your back if you don’t think I can handle it?”
“That’s an absurd example,” he snapped. “Of course I trust you to watch my back. I’ve trusted you on every op, every step of the way.” He strode toward her again, grabbed both her shoulders and shook her lightly. “You. Almost. Died. Do you get that? I couldn’t find you. I had no idea who’d taken you.”
His throat worked as he swallowed, and then he said hoarsely, “I almost lost you, Jazz. I never want to go through that again.”
Instead of growling at him like she should, she found herself patting his forearms, trying to soothe him. “I know that, and a big part of the reason it happened was because I made the stupid mistake of going off on my own. I’m not going to do that again. But we’ve got to get back on even ground, or our partnership isn’t going to survive.”
“You’re right.” Backing away, he gestured toward the sofa. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
Since Xavier’s expression looked almost as dour as it had after they’d found her in Chicago, Jazz braced herself. Whatever it was, she could handle it. She was no weak-kneed Nelly. Whatever they’d discovered, she’d deal.
“Before I get started, tell me—have you talked to Kate?”
Startled at the question, Jazz shook her head. “Just briefly when I was in the hospital. We’ve texted back and forth since then but mostly with her checking to see how I’m doing. What’s Kate got to do with what you found out?”
“When you disappeared, Ash called Kate to see if she could offer some kind of intel.”
“Wait.” Jazz held up her hand. “Something I should have mentioned before. I don’t want to get Kate in trouble, but when I went off-grid to look for Brody, I asked Kate to pull traffic cam footage around the restaurant. I didn’t tell her why, and bless her, she didn’t ask. I know that’s not likely related to what we’re talking about, but I thought I should mention it. I don’t want her to get in trouble on my account.”
When Xavier’s eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened, Jazz wondered if it did have something to do with that after all. Still, she waited, hoping he’d get on with whatever he had to tell her.
“Kate never mentioned that you’d called her. But that’s not why I asked. Ash went to see her. When he’d called her about your disappearance, he could tell she was holding back information, so he went to confront her. She’s the one who told us to go to Chicago. She also told us to check into the Byrne family.”
“Byrne? Who are they?”
Instead of answering, he said, “What do you know about your birth father, Jazz?”
If Xavier had pulled a rabbit out of his ear, he couldn’t have surprised her more. “My birth father? Not much.”
Her mother had never shied away from telling her how Jazz had come to be. The love Eliza had had for her daughter had been more than enough for two parents. And then when Connor McAlister had appeared in their lives, bringing Brody with him, their family had been perfect and complete.
“My mom told me his name was Stan Hensley, although she later learned that was a lie. She said she met him when she was out with friends one night. They started seeing each other and had a brief, passionate affair. He told her he was in town on business. Then one day, he just stopped calling. She went to where he’d told her he was staying, and they had no record of a man by that name. She found out a few weeks later that she was pregnant with me. She never heard from him again.”
She remembered how her mother had talked about her surprise pregnancy, saying her biggest mistake had turned into her greatest blessing.
“He likely told your mother that lie because he didn’t want her to know he had a wife and son in Chicago.”
Her heart dropped. She didn’t know why. Nothing really had changed. She was still Jazz McAlister, but she hated that her precious mother had been betrayed and lied to so cruelly.
“So who was he?”
“Ronan Byrne. Head of the Chicago Irish mob.”
She was glad she was sitting, because she was sure her legs would have just given out. Her real father was a mobster? That would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. He was a liar, a cheater, and a criminal.
“Does he still live in Chicago? Did he have something to do with my abduction?”
“No, he’s dead. He, his wife, and son were killed in a car crash more than twenty years ago.”