Page 198 of The Silent Note

My shoulders straighten.

“The yakuza head is my father.”

I chuckle.

Finn stares frankly back at me.

“You’re kidding, right?” I ask.

When his cold, unblinking gaze continues, I stop smiling and stare at him in shock. Sloane retreats to the wall and sinks against it, holding her knees to her chest.

“You’re… the son of a drug lord?” I croak.

Finn nods.

“So The Grateful Project was orchestrated by your dad?”

Finn hesitates before nodding again.

My stomach lurches and I slap a hand to my mouth, afraid I’m going to throw up again.

“I…” The words choke in my throat. Nostrils flaring, I lower my head between my legs.

Finn rushes toward me. I hold up a hand, telling him to keep his distance. Taking deep breaths, I close my eyes and wait for the roiling in my stomach to calm.

Faintly, I hear a door open and close. When I feel well enough to straighten, I notice the room is empty except for Sloane.

She uses the wall for support and stumbles to her feet.“He has to be lying. There’s no way something that crazy can be true.”

As crazy as it is, it does make sense. Jarod Cross has always been respectful of Finn, shielding him rather than using him as emotional target practice. Zane himself told me that Finn has the least turbulent relationship with their father.

Finn was also in the car the first time the tinted black vehicle tried to ram us off the highway. At that time, I thought they gave up because of Zane’s quick thinking. But what if the real reason the mysterious car fled was because they spotted Finn in the backseat?

A water bottle appears beneath my nose. I glance up and find Finn standing close. His face is completely impassive and he’s not even looking at me. I wouldn’t be able to guess he’d worriedly dashed to get the water if not for the state of his wind-torn hair.

“You can’t trust him,”Sloane gives Finn the evil eye.“He might have drugged that drink.”

So much for her short-lived crush.

I ignore her and take the cool refreshing liquid. “Thanks.”

Finn nods.

I cap the water bottle and stare at him with new eyes. “Want to start from the beginning?”

“Not really.” He glances away. A muscle jumps in his solid jaw and I would give anything to know what’s going through his mind right now.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because I’m tired of seeing my brother hurt.”

My eyebrows fly up.

I sense Sloane scooting closer.

Finn looks aside and mumbles to himself, “Zane will kill me for this.”

I rise unsteadily, silently urging him not to stop.