Page 113 of Free to Judge

“She was your daughter!” I shout. I hate giving him my tears, but I can’t restrain them.

“Look at the life she now leads. Listen to me, lass. I coulda taken her out at any time over the years. Since she survived her little ordeal, I spared her in the end.”

I’m revolted. “You’re disgusting.”

He chuckles low in his throat. “You’re just like Riley. All fire. All judgment.” He leans forward on the cane. “But I never stopped watching you from the time you were a little girl.”

That sends shivers up my spine.

“Look at the life you lead because I left you alone—Harvard Law. The Olympics. I’m impressed.”

“Don’t say that like you hold any true affection for me.”

“I thought about taking you,” he says, ignoring my fury. “Back when you were Riley’s age.”

I still at the implication. “What?”

He gives me a cold smile. “You were valuable, even back then. Pretty. Smart. Determined. All things that make a girl desirable in our world. Fragile. Breakable.”

Bile rises in my throat. “You sick bastard.”

“I didn’t take you,” he snaps, voice hardening. “That has to count for something.”

“Not much.”

He stands, placing weight on his cane as he paces slowly.

“What do you want from me?” I finally work up the nerve to ask.

“Closure,” he says simply. “You were going to be left alone. I’d negotiated it—until you stirred things up. Acting like your feckin’ mother. Falling for that…gobshitewho works for your old man.”

My eyes snap to his, unable to hide my horror.He knows who Declan really is.

“Yeah,” he says darkly. “I know all about Declan Conian. Thought he was clever. Thought no one would give a flying fig about the FBI agent turning to defense attorney for us less than savory types. I sat back. Watched. Waited. Decided to see how he’d handle our business.” He strokes his chin. “Let’s just say his work was…deliberate. Methodical.”

“I’m asking purely as a lawyer. That’s a bad thing?”

“No. Not always. I was just about comfortable with him until you blew up his house of cards.”

I refuse to let my expression give this monster any more satisfaction. Then Jack—I refuse to acknowledge him as my grandfather—informs me, “My bet? He’s gonna come here to save you. But he doesn’t know what he’s walking into.”

I try to play off my hope. “Why would he bother? He used me. We’re done.”

His eyes narrow as if he’s miscalculated something. “Well, if he doesn’t, that doesn’t bode well for your chances.”

“I don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.”

He grins, showing off perfectly capped teeth. “Good to see ya know your place, lass.”

“Besides, in a fair fight, Declan’s stronger than you.”

“Who said anythin’ about it being fair?” He leans forward as if he’s about to tell me the secret to the universe. “’Sides, he ain’t nothing without you.”

While I’d have loved hearing that even a few weeks ago, all it does is make my breathing heavier. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, the jury concludes the same thing at the end of the day.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“You’re a murderer, aren’t you, Jack? A coward. You couldn’t even face the FBI after killing one of their agents.”Say it. Say it,I urge him.