Page 30 of Free to Judge

Caleb mocks, “Let’s just say Keene has plans. Kalie inherited her deadly aim from her father.”

“Nobody threatens my little girl,” he snarls.

Glancing at my watch, I ask, “Isn’t she supposed to show up any second now?”

“You’re right.” Even as Keene lifts the lockdown order, he circles back to the heart of our discussion. “Let’s focus—what do we tell my daughter?”

“The truth,” Caleb answers with an unflinching certainty that rattles me.

“How can you be sure that’s the right move?” I question.

“Because Caleb ended up screwing over a number of people by keeping them in the dark, not to mention nearly getting them killed,” Liam replies grimly. “If we bring Kalie in and explain who you really are, she’ll be infuriated—especially after learning you’re one of us.”

“Not to mention Jon’s been holding back on the details,” Caleb tacks on.

“They’re really that tight?” I feel like an outsider in a world of fierce family bonds I never really understood until I became an agent before everything went to hell.

Caleb nods solemnly. “Every single cousin shares that bond.”

“It won’t stop her from helping you,” Keene agrees. “Even after her explosive outburst at the courthouse.”

“Is that what you’re calling it now?” Caleb jabs.

I press my lips together, suppressing a smile. It’s likely their kids have inherited the same unbreakable camaraderie that their parents share. Keene, though, isn’t letting up on the subject of his daughter. “Kalie’s loyal, driven, and smart. She’s fucking brilliant.”

“Hell, Keene. You don’t have to sell her to me like she’s a pedigree dog.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Conian,” he snaps.

“You forget, I know her finer qualities. I just fear placing a more appealing price tag on her.”Like the one that Tanya paid.

Something in my expression must have given away my thoughts. “You did what you had to do—then and now,” Keene asserts, his voice low and unyielding.

“Did I? Because from where I’m sitting, I lost a woman I cared for. For what? A case that dried up the minute she disappeared?”

Keene’s tone is ruthless. “It wasn’t for nothing, Dec. We took out the Tiberis involved in the hostage attempt. Then Jon nabbed some of them to give enough dirt to the FBI for racketeering statutes against the Byrnes. That’s got to count for something. With that, you were able to slide into place as their damn attorney because we had the leverage to make some of their charges disappear.”

A bitter laugh escapes me. “But what about the people at the top—the kings who call the shots on hits, kidnappings, drugs, gunrunning, and trafficking? You know—like your damn father? He’s still out there raking in the dough.”And I’m still fumblingaround, trying to keep my sanity while I struggle to make sense out of more questions than answers.

Liam argues, “You can’t think like that. You’ve been giving intel to us for years to bring down Jack Marshall.”

Keene agrees. “It’s been invaluable. We’re closer than ever to locking up the motherfucker I’d like to deny gave me half my genes.”

“Plus, if it wasn’t for you, we would never have found our mole,” Caleb confirms.

Before I can speak, Liam goes on, “You’ve been living neck deep in a cesspool of shit without selling out or losing your moral compass. Who else could have done it?”

Memories claw at the edge of my mind. Memories of being invited to parties where the Byrnes’ hosted events filled with booze and drugs, of witnessing beatings delivered before sitting down across from the filth of the earth as the leaders of different scions within the same diseased family tree went shot for shot with matching cruelty instead of booze.

I shake my head to clear it from the reminders of orders I followed for the sake of getting closer instead of running as far away as possible. “I’ll never be clean of what I did.”

Keene’s tone turns arctic. “That’s what undercover work is. You have to make it believable or you’re dead.”

“Is that the explanation you plan to give her?” I demand. Before any of them can answer, I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “Kalie believes I’m their lawyer—that I’m as corrupt as they are. That I got Sal off scot-free on some fucking technicality.”

“I know the story, Dec. I’m the one who crafted it,” Keene snaps.

“We knew eventually we’d have to come clean about you,” Caleb reasons. “We just never imagined it would be because Kalie can pack one mean right hook.”