Page 122 of The Devil's Deceit

“We will. Food first, then we’ll talk.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re procrastinating?”

He scoops scrambled eggs onto his plate from a serving dish in the center of the table. “Because I am.”

“Why?”

Sighing, he replaces the serving spoon in the dish and looks my way. “I’m not looking forward to hurting you, and what I have to say will.”

“About my parents?”

He nods. “Grace, please. Eat. You had nothing on the plane, which means it’s been more than twenty-four hourssince you’ve eaten. I don’t want you getting sick on me. We have all day to talk. I’ve made it clear to the staff and my family that we’re to be left alone.”

“Okay.” I fill my plate and tuck in. “What happened last night after you left? Unless you don’t want to talk about that, either. I don’t mean to pry.”

“You’re not prying.” He swigs from a glass of juice. “He’s a sniveling, apologetic excuse of a man who denied knowing he was Xan’s biological father. He swore he had nothing to do with Xan and Annabel’s kidnapping all those years ago, nor Mum’s suicide.”

“You believe him?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know what to believe.”

“Where is he now?”

“As far as I know, in a room in the cellar beneath the house. Dad’s left Xan to decide what happens to him. He could be dead already.” He shrugs. “I can’t say I care either way. As long as my father and Xan come out the other side feeling as though justice has been served, that’s fine by me.”

“And what about Alice?”

“She had nothing to do with it. She’s spent her entire life terrified of him. Dad let her go home to the place she shared with him. Poor cow.”

I frown. “That’s odd.”

“What is?”

“Well, I know I only met them once, but when she came into the shop with him, she didn’t seem afraid of him at all. She was quite chatty.”

“How interesting. As long as I’ve known her, she’s always been the quiet, introverted one. A mouse who rarely dared speak up and let him do all the talking for her.”

“Sounds to me like she was under the thumb so muchshe suppressed her true personality. Maybe now she’s free of him, she can be herself. At least you know she was clueless about it all.”

“Yeah. She didn’t even know George back then. He met her after he fled the country, terrified Dad would find out what he’d done.”

“I wonder why he came back.”

“He said he was homesick.” He snorts. “All I know is that our lives fell apart when he came home. He can deny knowing about Xan and Annabel’s kidnapping and Mum’s death all he likes, but that’s one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

“I agree. Unless he confesses, there’s not much you can do, though, is there?”

He gives me a crooked smile. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Xan can be quite persuasive when he wants to be.”

I shudder. Somehow, I don’t think he’s talking about negotiation techniques. More like torture techniques.

Breakfast doesn’t calm the nerves in my stomach, but it does stop the grumbling. After we’ve eaten, Christian gathers the plates together and leaves them in the hallway, much as you might if you were in a hotel and had room service delivered. I stay where I am, and when he returns, he holds out his hand to me. I take it, wondering if he senses or feels the slight trembling I can’t seem to stop. It’s not from fear, but from the emotions I expect to bombard me as I finally get to find out why my parents died.

Christian leads me to the couch, and when we sit, he keeps hold of my hand, his thumb brushing over my knuckles in soothing fashion.

“Shall I go first?”

I rub my lips together and nod. “Please. I need the truth.”