Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
He’d likely seen the name McKay, done some research, and figured this was the way to meet his brother. “You should have come forward.”
“Why? I never meant to tell him. Ever. I meant to be his friend, his brother in everything but name,” Zach explained. “I thought the danger was probably past, but I didn’t want to wreck him. He loves his parents. He didn’t seem to need to know more, so I let it be. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t grow to love him. He’s got a huge family. I do not. Yes, I wanted to be close to my brother. I still do.”
She wasn’t getting into this with him. Let the shrinks do their jobs. It was enough to know her father had no idea. He would have looked into Zach, but with no reason to question the connections, why would he have found them? Her father wasn’t a god, no matter what that T-shirt he wore said. “When did your mother get in touch with you?”
His eyes closed briefly, and when he opened them again, there was a certain amount of resignation there. “During the investigation into The Jester. I was working with Tristan on another team, so she had no idea about Cooper. She’d been dealing with The Jester, and when she refused to make bombs for the Disrupt group, he threatened to out her. At first she was afraid of going to jail again.”
She knew how this ended. “And then she was afraid of Huisman.”
“Yes. I managed to take out The Jester, but Huisman is smart and he has connections no one in our world has,” Zach admitted. “I thought she would be safe with Tristan pretending to be The Jester. I thought I could manipulate the situation, but at some point, Huisman figured out her name and he started to look for Shannon Reed. He figured out I’m her son, and here we are.”
Kala glanced over, and Joyce was making quick work of the camp.
“Huisman didn’t care about Tris and Carys, did he? He didn’t give a shit about me.” Bitterness tinged Kala’s words. “We were all incidental to the one he was trying to get. You. Huisman always wanted you. Hell, he even got the wrong sister. He wanted Tash because he knew you would do anything for Tasha.”
“I would do anything for you,” Zach rasped out. “He had me the minute he took a member of my team. Kala, I would never betray my team that way.”
“No, but you’ll lie to us,” she shot back. “You’ll keep pertinent information. If we knew, we would have been on guard.”
“And I think about that every single day and twice as much at night. I know I broke trust, but she’s my mother.”
She was going to have to make a decision and soon. The truth was she could probably take Joyce and force Zach to come with her. But she wasn’t sure that was the way to go. They needed to lower the temp, not raise it. “You made your choice. I respect it. Are you going to respect mine?”
A chuckle came from his throat. “I’m glad it was you. Yeah, I’m going to respect it, but I need more time. You can force me to come with you, but everything falls apart the second I’m in custody. Let me figure out where she is. I’m the only one who can get her out of hiding. Once she’s safe, I’ll come in. I promise, Kala. I just want her to be safe.”
“We can ensure that.” Well, the team could since she would likely be on her own by then.
His head shook. “Somehow I think your father will ensure I’m in prison. Which I’ll be willing to do after I finish what I have to.”
“This isn’t merely about finding your mother, is it?” He was definitely hiding something.
His head shook. “It’s best that I leave you out of it.”
“Or you can bring me in and I can help you.”
His lips curled up slightly as he took another sip. “I know you would. But it’s too dangerous, and quite frankly, my brother would be pissed if I dragged you into it.”
She wasn’t going to let him bring Cooper into this. “Your brother made himself plain.”
“No, my brother had a hissy fit that he will be deeply apologetic for later on, and you know it,” Zach pointed out.
She knew his brother better than he did. “In vino veritas and all that. In this case the rage was the wine.”
“There’s no truth in rage and you know it.” Zach’s gaze softened. “Kala, this isn’t about him. He was put in a terrible position and freaked out. It wasn’t the best reaction, but it could happen to any of us. This is about you. He said the wrong thing and now you’re retreating. Don’t.”