I didn’t wince—I’d heard that too often in my life, been a party to that kind of violence too much for it to disturb me.
My eyes closed of their own volition though.
Another child of mine was going to have to get used to seeing shit no one should ever have to see.
“I-I was s-scared,”Callum sobbed.
In the background, I heard some of Brennan’s crew muttering before Callum had his ass handed to him.
“Tell me what the NWS wanted you to do.”
“Let me down, Bren, please?”Callum pleaded.
“Tell me what they wanted.”
“Just to mess with commands, cause dissent.”
“One of my circle,” Senior muttered under his breath. “A fucking Sparrow.”
“Where is he?” Conor grated out, his gaze on the cellphone on the desk.
I saw the devastation etched into his expression, and I sighed at the sight. “Con, he doesn’t deserve for you to mourn him.”
“Not deserve? He’s had my back for years—”
“While selling you out to the fucking New World Sparrows,” Junior rumbled, his hand moving to grip his shoulder. “That ain’t no friend, Kid.”
He gulped. “He was the only one I trusted.”
His admission had me wincing.
Conor had a serious blind spot for those he loved. That was probably how Callum had managed to pull the wool over his eyes.
“The only people we can trust are in this room,” Senior rumbled.
“Not true. Declan and Eoghan are out there,” Junior argued, twisting back to glare at his father.
“Our women can be trusted,” I chided as well. “Fuck if they haven’t proven themselves time and time again.”
He rubbed his chin, rocking back in his seat, but he didn’t confirm or deny our assertions. “Mark’s going to be a problem.”
Mark was Callum’s father.
“Ain’t no body to be a problem over,” Brennan disregarded. “He went to the pig farm.”
Senior’s fingers drummed against the desk. “You know when we don’t feed them bodies, they’re eating all the shitty junk food our great nation doesn’t want?”
“Good thing we keep them plenty busy then,” I retorted, studying Senior as he twisted away from his sons. He cupped his hand, gently tweaking his wrist while he stared out the window.
Junior cast Brennan a look. “We just have to maintain that Callum went missing?”
“Mark’s not going to be pacified for long,” Senior answered. “We’re best friends. If a best friend ain’t going to deep dive when your son’s gone missing, that doesn’t make him much of an ally, does it?”
“Then dive deep. You don’t have to find answers that reveal the truth,” I pointed out.
I saw Senior’s disapproval in his profile, but he merely said, “Don’t think we have much choice.”
"Finn, brother,” Bren rasped, turning to me. “I'm sorry."