“I don’t have any other children, and I’m aware that you are fully grown, your own man, but I’d like to get to know you, if you’d give me a chance.” He looks earnest, but the jaded asshole that I am struggles to believe there isn’t some ulterior motive here, no matter what he says. Knights always want something. “I know you don’t know me, where I’m from, the kind of man I am, but if I’d have known about you…”
I shrug, and cut him off. “There is no way Harrison would’ve let you know the truth, so don’t feel too guilty. And if you had, he wouldn’t have let you live. Not back then.”
“Harrison Saint doesn’t scare me.” There's a fire in his eyes that makes me question if this guy is a Knight. There are three families that sit on the Conclave that I know next to nothing about. “He might be the Regent, but after what Lincoln brought to the table this week, that might not be the case for long.”
“So you are a Knight.” I sigh, rolling my eyes.
Just awesome. Any thoughts of maybe seeing what he wanted just disappeared. I’m not getting any deeper in with the Knights than I am. The idea was to escape, not become one of them.
“I am, only because my family have been since the founding of the Cove. I’m not like the others. I have no need for their particular brand of… ethics. I abhor everything about the organization and if it wasn’t for my own initiation, I wouldn’t still be with them, but you know as well I do. Blood in, blood out.”
I nod. He’s not wrong, I know that all too well. He seems earnest, but I don’t trust him and he seems to know that. He lets out a deep sigh, and runs a hand down his face.
“I don’t expect you to trust me, Easton. Hell, I didn’t expect you to let me get this far, I just… I don’t know what I wanted, but I needed to explain myself to you. To give you options other than whatever your current situation is.” He lets out a deep breath before continuing. “The Knights are the reason I chose never to marry or have children. I didn’t want to drag anyone else into the madness. I’d rather see the institution burn to the ground than help it continue. It’s why I struggled with coming here to see you and why I helped Stone the way I did when he wanted to leave.”
His revelation piques my interest, but I remain guarded, reminding myself that stringing together pretty words, telling you what you want to hear, is what the Knights thrive at. Yet, I still find myself asking him the question on the tip of my tongue. “What do you mean?”
His phone sounds in his pocket. He pulls it out, glances at the screen and silences it before giving me all of his attention once more. He pauses, as if weighing his words, and the air in the room grows thicker.
Fuck this is weird.
I’m not sure if I’d be happier if he never came, or if he’d just say what he came to say. “I mean, that I was the one who helped him craft a way to get Octavia out. I am not your enemy, Easton. And if you’ll let me, I could be a very good ally.”
My mind spins at all of this new information. This guy is my dad, and he turns up, hating the Knights, offering to help us all. It seems too good to be true. And when something seems that way, it usually is. Yet my heart still races at the possibilities. I’m not about to tell him my every fucking secret, but I might be more willing to hear him out.
I run a hand through my hair, trying to work out what to say, how not to give everything away with just a few words. How desperate I am to find a way to get them all out. Especially when, for all I know, Harrison put him up to this.
I wouldn’t put it past him.
“You wouldn’t be very good at poker,” he laughs. “Your every thought broadcasts clearly. I understand you have no reason to trust me, but I’m going to show you that you can. If you’ll let me.”
I quirk a brow and fold my arms over my chest, wincing a little at the pressure on my healing incision as I move too quickly. “What do you mean exactly?”
“I mean, that I found your girl, and your brother and his friends are gearing up as we speak to go and get her.”