“What the fuck is this?” I ask, not understanding why he is showing me this. I knew Malia once before, which explains the familiarity she’s always wielded, but that doesn’t explain why they were there. Then it clicks. “My dad was fucking dirty?”
The Omen chuckles and I toss the photo onto the floor, wanting the mocking faces away out of my visual. I’m still armed and I’m itching to reach to grab my weapon. Lion was quick to put a gun to my head not long ago, but I bet I could get a shot to this motherfucker before I’m put down.
Then I remember my sister and my body goes rigid. Fighting against the urge to go feral and rip through this man in front of me.
“Dirty is not the word I would use,” The Omen says with a smile. “Joey was a good man, Liam. He was my best friend. We worked together for a long time and were friends long before that time in our lives.”
The information slams into me and I jerk back from the ferocity of his words. My dad being a dirty cop I can deal with and something going wrong sits better than a man who claims my dad's best friend brutally murdered him and raped his wife, orphaning their children.
“Your father's last words to me were to keep you safe, he never wanted this life for you,” he continues, walking closer to me. “As your godfather, it was my duty to keep you safe, as man of my word I had to keep you away. To make that happen was to make sure you thought I was responsible for their murder. I gave your grandmother funds to help raise you, paid for yours and Xana’s schooling.”
My sister's name out of his mouth makes my blood run cold.
“Don’t talk about my sister,” I spit, stepping into him. There’s movement next to me as Lion and Elijah shift closer. “You fucking have me here, Omen, the least you can do is own up to your crimes.”
He smirks and my blood boils.
“The Brenner temper didn’t miss this one, did it?” Elijah grunts from my left and my jaw tenses. Did the Castellos play a part in their murder too?
The Omen chuckles, pride shining in his emerald eyes while he beams at me that leaves a sour taste on my tongue. “That Brenner temper got me into a lot of trouble when we were boys.” A look passes between the men as if they’re sharing a memory that Lion and I aren’t privy to.
When he turns back to me, his expression is now neutral, all humor having left with the turn of his neck, “I am a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them.” He sighs, the man said to hold an unbreakable mask wears so many emotions on his face it’s hard to make sense of everything going on. For every answer I get, another question forms. An infuriating never-ending cycle.
“Say I believe you,” I say, hating the way my voice shakes from emotion in a time like this. “Planting your daughter in my life doesn’t exactly keep me out of this.”
The Omen studies me for a moment, the same heaviness I feel when Malia watches me settles on me. He rocks back on his heel and nods his head.
“I have planted many in your life to keep an eye on you,” he pauses and something cold passes across his face, his eyes now unfocused and looking past me. “The real man who slaughtered your parents has resurfaced from whatever gutter he crawled into over twenty years. I never stopped hunting for him, but he was the one thing I could never catch. When whispers of his return along with his adult son began it was time I had someone close to you.”
He refocuses his gaze on me. “You are an adult now, so nannies and teachers do not work anymore. I needed someone close, but also easy to extract once the threat was eliminated. Someone who was deadly and could protect you while playing their role—insert Malia.”
My teeth bare knowing this man set Malia in Bastian’s hands and not my own when I was the target all along. The conflict of remembering the way he touched her and watching his lips press softly against her skin burns through me.
“Why Bastian and not me?” I growl, annoyed with the obvious jealously I’m showing. The Omen takes notice and smirks, bringing my blood to a smoldering heat.
His smiles grows. “To avoid a connection that potentially pulls you into this life. It seems not even I could have stood between the power of lust.”
“Lust!” I snap, rearing back like a slap to the face from the major understatement. “I think it ran a little deeper than that.”
It doesn’t matter what The Omen claims is the truth right now when he’s admitted to orchestrating aspects throughout my life like it’s a normal thing to do.
“Forgive me, but I was under the impression you were not the type to settle down, nor is Malia.” Something flares behind his eyes that I don’t recognize. “Throwing her in your direct path for you to toss aside after one night wouldn’t help my cause. Your friend was the best option for success.”
There he goes again with another understatement.
A soft, sad smile splits his face before dropping. “My baby girl is both fierce and lethal, hidden from this life as a secret and weaponized,” he continues. “She has never failed me when it comes to the business. Despite her stubbornness, Malia always comes through and gets shit done.” He pauses, his gaze hardening. “Not until you, at least.”
Sixteen
Liam
THERE’SSOMETHINGACCUSATORYINThe Omen’s tone that I dismiss because my mind is a muddled mess. Reeling from all the information he’s throwing at me, and I don’t know which way is left or right. Things he says make sense, but I can’t trust him. He’s had ample time to come up with a good story to cover his ass.
However, that doesn’t explain the photo. Then my mind goes back to thinking this man my parents trusted slaughtered them and he’s fucking with me.
The Omen stares at me while I try to soak in everything he’s confessed, internally berating myself for thinking I had the capacity to deal with this situation after seeingherfor the first time since the truth was exposed.
But what exactlyisthe truth in all this?