Chapter 8 - BLOOD DOESN’T MAKE FAMILY
Damien stared at Briar’s mother.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Briar looked between them.
“No. No, I don’t have a father. Not really.”
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears.
“His name was Gabriel Ashworth.”
Damien stepped back.
Gabriel.
His older brother.
Dead twenty-five years.
Damien had been eleven when Gabriel disappeared.
Their father had told everyone Gabriel betrayed the family and ran.
Three weeks later, police pulled a burned body from the river.
“You knew Gabriel?” Damien asked.
“I loved him.”
Briar laughed.
A sharp, broken sound.
“This is insane.”
Her mother reached toward her.
Briar stepped away.
“No. You don’t get to touch me yet.”
The woman lowered her hand.
Fair.
Pain moved across her face, but she accepted it.
Damien asked, “Why fake your death?”
“Because Corbin’s father found me.”
“Marcus Vale.”
“Yes.”
Victor swore under his breath.
Damien’s jaw hardened.
Marcus Vale had been his father’s partner.
Then his enemy.
Then supposedly dead.
Apparently New York had too many dead people walking around.
Briar crossed her arms.
“What did he want?”
Her mother looked at her.
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel left evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Records. Names. Payments. Enough to destroy the organization your grandfather built.”
Damien’s face darkened.
“My father killed Gabriel?”
Her mother nodded.
“And Elena found out.”
Silence.
Damien looked like someone had driven a blade under his ribs.
“Elena knew?”
“She contacted me before she died.”
Briar stared at him.
There was no crime boss in his expression now.
Only a husband learning his wife had died carrying a secret.
Briar hated how much she felt for him.
She hated even more that she understood.
“Where is the evidence?” Damien asked.
Briar’s mother looked at her daughter.
“Gabriel hid it somewhere no one would search.”
Briar’s stomach twisted.
“Where?”
“With you.”
“What?”
“When you were little, your father gave you a stuffed rabbit.”
Briar’s eyes widened.
Blue Rabbit.
She had kept it for years.
Even after Corbin laughed at her.
Even after she escaped him.
She had shoved it into a storage box at the clinic.
“Oh my God.”
Damien pulled out his phone.
“Victor, send a team.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Briar.
“I’m going.”
Damien shook his head.
“Too dangerous.”
“That rabbit belonged to my father.”
“Exactly.”
“So I’m going.”
“Briar.”
She stepped close.
“You don’t own me.”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
Then he nodded.
“All right.”
Her mother whispered, “There’s something else.”
Briar looked back.
“What?”
“Corbin knows about the rabbit.”
Her blood ran cold.
“How?”
May you like
Her mother began crying again.
“Because I’m the one who told him.”
