Sins, Lies & Spies (Black Brothers #2)(58)

“I don’t know for sure, but I got a letter a few days after she disappeared.” He shifted in his seat. “I can’t remember the exact wording, but it basically told me to shut up, or we’d all end up dead.”

My heart skidded to a halt, and I shuddered. “Why didn’t you go to the police?”

“Because I’m an ex-con, and the last thing I needed was the police sniffing around me. I’d come a long way since my ass landed in prison, but I hadn’t exactly kept my nose clean. They would’ve taken you and Faith away and stuck you in foster care.” He balled up the coffee drenched napkins. “I wasn’t the best role model, but your mom and I spent the last five years of our childhood in foster care. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

I drew in a fractured breath as I nodded absently. I knew what he was talking about. My mom told me a few things about foster care. Most people would consider my uncle a below average guardian, but he didn’t abuse us. We had clothes. We had food. We had a roof over our head, but we didn’t have an outpouring of love or emotional support. He was essentially a roommate who paid the bills.

“Are you sure the letter was about my mom and not some of the things you did in your past?”

He scratched the side of his neck. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I won’t lie. There’s some ugly stuff in my past. Stuff that would make people nervous. Stuff that might be worth killing or threatening me over, but the people in my past don’t hide behind letters. They deliver their messages in person accompanied by a good ass-kicking.”

A chill zipped down my spine. “Why now? Why didn’t you tell me years ago?”

“Because people have been asking questions about you over the last six months.”

My brows scrunched together. “Asking who?”

He shrugged and rolled his thick neck in a circle. “Your old friends and acquaintances. The questions seemed kind of innocuous in the beginning. They wanted to know if you ever talked about your parents. Then they started throwing around your biological father’s name and asked if you ever talked about him or mentioned him by name.” He leaned forward. “Have you been in contact with them? Did you move here to be closer to them?”

“Who?” I drew circles on my jeans, avoiding his eyes, pretending I didn’t understand his question.

“The Bentons,” he hissed. “Don’t play dumb with me, girl. I’ve known you too long for that.”

My head snapped up. “I moved here because my half-brother asked me to. He said he wanted to get to know me. He helped me find a place to live, and we’re friendly.”

Leaning back, he folded his arms across his chest, a pained sound scraping out of his mouth. “Jesus, Trinity. What the hell are you thinking? The Bentons will destroy you. You’re a stain on their reputation. It’s only a matter of time before they grind you into the dirt.”

“You’re wrong. Derrick cares about me. He wouldn’t hurt me.” My words broke. My heart splintered. My chest ached. I didn’t want to believe him. I couldn’t. It hurt too much. I pushed Knox away, at least temporarily, to support Derrick. It’d gut me if I did it for nothing. “He found me because he wanted me to be in his life.”

His fist collided with the top of the table and my empty cup tipped over again. “You’re a fool if you believe that. He contacted you because the Bentons have an agenda. I want you to pack up your shit and come home with me today.”

“No.” I jumped out of my seat, gathering my purse and the coffee-soaked paper napkins as fast as possible. I refused to fall apart in front of my uncle. “I’m not running away from this.”

He shook his head. “What are you going to do? Stick around and wait for them to kill you, too?”

“I don’t know. I’ll call you later. I need to process everything you told me.” With my head down and my hands shoved deep into my pockets, I half-ran, half-walked out the door.





CHAPTER





THIRTY-TWO


Knox



“Do you want to talk about it?” Jack said.

Ignoring Jack, my fingers flew over the keyboard as I typed an email to Archer. Last night, after two hours of searching for clues as to how I misjudged Trinity’s feelings for me, I didn’t come up with anything. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I decided to do something productive. I spent the entire night uploading security updates to Black Investments’ server.

“Hello.” Jack waved his hand in front of my face. “Talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I answered without looking at him.

Jack shoved his chair away from the table, the wheels rumbling across the floor. “What the hell happened in the last twenty-four hours? Yesterday you walked around with this stupid ‘I’m in love’ smile, and today you look like you want to kick someone’s ass.”

I closed my laptop. “I didn’t know you wanted to spend the day sharing feelings. Where should we start?” I propped my hands behind my head, glaring at him. “With your f*cked up marriage or my non-existent relationship with Trinity?”

Jack chuckled. “Oh, so this is about Trinity Jones. Did she already dump your ass?” He shook his head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I knew she was bad news.”