Breathless (Steel Brothers Saga #10)(55)

And did I even want to be purged?

Because that was the cold, hard truth.

He had been my father, and he had been a good father, even though he’d turned out to be the embodiment of evil.

So what did that make me?

The spawn of evil?

The spawn of evil who had nothing but pleasant memories of his father for nearly the whole time he was alive?

My father had brutalized men, women, and children. Raped them. Tortured them. And then he’d come home and spent time with me. Read to me. Helped me learn long division. Taken me camping and fishing with Joe. Taught me how to hit a baseball. Shown me how to throw a perfect spiral. Taught me how to shoot a gun.

Taught me how to be a man.

A shudder ran through me.

What kind of man was I if he had been my inspiration, my role model?

My father?

Yes, I wanted to purge this house—my life—of everything he’d touched.

But I didn’t want to just as much.

Because as much as my father had been a truly evil man, he’d also been a good father.

Reconciling those two facts was impossible and the biggest reason why I was a fucked-up mess at the moment.

“Tell them to only pack the personal items in my room,” I told my mother. “The bed and other furnishings can be burned, for all I care. Everything he touched can be burned.” Then I left the house.





An hour later, I arrived at the agreed-upon café in Grand Junction to meet with Ted Morse. He was already there, sitting in a booth. The hostess pointed him out to me.

I approached him and cleared my throat. “I’m Bryce Simpson.”

He stood. “Mr. Simpson. Ted Morse.” He held out his hand, but I didn’t take it. “Please. Have a seat.”

I resisted the urge to blurt out an apology for what my father had done to his son. I am not responsible for the sins of my father—a mantra I tried, but more often than not failed, to live by.

Silence stretched for an unbearable few seconds that seemed like hours. He’d invited me here, and I’d agreed to come to gather information for the Steels. I had nothing to say to him other than the apology on the tip of my lips. I kept them tightly closed. I would not start this conversation out by putting myself in a vulnerable position. I owed the Steels better.

Ted finally opened his mouth, but we were interrupted by our server, a middle-aged woman with graying hair. “Good morning,” she said to me. “What’ll it be?”

“Just coffee,” I said. If I tried eating while facing Ted Morse, I might spew.

“Coming right up.”

Alone again, facing the man whose son my father had ruined. I owed him nothing, especially after he’d tried to blackmail my best friend. Still, guilt gnawed at me.

I cleared my throat again. “So, Mr. Morse, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Ted, please. And I’ll call you Bryce.”

“Okay. Fine.” Though I didn’t really see the point. We weren’t friends. We weren’t colleagues. We weren’t anything, really.

“I’ve already told you that the FBI is still working the case.”

I nodded. I had no idea if he was telling the truth, but I’d hear him out. I’d made a promise to the Steels.

“What you might not know is that they’ve identified two more persons of interest.”

“And why would I care?”

“Because one of them, Bryce, is you.”





Chapter Thirty–Five





Marjorie





“Talon wants to know when we’re meeting with Colin,” I said to Jade.

“Good question. When are we?”

“I don’t know yet.” I texted Talon back as much. “I guess I’ll call him now.”

“Hey, Marj,” Colin said into my ear.

“Hey. Jade has decided she’ll talk to you.”

“Oh? She got the Neanderthal to agree?”

“This conversation is going to be over really quickly if you’re determined to dis my brother.”

“Right. I get it. Sorry.” Though he didn’t sound sorry at all. “When?”

“Whenever. But I’ll be coming with her.”

“That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“There is no deal, Colin. And if I don’t come, Talon will. Your choice.”

He paused a few seconds. Then, “Fine. This afternoon?”

“It has to be sometime before three o’clock. The boys get home from school around three thirty.”

“I’m still in Snow Creek. How about two at the smoothie shop?”

“Hold on.” I turned to Jade, muting the phone. “Are you feeling up to going into town? Two at the smoothie shop?”

“Yeah. I’m okay today.”

“Fine,” I said into the phone. “Jade and I will see you then.”

Jade bit her bottom lip. “I…don’t know how to feel about this.”

“There’s no right or wrong way to feel.”

“I mean, he humiliated me so terribly, but now…he’s been through so much more than anyone should ever have to go through. Makes what he did to me seem like a minor pebble in my shoe, you know?”