Page 76 of Savage Justice

We sit in silence for a few minutes. Marlowe is the first to speak.

“You need to sort things out with Nico.”

I respond with a disparaging snort.

“He loves you. He loves Lucy, and Noah. And you love him. You told me so.”

I raise my head. “I did? When?”

“You said he was nice.”

“That doesn’t mean…”

He raises one eyebrow. “Why make a secret of it? What happened to Tris is public knowledge.”

“He’d no right to ask. Or to speak to me the way he did. What does it matter who her father was?”

“It doesn’t, unless her father is still in the picture.”

“Well, he isn’t. Obviously.”

“Nico doesn’t know that. What he does know, what he’s worked out for himself, is that I’m somehow related to your daughter, which is true. She’s my niece. And it must bother him that I know the truth and he doesn’t. He was bound to ask. I told him he should speak to you.”

“It’s none of his business!”

“I know, I know. Except, maybe it is. He wants to make a life with you, with your children. In his shoes, wouldn’t you want to know if there was an ex-lover and baby daddy in the background? There are no clean breaks when kids are involved. Or, there shouldn’t be. I guess he realises that, so…”

I grunt, for want of a more articulate response. What Marlowe says makes sense, I suppose.

He’s not finished. “It didn’t matter until he met me, saw the family resemblance and started to make connections. That brought the dim and distant past right into the present. And even though he had his suspicions, he didn’t ferret about in corners. Men like him have ways of finding shit out, but he was transparent about it and just came right out and asked.”

“You make him out to be some sort of saint.”

“Hardly. But I do think he deserves an explanation, and it’s yours to give. Not mine or anyone else’s.”

“He asked a straight question, so he deserves a straight answer. Is that what you’re saying?”

“It looks that way to me, but it’s your call. For what it’s worth, though, I like him. And I trust him to do right by my niece.”

“You know what sort of a man he is?”

“I understand perfectly well what this setup is, what they do. Not saying I’m entirely on board with it, but I can see that they take care of their own.”

“That’s true. He proved that, even before we…” I bury my head in my hands again. “Oh God. I need to go and find him.”

“Excellent idea. Now fuck off and let me get on with some work.”

CHAPTER 19

Nico

“Are you going to tell me what’s got you so wound up, or do I have to put up with your ugly mug scowling at me all day?”

“I’m fine,” I reply, my nose pressed to the window of the chopper as the North Sea rolls past a thousand feet below us.

“Tell your face that.” Tony goes back to pretending to study his phone. “What hardware did you bring?”

“The usual.” A knife in my belt and a handgun tucked in a holster inside my jacket. “Why? Expecting trouble?”

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