Page 96 of Defending Casey

“I didn’t want it to come to this, Casey. I didn’t want to have to tell you this. Didn’t want you to know the truth, because I know it’s going to hurt. But I can’t let you think he’s a good man.”

Casey shook her head. “No. Whatever you say… I can’t trust it. I can’t trust you.”

“It wasn’t just him, either. It was his team. They were going to be tossed out of the service. A dishonorable discharge. Do you understand what that means? Your hero isn’t a hero at all.”

“They left the service, Brian.”

“He didn’t tell you about it, did he? He’s just trying to hide it. He’s trying to hide-”

“Stop it, Brian. Stop!” She couldn’t listen to him try to drive a wedge between them. “I don’t have to listen to your warnings because I know Hale. I know what kind of a man he is. You can try to tell me that he did something horrible, but I know he didn’t.”

“You’re just ignoring the truth that’s staring you in the face, Casey. You really should have just listened to me, believed in me.”

“I did believe in you, Brian. You were a big part of my life. I let you near my daughter, Brian. That should tell you how much I trusted you. How much you meant to me.”

She saw the sudden sadness in his eyes and hoped that she’d finally gotten through to him.

“There’s just no way to get through to you, is there, Casey?”

“I know the truth, Brian. You can’t convince me of a lie. Not about Hale.”

His chin dropped to his chest and one of his hands dropped away.

Casey let out the breath she’d been holding.

And regretted it a moment later when she felt something cold under her chin.

There was a strange look of resignation in Brian’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Casey. I tried.”

Casey closed her eyes and prayed that Nora wouldn’t see what was happening and dropped like a stone with her head turned as far away from Brian as she could manage.

#

The moment Halewent through the door, kicking it off its hinges, he took in the scene before him.

He didn’t have time for panic or hesitation. He had to act.

He saw his father standing off to the side with Nora standing in front of him.

Knowing his daughter was safe, Hale did the only thing he could. Put himself between Casey and danger. She was on the ground, her neck bleeding.

Brian still had the knife in his hand, but that wasn’t Hale’s concern.

He had to stop the flow of blood. He had no way of knowing how bad the injury was, he just had to stop the bleeding.

Hale heard his team entering the house just as they’d planned. He knew he had his back to Brian and that put him at a disadvantage but he knew he had a team who quite literally had his back.

But the voice that cut through the noise of breaking wood and glass was a shock to him.

“Dive!”

A percussive blast filled Hale’s ears and battered him with a wave of sound.

Hale spared a glance over his shoulder in shock.

His father held a shotgun in his hands and a strange look of determination on his face. “You okay, son?

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