Page 107 of To Die For

“Who then?”

He spread his hands and shrugged.

“Come on, Danny, how could you not know?”

“I didn’t say I didn’t know, did I?”

“But you couldn’t do anything about it?”

Glass made no comment.

“I really need to know who’s behind this.”

Glass just stared at him and said nothing.

“Okay,” said a visibly frustrated Devine. “And your sister? How did she feel about you being in their lives?”

“Alice and I were always close. We communicated over the years. She actually let me send money and other things without Dwayne knowing. Not much, or else he would have caught on. But enough so they didn’t starve, since Dwayne couldn’t hold a damn job to save his life. But I made sure they never fell too low. I had people watching over them. I wanted to do more. A lot more. It made me sick how they were living hand to mouth because I could have given them…so much. I loved Alice, would have done anything for her. Our old man was a real bastard to her.”

“I heard that you protected her.”

“Who’d you hear that from?”

“Just someone who knew Dwayne and Alice well.”

Glass smiled knowingly. “Nate Shore and Korey Rose, right?”

“You know them?”

“Never met them. But my people did a deep dive on them when I learned they were close to Alice and Betsy.”

“And your conclusion?”

“They’ve got their own personal demons, but they’re both solid as rocks. And they care about Betsy. So I did nothing to persuade them to get the hell out of Dodge. In fact, unknown to them, I had people along the way who found jobs for them when they really hit rock bottom.”

“Wow, Danny Glass, the man behind the curtain manipulating everyone and everything. What a big heart you have.”

“Behind the curtain! That was the only role I was allowed to play with my own family,” growled Glass.

“Nate and Korey are pretty intimidated by you,” noted Devine.

“But you’re not, Devine. Why do I think you could’ve taken all three of my boys out right here if I’d allowed them to push it?”

“You wouldn’t be wrong,” Devine said quietly. “Did you ever speak to your sister, try to reason with her? Didn’t she want Betsy to have some stability, some normalcy in her life?”

“Alice was a sweet, sweet child who grew into a beautiful woman. But what Alice lacked was a backbone. If Dwayne said it, then Alice did it. It’s the only thing I didn’t like about her. It was all I could do to convince her to let me send her small amounts of money, and some clothes and other stuff. So, bottom line, there was no way I was going to be fully in Betsy’s life.”

“You mean while they were alive?”

Glass’s features turned angry and the man who intimidated the hell out of most people suddenly emerged, dark and deadly.

“If you think I had any hand in what happened to them… to Alice…” His voice broke and he quickly turned away.

Devine saw the man shudder violently, and then rub viciously at his eyes before turning back, but keeping his gaze downcast.

Had Danny Glass just shed tears?thought Devine.

“Well, if you think that, you’re full of shit,” finished Glass.

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