Page 112 of Volatile Vice

“And we lost her…” he says quietly.

“Yes. So you can understand my issue. She was trying to tell me something, and I got the feeling that it was important. Something that she’d kept from me for far too long.”

He draws in a long breath. “I wish I knew, son. But I don’t. If it was about your grandfather, I probably wouldn’t know anyway. And if it was about me?” He shrugs. “You know everything about me, Vinnie. You know that my marriage to your mother was arranged, that my father was your grandfather’s consigliore. That I was a golden boy, considered to be the best match for your mother. I’m afraid I disappointed your grandfather greatly on that.”

“But you loved Mom.”

“We grew to love each other, yes. And now? I can’t think of anyone from my past I’d rather spend my life with. It’s just as well that I’ll be incarcerated for the rest of it, because I can’t imagine life without your mother.”

“No, Dad. You can’t think that way. I’m going to get you out of there. When I take over?—”

“No, Vinnie. I killed a man in cold blood.”

“It was hardly cold blood. You were defending Falcon.” I inhale deeply, steeling myself to ask the one question I’m not supposed to ask. “Is he the first man you killed?”

My father doesn’t answer.

Which is, of course, the answer.

“You killed Miles McAllister to save Falcon because you knew Savannah loved him. It wasn’t in self-defense, but it was defense of another.”

He rubs at the bridge of his nose. “None of that matters anymore. Let me stay in prison, son. I’m safe there. No one dares lay a hand on me because they know who my father-in-law is.”

Indeed, my father does not have a scratch on him. For which I’m eternally grateful.

“But I can get you out.”

He shakes his head. “I don’twantto get out. I want to pay for my crimes. And some of them Iamsorry for.” He frowns. “But I’m not sorry for killing Miles McAllister. God only knows what he would’ve done to Savannah. Thank God she was able to protect herself from him. As her father, I should have been the one to do that.”

“You did, Dad. You let her go to college, and then you let her work as a parole officer instead of marrying that derelict.”

He swallows, looking down. “But in the end, I couldn’t save her. She was going to have to marry him.”

“Don’t forget that she went to him of her own accord. She thought she was doing it to save Falcon from another prison sentence.”

“Yes, Falcon’s prison sentence.” He frowns, scratching his temple. “Something about that doesn’t make sense to me.”

“It doesn’t make sense to me either. Austin Bellamy is keeping something from me.”

“Texas ranching is a funny business sometimes,” Dad says. “Ranchers often have their own sordid secrets.”

“You and Mom haven’t lived in Texas that long.”

“No, but my guess is that Austin Bellamy has his own secrets, and unfortunately his son had to pay for one of them.”

“What do you know?”

“Vinnie, if I had information that could help you, you know I would tell you. It’s only a hunch.”

“Are you sure? Because someone had to go down for the killing of that young cop.”

“Yes. But the Bellamy family could have found someone else to sacrifice other than one of their own sons.”

My father’s right, of course. The Bellamy Ranch employs hundreds. Anyone could have been out that night. Anyone could have gotten hold of Falcon’s gun.

I have a feeling that the Bellamy ranch shrouds more secrets than perhaps even Austin Bellamy himself knows.

“I believe Falcon is a good man,” I say.

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