Page 141 of Filthy Savage

“He had two families, baby.”

My chin trembles, tears pooling. The betrayal hits me hard.

“He was married and had a son when he met your mom and started up with her. Guess he couldn’t do it anymore, so he left.”

Sniffling, I pinch my eyes shut. We were his throwaway family. We meant nothing.

“Hey, don’t do that, baby. Don’t cry, because I can’t watch it and not do something to fix it.”

Staring back at him, I find his features entranced with equal parts anger and anguish.

“I’ve thought about killing him for this, but I thought I’d give you the chance to meet him first at least.” He cracks a smile, and that has me returning a broken one.

“Right now, you killing him doesn’t sound so bad.” I bite down on the inside of my cheek, trying to temper my rage and sadness—so deep, I don’t know how I will climb out. “I want to see him.”

“Now?”

I nod. “I won’t be able to sleep unless I look him in the eye and ask him how he could do that to me. How he could’ve just left his other child.”

He nods with understanding. “Alright. We can go. It’s only a forty-five-minute flight.” He picks up my hand and kisses my knuckles. “But I swear, baby, if he says one wrong thing to you, he won’t survive it.”

My heart pumps faster and I nod, accepting his conditions. Maybe a good punch in the face would serve the bastard right.

Even though I know for certain a punch is not at all what Fionn meant.

CHAPTER 34

AMARA

We arriveby private jet to an airport on the outskirts of Boston, where my father apparently is. I guess it was easier to jump from one family to another when he lived near each one.

My pulse races, my jaw clenched.

I hate him. Hate what he did. Hate that I wondered why he left, missing him even when I never really knew him at all.

And most of all, I hate that I let him do this to me—make me angry. He shouldn’t matter, because no good parent worth a damn would ever purposely leave their child.

If he never loved me, why should I even care?

“You ready?” Fionn asks, clasping my hand in his while I stare at the white colonial home.

Floral design and manicured shrubs line both sides of the front yard, the wooden fence and powder-blue shutters making the home even more inviting. So while we lived in the crappiest part of town in a home that was falling apart, he was living here, enjoying a nice, cushy life.

The more I think about it, the madder I become.

“Let’s go,” I tell him, opening the car door before he does.

As soon as I step out, my knees buckle. No matter what I tell myself, I’m nervous beyond belief.

“I’ve got you, baby.” Fionn’s a blend of strength and kindness that I fully fall into, holding on to his hand as we walk up the driveway, my heart knocking in my rib cage the closer we get. He glances at me. “I’m right here. Not going anywhere.”

I nod and he takes it as permission to ring the bell.

Immediately, we both register a set of hard footsteps drawing nearer. My gut churns, shivers spreading down my arms just as the door opens. I expect to see my father; instead, standing before me is a guy not much older than me with brown eyes and even darker auburn hair.

He smiles tentatively, glancing between us. “Can I help you?”

It’s in this moment I realize…

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