Page 121 of Rebellion

Her hands had grown numb. That wasn’t a good sign, was it? Her head lulled to the side as she watched him move around the room. He was almost . . . manic.

“You don’t because your father lived while mine died! Do you know what happened to me? The monster I ended up with!” he roared.

Okay, maybe she was wrong to think that he wouldn’t harm her. Because with the way he looked at her right now . . . he appeared to want to hurt her. Badly.

Arseni got between them and started talking to Callahan. Was that why he was so obsessed with his father’s murder? Because he’d ended up in a worse place after?

Why did she feel so guilty about that?

It wasn’t her fault.

Callahan and two of his men left, leaving her with just Arseni.

“I thought you were my friend,” she croaked.

“You thought wrong.”

She closed her eyes, the pain immense. Her mind started to drift.

“Come this way, sweetheart . . . follow me.”

She sobbed and the woman turned to shh her. “Please don’t. They’ll know you were there. We have to be quiet. Iker doesn’t know I left the car. And he’ll kill me if he discovers I’m out here with you.”

“Papa shot that man.”

“No, no, baby. You didn’t see that. You didn’t see anything. Neither of us saw anything, all right?”

But she knew what she’d seen. Her father had shot the man with the tattoo on his arm.

They reached her car, and the kind woman opened the back door before getting her back inside.

“Listen to me, baby. Okay? I have a daughter about your age. I know girls can be stubborn, but you’re going to be a good girl, all right?”

Sofia nodded.

She was always a good girl.

“Pretend you never saw this. Tell no one. Okay? You could get in a lot of trouble for being there. We both could.”

Sofia didn’t like to get into trouble.

She didn’t like it when Papa got mad at her. So she nodded and the woman smiled at her tiredly.

“Good girl. I know that your Papa loves you. I’ve heard him mention you a few times. You’re such a good girl. I miss my daughter, but I made so many mistakes that she’s better off without me. Now, forget that I was here. Forget what you saw.”

Voices woke her.

Noises.

Screams of alarm. Was that a gun firing?

“Sofia! Sofia, baby, open your eyes. Please,Mo leannan.”

“You still haven’t told me what that means,” she said.

“Thank God,” he muttered. “I will tell you if you open your eyes.”

She forced them open, gazing up into Colm’s worried face. “Am I dreaming?”

---