Page 30 of Zero Hour

Pat hesitated before answering.

“Pat,” she prompted, her lower lip quivering. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Shit, Izzy. I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. Richard found out that he wasn’t your biological father.”

Her hand flew to her mouth. “You?” she whispered.

He nodded.

“Oh, my God!” She jumped up, knocking over her wine.

“Izzy–!”

She was shaking her head like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.

“Izzy, I know it must come as a shock, and I wasn’t sure whether I should tell you or not. But after everything that’s happened, after nearly losing you last year, I couldn’t keep it in anymore.”

She glared at him. “Of courseyou should have told me! Don’t you think I have a right to know who my own father is?” She paced up and down, reminding him of himself. “I can’t believe this. All this time I thought Richard was my father. The man whoabandoned us, who missed all my birthday parties, and never came to my school plays. You let me thinkhewas my dad, when my real father was there all the time?”

Pat got to his feet. “I’m sorry?—"

But she cut him off, still pacing. “It all makes sense now. Howyouwere the one who was always there, never him. Howyoualways kept an eye on me, came to my graduation, came to my rescue when I got kidnapped.” Her eyes widened. “It was allyou!”

He nodded.

She threw herself onto the sofa. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know until your father found out and confronted us. She kept it from me too.”

Izzy shook her head. “That was eight years ago.”

A sob escaped her, and he wanted more than anything to take her into his arms and give her a hug, but the look in her eye told him not to.

“Izzy–”

“I need you to go.”

“Come on, let’s talk about this.”

“Please, Pat. Just go.”

So he left, feeling like the biggest dick in the world.

CHAPTER 12

Jasmine left the house with Amir and Riad flanking her. She no longer had access to the property, and they’d changed the alarm code. Amir might still need her, but his cousin’s words had hit home.

If anyone was playing mind games, it was Riad. He knew exactly which buttons to press to feed Amir’s paranoia. She wished he’d wipe that smug look off his face.

“We have business to attend to,” Amir said abruptly, as they walked toward Columbia Heights Station. “I’ll let you know when we’re back.”

“Okay. I’ll be at the library.”

She hadn’t spent this much time in a library since she was in grad school, cramming for her psych exams. Now, it had become a refuge—a neutral, safe space where she could breathe. She used the time to stay up to date on new theories and practices in her field, but mostly, it was an excuse. A way to be alone. She also used the library’s computers to check emails, responding just enough to keep her colleagues from suspecting she’d dropped off the face of the earth.

Even though that’s exactly what it felt like.

Had it really been only two weeks since Amir had shown up at her door?

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