Page 73 of Where He Ended

“Sure she will. She hates me.”

“She doesn't! Not since I told her . . .” I trail off and look away. “Dominic, I'm sorry. I told her the truth about you and Bernard. I know it wasn't my place, but I couldn't stand hearing her tear you down over and over.”

His eyebrows inch upwards. “Even if she forgives me, I'll still face the illegal things our banks did that I was a party to. There's too much to hang me with. Federal crimes are no joke.”

I try to pull away. His hands keep me where I am. “This is unfair,” I whisper. “After everything, how can it end this way?” I wrap my arms around his neck, standing on my toes to kiss him. I don't know if I'll get another chance. This could be it. We’re out of time.

The officer clears his throat. “Got someone here to talk to you both.”

Burying my face in Dominic's shirt, I hold him more firmly. “I don't want to talk to anyone else. I'm done talking.” I'm just exhausted.

Dominic's fingers shift onto mine. Gently, he guides me away from him, letting me see his hard profile. His eyebrows are cutting low over his eyes, like he's pissed about something. Following his line of sight, I look at who's in the doorway.

The person who stands in there with flickering lights bouncing off of his short brunette hair is someone I never expected to see again. “Dad?” I whisper.

His smile doesn't reach his eyes. “Hi, Lolly.”

I release Dominic, taking one step, then another, towards my father. I stop just before I can touch him—I remind myself about the things he's allowed to happen to me. It's too easy to forget when I'm staring at his kind eyes. “Why are you here?” I ask warily.

He moves his lips, then freezes. “Your hair...” He walks towards me, but I retreat. I see the pain flash through his eyes. “You're angry with me. I don't blame you. You must think so many terrible things about me.”

“Angry? Like there was a miscommunication or something? Youabandonedme!”

“I never meant to,” he says, shaking his head. “I wasn't supposed to leave you behind, that wasn't my plan.”

I flip my hands palm-side up, laughing humorlessly. “I had to find your damn message under a bridge to get a hint of your damn excuse for a plan.”

He winces like I elbowed him in the guts. “Let me explain that. I didn't put the message there myself, there were people searching the cabin for me the second I left the Complex.”

“Then who wrote it?”

“I sent my knife to your mother's old midwife. I was sure Silas would send you looking for me. I needed a way to tell you to stay on the estate. Then I'd know where you were so I could try and rescue you again and... and I know it sounds insane when I say it now. I should have told you more when I had the chance. I was doing my best to keep you from slipping things to the wrong ears.”

I reel back in shock. “I'm your daughter! I wouldn't tell anyone anything!”

“Not by choice,” he says, placing a hand to his forehead. “I was worried they'd force it out of you. It would be worse for you if you knew too much.”

I hesitate, considering his words, eyeing Dominic briefly. Maybe my dad had the right idea. Iwasinterrogated, after all.

“But you should know everything now,” he says earnestly. “The night I escaped, I was supposed to go to the estate. One of the guards was going to slip you out to meet me. No one would look twice at another black town car leaving the property. But the warning went up faster than I expected, everyone knew I'd gotten out of the Complex. Things didn't line up so I had to abandon your rescue to keep your mother and Dean safe.”

“Which guard?” I ask curiously. I'd thought there were spies on the estate, but not ones working for my father.

“A young man named Theo.”

Of course! Theo was watching me that evening in the sunroom. I think back to how he seemed so surprised when the code orange came over the walkie-talkie. It wasn't because he didn't know what it meant, but because he'd been preparing to slip me away in the night. He was baffled the plan had fallen apart.

My insides knot up as I remember something else—how he was forced to drive me to Franklin's. Had he hated himself for that? Wished he'd driven me away sooner? Wanted to step in and stop that fucked up situation, but was too afraid of revealing himself as my ally?

His little salute to me as I left the estate makes sense, now.

“I still don't understand what you're doing here,” I say, some of the fight leaving my muscles.

He studies the gray walls between his fingers that are still spread across his brow. “Two days ago, I turned myself in to the FBI. I came clean about everything.”

“What?” Dominic cuts in. “Why would you do that?”

Letting his hand drop lifelessly to his hip, my father's eyes swirl with shame. “I ran out of ideas on how to fix this. How could I continue to leave my daughters to suffer, choosing some half-life with endless money over their freedom? I struck a deal, told the FBI everything I'd done with Bradley Banks. All the international and foreign transactions, all the hacking, everything that Silas and his shareholders were involved in. In exchange, I'll serve a light six years instead of fifty.”

---