Page 17 of Among the Sins of my Father

She turns in the water, her breasts pressed to my stomach, her arms on my chest and her eyes peering into mine intently. “What about Dominic?”

“What about him?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m asking, Jericho. I know you’ll be looking for him. I know what you did to his parents.”

“I didn’t—”

She places her finger on my lips and shakes her head. “Don’t lie to me. You may not have done it, but you still gave the order.”

It’s strange for me, viewing my decisions through someone else’s moral compass. “We’re still looking.” It’s almost the truth. “I don’t know where he is.”

She bites her bottom lip. Her stomach presses into my groin, making it almost impossible for me to concentrate on the topic at hand. “Promise me you won’t hurt him.”

“He was the one who held Hope captive.”

“But he didn’t harm her. I can’t believe he did. He’s peaceful. He’s a dancer. Maybe there’s more to the story than we know. Maybe someone was holding something over him, forcing him to keep her.”

I chuckle at her naivety. “You don’t think that keeping someone against their will is harming them?”

Her body stiffens. “I don’t know. Maybe you should be the one to answer that.”

“Berkley,” I say her name as a sigh. “What happened in that head of yours while I was talking to Hope?”

“I remembered who you were and what you’ve done.”

“Everything I’ve done was for a good cause. Finding Hope.”

“Do you truly believe that?” She looks up at me with those eyes. Those eyes that make me want to agree with everything she says just so they will look upon me with affection and desire.

“I believe that things can’t always be separated into good and bad, right and wrong. Sometimes it’s more than that. Sometimes it’s less. All I know is that people have hurt Hope and turned her into someone I barely recognize anymore. And I want to make them pay for it.”

chapter seven

HOPE

I wake curled on the chair of Jericho’s office. My body is cramped and sore. I stretch slowly. The screen still shows him, my old master, lying on his stretcher in his cell. He’s sleeping.

It’s strange being able to watch him the same way he used to watch me. Nothing is appealing about it other than having the security of the knowledge that he’s trapped, unable to hurt anyone else. I watch him with detachment, as though he’s merely a villain on a television show. The man I see now is nothing like the man who I called Master. That man was evil and wicked and cruel. That man took pleasure in my pain. There were times he was gentle, even kind. But I was never fooled by those times. I know them for what they were. His. Everything was his. His choice. His time.

But it was my life.

Now, here, surrounded by stone and metal, he looks old and weak. He doesn’t look capable of cruelty. He does not look like a man I should fear, and yet as I sat here last night, my body shook. Every part of me trembled until exhaustion set in.

It must be the wee hours of the morning as the world beyond the window is gray and dim. Cloud blocks the rising sun and mist filters its way through the trees. The swans on the pond sleep with their heads tucked under their wings, content and safe. It’s a feeling I’m still not used to. I know I’m safe, I know I’m free. But I don’t feel it.

As soon as Jericho left last night, I pushed the door to his office back open. I don’t like being trapped behind a barrier, even if I know it’s unlocked. It’s irrational and illogical but I can’t help it. My heart started to race and I kept looking at the door, getting up and testing to see if it was unlocked. So it was easier to just leave it open. That way, one glance was all it took to reassure myself.

With one last look at the monitor, I leave the office, almost tripping over Jericho’s head of security as I walk out the door.

“What are you doing there?” I gasp, my hand held over my chest as my heart pounds.

He wakes, pulling his legs away from where they were stretched over the floor. “I must have fallen asleep.” He looks at me sheepishly as he gets to his feet. “I thought you might feel safer if someone was at the door.”

“That was very kind of you, but it probably would have been best if you’d let me know you were there in the first place.”

He smiles and bows his head. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Barrett, isn’t it?”

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