Page 53 of Among the Sins of my Father

“Fucking spit it out!” Gideon splutters, more like the way I thought he’d react. “Is she okay? Does she know about us? Does she care?”

“She’s fine.” It’s best to start with the good news. If you can call it that. “She’s a little messed up, got a few substance abuse problems, but nothing unexpected.”

Gideon snorts. “So you just fucking lied to me for all these years? Killed our father and then lied about our mother?”

“No.” I chew on my bottom lip. “Well, yes, just not in the way you think.”

“This better be good,” he mutters. Then he looks up, eyes clouded in suspicion. “You made her leave, didn’t you? You told her—”

I hold up my hand. “Let me speak.”

“Well, fucking speak then.”

“I never killed our father. Alice did.” I expect there to be some sort of response to this revelation, but Gideon doesn’t react. “Did you hear me? I said that—”

“Yeah, I heard you.” Gideon rolls his eyes. “I just don’t believe you. It’s all very well for you to claim this years after when it all happened, but I was there, Jericho. You confessed.”

“I confessed in order to prevent our mother from going to jail. She wouldn’t have been able to handle it. It would have killed her.”

A smirk creeps across Gideon’s face. “So you’re the hero now instead of the villain? How convenient.”

“Gideon,” I warn, my voice falling to a low growl.

“Jericho,” he mimics. He slaps his hands to his thighs and then stands. “Look, I know you have this need to be adored—”

“That’s not what this is.”

“But why would you say this now? Why not tell me then? What’s changed?”

“I told you. I’ve found her.”

“Once again, how convenient. You want to change history, bathe yourself in some sort of sacrificial light, but regardless of how you look at it, I was the one who got left behind. I was the one who spent those months at that horrible foster home. Mother wasn’t there for me, she was in hospital, remember? Another thing that was your fault. She couldn’t stand you. She couldn’t live with the knowledge of what her son had done.”

I get to my feet and slam my hands down on the desk. “Enough!”

Gideon winces at my outburst and for a moment, I see the little boy again. The little boy who cried as I was taken away. The little boy who waited at the window for a glimpse of Hope when she’d visit him in the foster home. The little boy who went from having a family, as fucked up as it was, to having nothing within a matter of days.

“Look, I know you don’t want to believe what I’m telling you but it’s true.”

There’s a knock at the door and before I can call out, Hope walks in.

“Did you know?” Gideon snaps at her.

“Know what?” She looks between us questioningly.

“Who killed my father?” he demands.

“I told him the truth,” I say, knowing Hope will want to defend me.

Hope’s face softens and she turns to Gideon. “Yes. I knew.”

“You two are fucking unbelievable. Did you tell her to go along with this story? Was there some sort of agreement between you?”

Hope nods toward the door. “Go ask her.”

Gideon’s eyes snap to mine.

“I hadn’t told him yet.”

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