Page 86 of Flight Risk

He says nothing.

“I don’t understand how this happened. Grandpapa—my grandfatherraisedme. He’s always been kind, even if he was busier than everyone else’s parents. He was so proud of me for getting into Columbia, and the summer program.Hewas the one who taught me about the law. He said it was how we set our standards for right and wrong.”

Jameson smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Lilith. You know any judge can be corrupt. How long have you lived in Cobble Hill?”

“Since I was little. I don’t remember living anywhere else. He was a prosecutor when I was very young.”

“And before that?”

“He worked his way through the ranks at a law firm.”

“So.” Jameson sticks his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. “Single guy with one daughter, maybe more, works his way up at a firm, becomes a prosecutor…and buys himself a mansion in Cobble Hill on a prosecutor’s salary.”

“He was always careful with his money. He had to be, because my mom—my mom needed help, sometimes, before—”

Jameson takes out his phone, taps at the screen, and turns it to face me.

It’s our house in Cobble Hill. The value is in big numbers at the bottom.Unlisted,it says. Jameson scrolls, a quick swipe that brings up the value of the house over time. It was worth alotof money when my grandfather bought it ten years before I was born, and the year after he was appointed judge, it was re-appraised for almost half a million dollars over the highest previous value.

“Did he have family money, Lily?” Jameson’s voice is razor sharp. It’s scarier because he’s so quiet. “Did he have a wife?”

“She—” My mouth is too dry to speak. It’s tough to swallow. “She died when my mom was two. He raised her and put—he put himself through law school. And then he raised me.”

“Fancy house for a self-made man.” Jameson shoves his phone back in his pocket and shrugs. “I’m not saying it’s impossible. Mason did it, but it was hell. Your grandfather could’ve done a similar thing.”

“That’s not what you think.”

The color comes back to his face, a deep, angry red in his cheeks. “I know he signed off on giving my parents’ estate to the consortium. I know he put his stamp on kicking me and my sibling out of our house. I know that when we were in the world’s shittiest apartment trying to keep each other alive, he was getting a good night’s sleep in his house in Cobble Hill.”

“Maybe—” I don’t want it to be true. I don’t want the man who kissed my scraped knees and tucked me back in after bad dreams and came to my kindergarten graduation to have done this to children. Toorphans.I don’t want there to be two sides to him with a gray area the size of the ocean between them.

“Maybe he didn’t know? Maybe he didn’t read the facts before he made a summary judgment and left us destitute?” Jameson’s eyes glitter. “It’s a possibility, isn’t it? That he didn’t read the case.”

“That would be a dereliction of duty.”

“How much money would it take for him to forget hisduty,Lily? How much would it take? Because you never wanted for anything growing up, did you? He was wealthy, and he didn’t get that way overnight. He didn’t penny-pinch his way into a mansion in Cobble Hill. He didn’t put you through private school and write checks to NYU by beinghonorable.How did he do it?”

“I don’t—”

“Why would he sign off on a case like this, knowing it was wrong? Why would he do that? Come on, angel, you’re so close.”

“They paid him.”

“Theypaidhim.” Jameson looks taller, somehow. The black eye makes him look even more dangerous. Now that all the facts are in front of me, now that I’m seeingeverything,I can see how it shaped him. How it thinned out his body, and how he built it back up afterward. How it’s still hurting him. “The members of the consortium paid him off. And I’d bet the value of my brother’s company, I’d bet my new salary as VP, I’d bet my entire life that this isn’t the first time. Iknowthis bastard does corrupt shit,wrongshit, all the goddamn time. Do you know how I know?”

“No.” My heart pounds. I’m light-headed with fear, and it’s not because of Jameson. He’s angry, but his emotions are like a storm. They blow over. He has to work them out. I’m afraid because I don’t know. There’s a massive gap in my understanding, and fixing it is going to hurt. “Please tell me.”

“Because one of his charity cases attacked my sister.”

“What? Your sister? When?”

“Two days before I took you. Some prick in her archeology program at NYU. He’d been bragging for months about how he owed his freedom to a certain judge in the family.”

“How did he—”

“He burned her.” Jameson’s voice drops to a deadly low. “He burned her with a cigarette on the back of her neck. As ajoke, Lily. He thought it was a funny goddamn joke.” Unadulterated pain flashes through his eyes. “She wassixwhen our parents died in a fire. We watched our older brother suffer for years. We watched—” His teethclicktogether. “It’s not a joke. The only reason he’s not dead is that he came after her again and got his ass arrested. If he was loose in the world right now, I’d end him.”

“I’m sorry. Jameson—”

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