Chapter 15
E verly
In Arran’s office, we all took seats, other than Connor who stood with his arms folded. Riordan sat across from me.
My brother.
I broke the silence. “In what way are we related?”
“We share a father.”
Genevieve’s mouth dropped open. “I’m sorry, what? Dad isn’t your dad? Since when?”
He gave an unfunny laugh. “Conception.”
“Who told you this?” she continued. “If it was Dad, he was probably drunk or upset about something. He wouldn’t have meant it.”
I twisted my hands in my lap, watching on, trying to keep my expression neutral like I’d learned to in public-speaking training. I didn’t want my shock to show. Hadn’t I just considered how I knew all my father’s secrets?
A cold chill slunk through me, and my stomach curdled.
Riordan spoke. “Mum told me shortly before she died. She had that guy harassing her, and I guess she worried she was in danger so needed to give up that news. She met me from college and drove me to Victory Park, and we sat in the car while she worked through it.”
Genevieve swallowed. “What did she say?”
“That she’d had an affair with a married man, got pregnant, he rejected her, then a month later she met your dad.”
He heaved a deep breath and turned from his sister to me.
His other sister, apparently.
“Shit. That sounded bad in terms of your father. It’s only one side of the story.”
“It’s okay,” I said softly.
It wasn’t, though.
Riordan watched me. “I take it he didn’t tell you?”
Faintly, I shook my head. Never once had Father mentioned another relationship, let alone a child. I did his accounts, and no maintenance had ever been paid.
A memory rose. Of a brown-haired teenager at my front door. Riordan’s hair…it was the same colour as mine, and as my father’s. I sat forward. “Years ago, you came to our house. Long before the night you gave me that warning. That’s where I recognise you from.”
He inclined his head. “I went to confront your father, despite Mum demanding that I never try. I was eighteen, and it was a few months after she died. We’d moved back to Deadwater to live with Gen’s dad, and I just needed to know, to make sense of the bomb Mum had dropped and meet the man who I knew next to nothing about beyond what his bio told me.”
I hid my recoil. Riordan was better off staying away. I was glad it had been me who’d answered the door, though for the life of me, I couldn’t remember our conversation. Only the impression that there was something noteworthy about the visitor.
His gaze gentled. “I lost my nerve in revealing who I was. You were kind and offered to help make me an appointment, then chatted about the weather and said you’d fetch me a drink if I was thirsty.”
The image clarified in my head, those same words vivid now. “I remember.”
“Does Dad know?” Genevieve asked suddenly. Her eyes slanted my way. “Sorry for cutting in, Everly. I’m reeling a little.”
Riordan twisted his lips. “We’ve never talked about it, but I’m sure he does. Ever wondered why he calls me ‘your brother’ when talking to you about me? He never once called me ‘son’, and the minute Mum told me, the different ways he treats us made sense.”
Gripping Arran’s hand, Genevieve stared at Riordan. She was so pretty and golden, and he was darker and different in ways that were multiplying the more I stared. Then her attention switched to me, maybe seeking similarities.
Finally, she went back to him. “I wish you’d told me.”
“Mum made me swear never to talk about it. It fucked with my head, and there was no good time after that. Besides the point, we needed Dad for a place to stay. If I was wrong and rocked that boat, you’d be homeless. I would’ve found a way to survive but I couldn’t bear that for you. I think the only reason Mum even told me was because she was scared for her life and had done the thinking about us moving back to Deadwater, and the danger of Everly and I meeting without knowing.” He came back to me. “Though I think you’re a year older than me.”
I jumped at being in the spotlight once more. “I’m a big sister?”
Emotion rushed. Connor pushed forward from where he was leaning, his action stealing my attention back to him, and I was grateful because I didn’t want to feel anything right now. Not with others watching on. It was too exposing, and I needed to get a hold of myself.
“Assuming it’s true,” he said to Riordan.
Riordan’s gaze hardened. “I’ve no reason to think she was lying.”
“Not disparaging your ma. I’m doubting ye. First, trying to kidnap Everly?—”
“I went to warn her, asshole.”
“—and then concocting some bullshit story to get close to her.”
Riordan flung out an arm. “Explain to me how we look so much alike, then.”
Connor shrugged. “Explain why you’re working for the Four Milers.”
“Fuck. Fine. I owed them a favour, and they called it in. My job was to grab her. Obviously there was no way I was going through with it, but I also knew they didn’t trust me so wouldn’t send me alone. I had to come with a warning.”
Genevieve swore. “How the heck did you end up owing a favour to a gang?”
He scrubbed his face with his hands. “Remember how you said you were going to cash in your savings to pay the missing rent, and I had to tell you the savings had gone, too? I knew it was on me to come up with a solution to save our flat.”
“So you went to a drugs gang for the money?” she squeaked.
“What other options were there? No bank was going to lend me shit, and I’d already asked my boss for a loan and got turned down. I was desperate.”
The two siblings stared at each other, both distraught, both wearing the same expression of regret.
I was outside the window of their lives, peeking in. I wished I could do more for them.
“What happened to your rent money and savings?” I asked.
Riordan raised his head. “Stolen.”
“By our…my dad,” Genevieve added. She glowered at her brother. “I told you not to do anything stupid.”
“And I will always do everything I can to protect you. By the time I knew your boyfriend bought the fucking place, I’d already made the deal. No money passed hands, but they held me to my side of the bargain.”
“They would,” Connor stated, elaborating when Riordan lifted a dark eyebrow. “You put yourself in their hands, so what happens now ye can’t give them what they want?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll cop a beating. I can handle that.”
Connor swapped a look with Arran, both grim.
I didn’t like their expressions.
“Did they say why they wanted me?” I asked Riordan.
“No. Only that you were to be unharmed.”
I shivered but forced my mind to work through it. “Blackmail of some kind, then. They want me for a hostage, and the only person they could be targeting is my father.”
“They want something from him,” Genevieve replied.
All of a sudden, exhaustion hit me. Emotional, mental, and physical, and sinking me down so far I couldn’t concentrate on what was being said.
I rose, and everyone focused on me. Politely, I smiled at Riordan. “Thank you for coming tonight, and for telling me your news. I have work in the morning so need to get to bed, and also I need a little space to process all of this, but I’d like to get to know you better. Your sister has my number, so please message me yours.”
Without waiting for a reply, I turned to Connor. “Could you see me back upstairs?”
He nodded then leaned to mutter something to Arran that sounded like a request to keep Riordan there. I just needed to hide away.
The minute I was behind closed doors, I feared breaking down. I liked having a brother, the feeling was a friendly and kind one, and Riordan seemed honourable, but the opposing force of what it all meant for my father clouded everything.
He’d lied and kept things hidden.
He’d cheated on my long-dead mother, too.
My sense of value from the lifetime I’d spent serving him crumbled away beneath my heels.