45. Kiera
KIERA
A heavy silence fell over the foyer as Dom stood up straighter, finally ready to show her cards. But I felt like my heart was racing so fast that all of my captors could hear it through the patter of rain on the roof.
Her tone made me want to interrupt, wanting to smack her down a few levels.
“I… found him upstairs, trying to…” Dom’s eyes darted to Leo and Spencer before stopping herself. “You were in trouble and I took care of it. I got rid of him.”
A pit the size of a black hole grew inside me.
What happened to me?
I didn’t remember any of it. And I knew she would see that on my face.
Continuing, Dom’s jaw tensed. “Your mother is such a fucking leech, I didn’t have a choice but to kick you out.
Chased you out of this house and told both of you to never come back.
” A dark laugh came from Dom’s chest. “She wouldn’t have stayed away if I hadn’t made her.
She wouldn’t have cared what they tried to do to you. ”
My mouth hung open, my eyes blinking quickly. I didn’t remember any of it. Except what came back in flashes — tears on my cheeks, Dom’s bloodied face, running downstairs.
“You don’t remember?” Dom’s temples bulged as she squeezed her jaw tighter.
More than anything I wanted to wipe that fucking look off of her face. Fucking know it all. The pity lurking in those icy blue eyes. It made me want to throw up. Or was that the memories flooding back to me?
Looking down at the floor, Dom managed, “I’d promised Brennan that I’d protect you no matter what.
So if you want to put us both through hell, that will be my penance for my father’s sins.
” Meeting my gaze again, she spoke through gritted teeth.
“But I will not break my promise to the only real father figure I’ve ever known. ”
The rage bubbled up at the sound of his name. “Don’t you ever say his name!”
I wouldn’t let Dom speak again. “You’re not some fucking hero.” Shaking my head, I refused to believe it. Dom had abandoned me, never once came to see me. While she lived in this fucking mansion, I was struggling to survive under my mother’s thumb.
And she hadn’t done shit for me.
She’d already broken whatever bullshit promise she made to my father.
The sound of the rain grew louder as our words went hush.
Until Leo stepped forward, saving me from knowing what to say next. “So you knew what your father was and you still chose to work for him?”
“I wasn’t given a choice.” Dom turned her attention to the Major. “The Oracle had been watching me ever since my mom died. They found the body, covered for me and kept my place as the heir to the Zeus throne. In exchange, they needed an inside agent.”
After what felt like years of silence, Spencer’s voice boomed across the stone. “What was on that asshole’s phone?”
It was time for Dom to come clean, and every suspicion we’d had was going to come to the surface.
Without a choice but to answer, Dom let out a sigh. “An app, one designed by Zeus to manage their underground dealings. That’s why I had to talk to Gabe; he was getting too close to all of us. To her.”
It wasn’t until her eyes moved back to me that I knew she meant it. Really meant it. She thought she was protecting me, in whatever sick and twisted way she knew how.
I wasn’t ready to accept it. Just because she meant it didn’t mean that I believed it.
How could any of this be true? It was all too convenient.
Of all people, why did Brennan ask Dom to look out for me? How did he know that he couldn’t trust his own wife… or his business partner?
And most importantly, why did he think he wouldn’t be around to protect me?