Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Who knows why? You shouldn’t believe—”
I tightened my hold on him. “Don’t you dare lie to me again, Alec.” My voice shook and a new crop of tears spilled out of my eyes. “Tell me the truth.”
Alec’s eyes reflected his conflict, but there was also pity and sadness in them. “Tess,” he said softly. He released a long breath. “Maybe you should talk to Major.”
I dropped his arm. The horrible suspicion I’d had was festering in me. “Abel. He’s my father, isn’t he?”
Alec didn’t say anything. I took a step back and clapped a hand over my mouth. I felt sick. “It’s true. He’s my father.” I couldn’t breathe. “Oh my god.”
Alec pulled me into an embrace. “Tess, we’re not responsible for the actions of our parents,” he said, but I was only half listening.
I was the daughter of a man who was responsible for the deaths of several people. A criminal, a murderer, and Holly’s abductor. Major knew. So did Alec. And Alec hadn’t told me. That was another secret he’d kept from me, but it wasn’t his secret to keep.
A few hours later, after I’d thrown up my stomach’s contents and finally escaped Alec’s care, I scraped myself together and knocked on Major’s door. I’d seen him return with the helicopter thirty minutes prior. He didn’t seem surprised to see me.
“Good that you’re here. I wanted to have a word with you anyway,” he said as he stepped back and let me enter the office.
Anger simmered under my skin. I had to resist the urge to smash his stupid glass cabinet and trample on his tin soldiers. There was never a speck of dirt on them. That’s probably how Major spent his nights; polishing his stupid toys until they sparkled. Sometimes I was sure he cared more about them than about his agents.
“Tessa, your recent behavior has been erratic to say the least. We have rules and they apply to everyone.” He spoke with obvious disapproval. He rounded his desk in measured strides and pulled back his chair.
After everything that had happened, he wanted to give me a lecture? “I know about Abel,” I blurted. “Why didn’t you tell me that he’s my father? Were you just going to keep that a secret forever?”
Major froze as if I’d touched a stun gun to his skin. “What did you just say?”
“I know that Abel is my father. Agent Stevens told me.”
Major turned his back to me for a moment as if he was scared his face would give away more of his secrets. Why couldn’t he be honest with me for once? Didn’t I deserve the truth? Slowly he turned, his expression perfectly controlled, and sank down into his chair. In that moment, he looked older than he ever had before.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me? Why, in all the talks we’ve had about Abel’s Army or my missing father, did you not mention that they’re the same person?” By the time I finished, I was shouting, and didn’t care that Major hated it when we raised our voices against him. I was so far beyond the point of caring, it wasn’t even funny anymore.
“I wanted to protect you,” Major said.
I snapped my mouth shut, too stunned to speak. Protect me? I swallowed my surprise. “I don’t understand.”
“I knew you were special from the day I met you. And I knew Abel would stop at nothing to recruit you and use your power for his own goals, if he ever found out about your Variation. That’s why I’ve been trying to keep you hidden from him.”
“But he found out about me when I was on my mission in Livingston?”
Major nodded. “That’s my take on things, at least. If a member of his army saw your eyes, they would have known you were Abel’s daughter.” He looked up. “There’s no mistaking those eyes,” he said, something dark crossing his face.
He’d known Abel for a long time, and somehow I knew that their hatred for each other had started before Abel’s Army even existed.
Turquoise eyes like mine. It was the first concrete image of my father that I had gotten. I couldn’t remember anything about him. I’d been too little when he’d left. I tried to imagine how the face around those eyes might look but I came up blank.
“Why did he leave my mother and me?” An ache spread in my chest at the other unanswered question that I didn’t ask and never would. Why didn’t he care about me?
Major considered his answer for a moment. Was he planning to add another lie to the two I’d already discovered? “I assume that he left you because you hadn’t shown any sign of a Variation at that point and therefore weren’t of use to him. He isn’t someone who keeps people around for their emotional value.”