Page 88 of Forbidden Need

“And whose fault was that?”

Maybe she was supposed to say Connel, but it wasn’t on him. The McDades weren’t a part of this calamity.

Confusion reigned over most expressions. Before she could look at Connel, her father’s not so smug smile jabbed at her. He wasn’t looking at her. No, he wouldn’t be that direct with Connel in the room. It made her sick, nauseous, to lay eyes on him.

“I want you to leave,” she murmured, almost under her breath, fixated on her father. Her subconscious finally freed itself. “You hear me, Ronald?” That snarl got her father’s attention. “Get up out of that chair, walk out of here, and never come back.”

“Sersha,” her brother exclaimed. “What are you—”

“Get out of here!”

When she thrust away from the wall, every McDade stood up. Her father, on the other hand, stayed put.

“You have no right to—”

“This is her kingdom,” Connel said and issued a command in his foreign tongue.

Every man in the room converged around her father’s group.

“Wait a fucking minute,” Lachlan said, rising. “What is going on?”

“Strat’s on a suicide mission, saving me from myself. That’s what love is. What a father’s love is. How do you look at yourself in the mirror, Dad? What do you have to be proud of? Was your father proud of you? Did he know the truth of who you are, of how you treated your children? Of how you ignored and belittled us?”

“This is not the place for—”

“Get out!” she roared, striding another few steps. “I don’t want to fucking talk to you! I don’t want to hear you or have you anywhere near me!”

“This is because of him—because of—”

“Because I have finally found my voice in this darkness. You bring nothing to the table. You’re useless and I will not open this forum to you so you can squirrel away information that does not belong to you. Every other person here wants to solve this. We want answers. We want to know who killed a man we cared about. Why are you here? You haven’t offered one word of support or intelligence. It’s like you’ve given up the investigation before it even started. You have no interest whatsoever and sit there like you don’t give a shit who—” And with a thud of unwelcome clarity, her eyes cut to Connel. That stern expression, the certain stance, her guy was on the same page. “Oh my God.”

What will be the point of us pursuing an assailant we know is already dead? Those were the words she’d said to Connel the previous night. People would notice if they lost interest, and she’d noticed her father’s complete lack of it.

“It’s time to leave, Superintendent.” Still her guy only had eyes for her. “Now.”

“What are you going to do? Beat me? Hurt me? Drag me out? Put your hands—”

“I won’t touch you,” Connel said, whipping around on him. “No McDade hands will touch you.”

“Then I don’t see how you can—”

“We’ll call the cops,” Niall said, reading his superior.

“You’ll…” her father spat in disgust. “Do you know who I am? I run the police! I am the police!”

“Be embarrassing for you if we have to call them to report your trespass,” Niall said.

“Especially if we ensure there are plenty of cameras outside,” Daly followed up. “We have access to make that happen. From the broadsheets to every kid with a blog and a smartphone.”

“The superintendent arrested for harassment and trespass.”

“They wouldn’t arrest me.”

“Whether they do or not, makes a great picture.”

As the McDades enjoyed that, Lachlan stepped up. “Why are you doing this, Sersh?” he asked. “Why now? Why turn on us?”

“You’re welcome here,” she said. “I love you and you’ve always supported me. You want to solve this. We need you. We don’t need dead weight.”

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