Page 32 of Bride By Initiation

Liam starts. "What have you been up to lately, Sean?"

I shrug. "Not much."

His eyes narrow. "Why have you been staying away?"

"I've just been busy," I say, singing the same song and dance I gave Brax earlier.

"That's a great way to put it," Nolan says.

"What does that mean?" I snarl.

"Sounds like you've been digging into a lot of stuff and going places you shouldn't," he declares.

Anger hits me. I accuse, "You hacked into my computer?"

Nolan grins. "Nah, it wasn't me."

I spin. "Fuck you, Declan."

He chuckles. Then innocently asks, "Why am I to blame?"

I point between him and Nolan. "You two are the only ones who know how to hack into my system."

"Maybe Simona did it," Brody suggests.

I glare at him.

"Don't bring Simona into this," Declan protectively asserts.

"Well, she is smarter than both of you," Killian states.

"Enough," Liam says in a stern voice. He's the head of the O'Malleys, just like Brody's the head of the O'Connors. When either of them say to knock it off, we all obey.

Brody says in his thick Irish accent, "All of ya watch your mouth, or I'll smack it off. Don't let me remind any of ya again."

I stand there, waiting and hoping they don't have any idea what's going on. And I still don't understand why I need to hide it. But if Zara's hiding it, it tells me I need to too.

And I don't know why my father had that skull on his hand. Maybe I'm staying silent as some sort of loyalty toward him. Whatever it is, I keep my business to myself.

Finn steps forward. "Why were you questioning your mom about your dad's tattoo?"

"It wasn't a tattoo. It was a brand," I blurt out, then remind myself to step carefully in this conversation.

Finn's eyes grow darker. He nods. "Yeah, it was. And then ink was in several stages. And you know that. So why were you questioning your mom about it?"

I'm more determined than ever to find out the truth and keep my business to myself at the same time. "Why does it matter? My mom said she didn't know anything about it, that it was just something my dad doodled. So why are you asking me questions about it? Is there something you want to tell me?" I toss back at him.

Nolan states, "Your father was a dreamer. He had unrealistic ideas about a world where we could coexist with our enemies and there would be a place where there would be peace for you kids in the future. But we all know that we can't trust our enemies. There is no real utopia."

I take a moment to process everything he said, then charge, "So there was meaning behind the skull, and you know about it?"

"Meaning is different from reality," Declan states.

I stand taller, demanding, "I want to know what my father was involved in."

Brody warns, "He wasn't involved in anything. Stop looking for things, Sean, or it'll ruin your life."

"If there's nothing there, then why would it ruin my life?" I retort.

---