Page 2 of Where He Ended

I don't want to talk to my father.

But I have to.

Rapping my knuckles on the wood, I wait. It's late, but I doubt he's sleeping in his bedroom. He's always been a workaholic. If he's not at the office downtown, than he's here in his study.

The door parts open, and my father is squinting at me. “What is it?” he mumbles.

“We need to talk.”

He scans the hallway beyond me then flicks his fingers. “Inside.”

Following him in, I shut the door, launching into what's been bothering me all night. “What's Kara doing here?”

“Ah. So that's what this is about.” He hovers near his desk, resting a hand on a stack of papers. “Vahn has wanted her gone for some time now. When I asked him to spread the word about our little party, and to make an appearance, he agreed on the condition that we take Kara off his hands.” He pushes a pair of glasses onto his nose. They make him look older—I've never seen him use them before. Is his vision going? “It's not like we don't have the space, or the security, to watch them both.”

“Why didn't you warn me?”

He flips the papers, reading something. “Why would you need a warning? You don't have somesecretrelationship with her, too, do you?”

Shit, can he hear how madly my heart is thudding in my chest? “If you're accusing me of something, do it.”

He peers at me over the rim of the spectacles. “Your mother worries about your attachment to Laiken. What was that game you two pulled tonight, walking into the ballroom, arm and arm? And that dance? Don't tell me you'refallingfor her.”

Anxiety creates searing hot needles that poke into my neck. I keep my expression wooden. “If I was, why would it matter to you?”

“Tome?”he laughs, and it turns into a hacking cough. I tense my muscles, holding my breath, until he's finished. “I don't care if you fuck her or break her heart. But you're a lunatic to give anyone so much ammo against you. Laiken isourleverage, she's not meant to be used as a weapon against us.”

“I'm not that soft.” I shake my head, standing tall and proud like a man who can't be knocked down. It's a good act, but that's all it is. “No one could use her against me.”

“If she matters so little, prove it. Keep your hands off of her, Dominic.”

I lean towards him, blood surging to my face. “Is that an order?”

He covers his mouth with his handkerchief; his whole body balling up with another round of chest rattling coughs. It sounds like there are nails in his lungs. “Yes, it's a fucking order. Eye on the prize.”

Arguing would be pointless. I don't give a shit if he wants me to stay away from Laiken. I know Ishould,but I also know that I can't. In that moment I realize how right my father is. She's become a liability - an easy way to control me, or harm me.

After all, I was panicking minutes ago about what Kara was saying to her in private. Doesn't that prove how wrapped up I am in her? Inus?Trying to focus, I tune into the conversation. “Which prize?” I ask. “Finally running our company without Joseph?”

“Moving forward without him is suicide.”

I freeze. “What? I thought—didn't the party go well?”

“It's a bandage, son. It'll barely keep us from bleeding out. Joseph's escape has left us on the verge of collapse. Besides that, if we don't have him on a leash there's no way to be sure he won't betray us to the fucking FBI.”

“He hid for thirteen years without causing any trouble.”

“That doesn't mean anything.”

“He wouldn't risk his own freedom by turning us in to the authorities. He's too deep in this, he'd go down in the same fire as us.”

“You don't know him, Dominic.”

His statement reminds me of my fight with Laiken in the wet woods. “I worked with him for six months,” I argue.

“Yes, you did,” he spits. “And how did that end? Are you trying to use that damn Faith project as a defense? Joseph tricked you, son. You fell for his every move. Youdon'tknow him, and this situation that you caused is evidence enough of that.”

I'm boiling with fury . . . with white-hot shame. I'm out of arguments, so I sit on the stump-shaped chair and just wait for him to talk.

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