Page 67 of Man of Lies

“Bullshit!” I jabbed a finger hard into the center of his chest. Felt the give of muscle beneath the fabric, the steady rhythm of a heart that didn’t seem rattled by the corpse cooling behind him. Rage was building in my chest like a storm surge. “I’m your lawyer. You’ve never lied to me before. Don’t you dare fucking start now.”

He didn’t blink. Dominic never reacted like a normal man. Anger rolled off him like water. Disgust barely registered. He’d beentrained too young to keep himself sealed tight, and what was left was this—clean lines, calm decisions, and weaponized silence.

Instead of answering, he lowered the gun in his left hand and lifted his right. It took me a second to realize he was holding something, and even longer to recognize what I was looking at.

A watch.

Not obvious, not something a stranger would clock—but unmistakable if you knew what you were looking at. The platinum band was scuffed from years of wear, the clasp still stiff like it had never been adjusted. Along the inner rim, just beneath the face, I could still make out the faint engraving—worn down now, almost invisible, but not gone. Boone had given each of us one when we turned sixteen. Not because we wanted them. Because he wanted us to understand time. Legacy. The burden of both.

And Dominic was still wearing his.

My stomach dropped—slow and cold, like falling through deep water.

I took the watch from his hand and stared in disbelief. The metal was warm from Dominic’s hand, and the platinum band caught the light, dulled by grime and something darker seeping into the links. The engraving was still there—faint, almost worn smooth—but I didn’t need to read it to know what it said.

Time tells the truth.

Boone had etched the phrase into every watch he gave us, like some moral failsafe. We were boys then, too young to understand what it meant.

Now I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

Because the truth was that one of us had stood in this room…and left Gator Hollis bleeding on the floor.

I turned the watch over in my palm, and my eyes flicked back up to Dominic’s, searching for some hint that would explain any of this.

“Whose is it?” I demanded harshly. “And don’t tell me you don’t know, Dom.”

For a moment, he didn’t answer; he just held my gaze with that same inscrutable calm that had always driven me crazy. Then something shifted in his eyes—something I’d never seen before. A flicker of uncertainty.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, so reluctant it was like the words had been dragged out of him against his will.

“I found him like this. The door was open. He was already gone, and this—” he glanced at the watch in my hand— “was on the floor beside the body.”

His tone was low, but I noticed the slightest tremor running through it. For once, Dominic Beaufort, the brother who never flinched or faltered, didn’t have the answer.

That scared me more than the gun had.

I wanted to press him, but something in his eyes stopped me. Instead, I pocketed the watch, feeling its weight against my chest like an anchor.

“Why are you even here, Dom?” I asked, trying to get a read on that look in his eyes. “What’s your play?”

He glanced at Gator’s body, then back at me, and the flicker of vulnerability disappeared like it had never existed. Only that familiar steel remained.

Dominic’s jaw ticked. “I was after the mastermind. Thought I had a location, a clean shot at cutting the head off this thing. But he’s already in the wind. Everything's scrubbed clean. Phone's dead. Accounts gone. Any trail I had disappeared overnight.”

He didn’t say how close he’d gotten, but I could guess. Close enough to make someone nervous.

“So you came here instead,” I said.

“Gator was the only one left who might’ve known where the girls were. And if I couldn’t hit the top, I was going to make damn sure the rest of the chain collapsed underneath them.”

I studied him for a moment. “So, tell me who it is. If you’re serious about ending this, let me help.”

Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because he’s connected in this parish. He’s protected by more than just the cops. If I don’t play this the right way, he disappears for good, and a shit storm comes down on our family. We’re neck deep in it already, and that watch you’ve got in your pocket means we’ve just handed our enemies a loaded weapon. You’re the attorney for the whole goddamn family. I need you clean, Mason. You want to help? Keep your hands out of this.”

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