Page 217 of Push

“Enough of that now.”

“And Ian? You had something to do with his death…didn’t you?”

Liam held my gaze but said nothing. His face was expressionless. He had something to do with it, and he wasn’t sorry.

“Please don’t tell Toby,” I blurted out. A flicker of surprise widened Liam’s eyes, and I rushed on, “He’s not like us, Liam. Not just because he didn’t grow up in Cabramatta, but he…he just—”

“I won’t tell him,” he reassured me gently. “I always miscalculate when it comes to Toby. I thought he’d be grateful for what happened and bounce back in a day or two, but it took so much longer for the light to come back to his eyes.”

“Almost two months,” I whispered.

“Thatpain.ThatI never intended for him. Or you. And for that, at least, I’m so very sorry.”

I wanted to blurt out that I wasn’t sorry. My one weakness. I wasn’t naive enough to believe the justice system I fiercely defended would’ve helped protect me from Ian. I wasn’t angry that my brother had stepped up to do it instead. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder. My family was safe. And the memories of Ian’s threats and wayward hands would stay just that—memories.

What type of person did that make me? A hypocrite? Maybe.Probably.I was a long way from being perfect, and for the first time in my life, I was okay with that.

“Is that why you came all the way up here?” Liam asked softly.

“No. I came…for…” What had Toby called it? “Storytime.”

“And what tale of woe do you want to hear?”

“The one I asked about last Christmas.”

“No.”

“I’m ready now.”

“Absolutely not. Once you know the truth, there’s no going back.”

“I know, but…” I took a deep breath. “I need to know who our father is.”

When I refused to budge, Liam sighed. “Then come sit here beside me.” He patted the empty chair next to his in the corner. “I’ll tell you the story that was told to me.”

He poured me a drink, and after clinking our glasses in a somber toast, he started telling me a story I wasn’t sure Iwasready to hear.

“Once upon a time, when our mother was barely eighteen and still so very pretty, she was closing up the bakery off Railway Parade…”

The End

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