Page 61 of Firedrake Betrayal
Why am I not surprised it goes back to Da screwing someone over?
“Jade?” Shep asks.
Da shakes his head.
Shep leans across the table. “There is no other way he would have known about Jade. You told him about her. Didn’t you?”
“I said nothing of the sort,” he denies, seemingly outraged. When his collar starts smoking, he shoots Dominik a nervous glance and speaks in a rush. “Well. Imighthave let something slide after I heard some noises coming from upstairs. Wasn’t my fault that Atticus put two and two together. When he went to grab her, she was gone, and I figured he got her when hesuddenly let me off the hook for that thing I offered him and didn’t deliver. So I went back to the jewel collector to?—”
“Get Jade yourself?” I interrupt.
“Nothing of the kind, Son.” His voice is innocent. Too fucking innocent.
My teeth grind.
Lies. Everything with him is always lies, half-spun truths, or bullshit.Everything.
It’s a good thing we broke into that house when we did. Da would have snatched Jade up, taken her right to Atticus—after he’d drained her until she was half-dead—and walked away with a big payoff from Atticus and having had a good feeding from Jade.
If Da had known that Jade was with us in Isaiah’s mansion, he’d have sold us out without hesitation. Speaking of…
“How did you know we came to Wilkerson for Jade?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Lucky guess.”
“You wore my face in Jade’s dream to trick her.” I lean toward him. “You knew we had her in Chicago, didn’t you? And you knew we came down here to save her?”
Silence.
He clears his throat, projecting an innocence that no one is buying from all the suspicious narrow eyed looks pointed his way.
“If I came here to cause trouble, I wouldn’t have been the one walking through the door. I’d have gone right to Atticus, told him where you were and that would have been that,” Da says. “I’m here tohelp.”
“And where is Atticus?” Shep asks.
Da shrugs. “Comes and goes in a truck. Thinks it’s safer to keep moving around rather than staying in one place after that dragon attack.” He looks around and casually asks. “What ever happened to that other guy?”
His right sleeve catches fire. He frantically slaps it out.
Dominik arches a brow.
Da tears his eyes from Dominik and focuses on Shep, clearly thinking he’s the one he needs to convince. Or maybe he thinks Shep will save him from going up in flames. Who knows? “I’m not here to cause trouble. I can help you.”
“The only way you can help us is by telling us where Atticus is,” Shep says.
The sooner he’s dead, the sooner we can move on. Leaving Wilkerson would be grand, but we’d be leaving a snake at our back, ready to strike at us when we least expect it.
We need to stamp him out now or we might not live to survive his attack.
Da’s eyes turn shifty. “Like I said, he moves around a lot.”
“You’re lying,” Jade says. “Why would he move around when he could just find a quiet place to hide?”
My lips quirk. “She has you there, Da. What you’re saying doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m not…” For the first time, Da looks flustered. “Look, you don’t understand what you’re dealing with. He has friends everywhere around here. Everyone would bend over backward to kiss his ass. This town is his.”
We all fall silent to process his words.
