Page 36 of Tied in Knots
“Fuck’s sake,” he snarls. “You are so fucking arrogant. I knew I’d come up against it, the second I saw your crest on the front gate.”
“Yet you still climbed over it and trespassed onto our territory.”
“To save my sister! How many times do we have to go over this?”
“Until I’m satisfied with your answers. Of which, you have given me none, so until you do, we will sit here.”
He sees I mean it and while he debates with himself over what to tell me, if anything, I see when he finally decides it’s easier to co-operate than to butt heads with me. Especially with the three frustrated alphas at my back, practically slobbering with the need to kick his head in.
“Where do you want me to start?” he says with a heavy sigh.
“Start with the stepdad. What’s his deal?”
“He’s a fucking dickhead arsehole,” Derek snarls, the rage in his eyes making them go almost black.
“Then why leave your sister with him?”
The guilt that fills his eyes is good to see. At least it shows he cares about her.
“What I’m about to say, cannot leave this room,” he says eventually.
“We don’t gossip.”
His gaze flicks to Sebastian, but then lands back on me. “I want his word that he won’t go to his father with this.” He points to Seb.
“Have you committed a crime?” Sebastian asks archly.
“No.”
“Then I have no reason to mention you to my father.”
I hold my hands out in a there-you-go gesture, before crossing my arms.
“It goes back to our father,” Derek says. “Faith was so young when he died, not even sixteen. She was absolutely devastated, but too naïve to see that things didn’t add up.”
“What do you mean?” I prompt when he stops speaking, his expression filled with sadness.
“They say he died of a heart attack, but that’s not possible. He was as fit as they come, ate right, didn’t drink or smoke or do drugs. One day he was there and the next he was gone. I know that’s how death works, but there’s more. They took him away and we never saw him again. They wouldn’t even let our mum see him. We buried him without seeing him again. That never sat right with me. I started to investigate, here and there at first. Then our mother got involved with Pete.” He spits out the name.
“Your stepdad?”
Xander growls in response to the name. I do hope that Benjamin has him restrained somehow. We are finally getting somewhere, although we are quite a way from where we need to be.
“Yeah. Fucking prick. He moved into my dad’s house, wore his clothes, drove his car, spent all of his money until there was nothing left, and we had to move to a shitty house in a shitty area, tearing Faith from her family and friends.”
“You used to be well off?” It doesn’t matter, I’m just asking questions to keep him talking. It seems to matter to him, or he wouldn’t have mentioned it.
He nods. “My dad used to be in Parliament. He was outspoken and not everyone agreed with him…” Derek’s glare shoots to Sebastian again.
“What was his name?” I ask.
“Oliver Halstead.”
“Oh,” Sebastian says, I think before he could stop himself. “Halstead?”
Derek nods.
“I remember him. My dad used to get so mad with him,” Sebastian says with a laugh, which is quite out of character for him. “But I think he quite enjoyed the debate. I remember when he died. Dad was upset. Are you saying you think he was murdered?”
