Chapter One
Jonah
Still facing Bryce, Larry curled his lips into a sleazy half smile, his blue eyes creeping eerily toward me while his head stayed still. “Keep looking if you want to, kid, but let me give you a piece of advice. The truth is overrated. Once you open the door to that dark room, getting out is damn near impossible.”
My body went cold. Larry was addressing Bryce, but only I knew what he was referring to.
The truth.
The truth—that Bryce’s father was one of the men we were searching for.
The truth was indeed a dark room, and I knew who would have to open that door for Bryce. And it wasn’t Larry.
Larry was still being steadfast in his refusal to name the other two culprits. But now more than ever, I was certain of what I had inferred earlier from Larry. Bryce knew one of the abductors.
And that abductor was his own father.
“Tell me, Uncle,” I said. “You seem to think that Bryce here knows one of the abductors. Why don’t you save him and my brother a lot of heartache and tell us, right now, who it is?”
My demand to Larry wasn’t altruistic, and I knew it. If Larry told Bryce about his father, I wouldn’t have to.
Larry’s expression remained stoic. “I said no such thing.”
“Maybe not in so many words,” I said. “But you certainly implied it.”
“Again, I did no such thing.”
Bryce sat next to me, his face pale, his countenance rigid. Larry’s words had gotten to him.
“Then what is all this bullshit about the truth being a dark room?” I stared into my uncle’s blue eyes.
“Do you really think you can handle the truth?” This time Larry was looking straight at me, no
t Bryce, whose eyes were focused forward.
“I’ve been forced to handle things no human being should have to handle since I was thirteen years old.” I gritted my teeth. “I can deal with anything you throw my way.” Especially since I knew already what “truth” he was referring to.
Larry continued staring me down. “And your friend here? A new father? You think he can handle the truth?”
Those words catapulted Bryce out of his stupor, the color gradually returning to his face. “I can handle anything you have to dish out.”
“Think long and hard before you go there, kid,” Larry said, turning his gaze to Bryce.
“I can handle it,” Bryce said again through clenched teeth.
“We’re grown men, Uncle, despite the fact that you like calling us kids. Now, do all three of us a favor and tell the goddamned truth. Who were those other two men?”
Larry shook his head, chuckling. He turned to the guard standing next to him. “We’re done here.”
Bryce stood, his hands fisted. “We’re far from done here. You’re going to tell Joe and me who abducted his brother and who killed my cousin. Right now.”
Larry stood as well, his half smile snakelike. “You two don’t hear very well. I’m not going to roll on anyone. That will never change.”
The guard led Larry away.
Bryce’s pallor had turned into ruddiness. He was angry. “Damn,” he said. “We’re never going to know the truth.”
The truth. I already knew part of it. And I knew something else as well.