“I’m counting on your discretion, Bryce. I love my children more than anything. You know that. You were an honorary child of mine, and I loved you nearly as much.”
“But how…?”
“Pretty simple, actually. A bulletproof vest equipped with blood pellets. Then a payment to the coroner ahead of time who pronounced me dead and disposed of the body.”
“Marjorie said you were cremated.”
“Someone was. It wasn’t me.”
“They never saw your body again…”
“No, they didn’t have to. They identified it at the scene. Everything was in order long before Wendy shot me.”
“No one checked you for a pulse?”
“Would you want to touch a dead body? Marjorie fell on me, but her brothers pulled her off.”
“How did you know what would go down?”
“I knew Wendy. Once I was back in Colorado, I knew she’d come for me and for Ryan. If Ruby hadn’t killed her first, I had plans in place for Wendy before she could harm my son.”
“I don’t believe it. Marj told me what happened. It happened so fast she hardly remembers, yet she describes it as almost being in slow motion.”
“Trust me when I say I’m sorry to have put my children through any of this. But they’re strong, and my first duty is to their mother. My children can take care of themselves. My wife can’t.”
“So you took her from the facility using Joe’s name.”
“I did.”
“You wrote Joe Steel instead of Jonah Steel.”
“Did I? I was thinking only of getting Daphne out of harm’s way.”
“Does he work for you?” I gestured to Dominic.
&n
bsp; “He does. He’s well paid. And well trained.”
“You never went to UCLA, huh?” I said.
“No. That’s my cover. I’m a hell of a trainer, though. I kicked your ass during that sample session.”
I couldn’t deny it.
“An associate of mine approached Dominic and Alex when they turned eighteen,” Brad said. “I knew about their brother’s return, and my first inclination was to teach them how to protect themselves from him. As it turned out, Cade had already taught them both how to expertly handle weapons. As for the rest, they were both quick studies and had enormous potential. Now they work for me.”
“So you don’t coach baseball.”
“Not currently,” Dominic said. “But I love the game, and I’m good at it.”
“Do you collect baseball cards?”
“Some. Why?”
How much of this was I allowed to say? I had no idea. “No reason,” I said, and then I turned back to Brad Steel.
“How long have you known about my father?”