A Whole New Crowd(71)

“I did not. What are you talking about?”

“He came around asking a lot of questions last night. He wanted to know about your family. He went to anyone who would talk to him. Word got around.” He stopped. Pure agony flashed in his eyes and my alarm shot up again. He wasn’t saying something. I knew it. There was more to come and I started to shake my head.

“I never said anything to him.”

“You told him about your family. Why did you say anything to him?” His voice was strangled and it stopped in a whisper. The anger left completely and I saw only pain in him. It hurt to see. It was deep and there was so much. I felt it in myself, just from seeing it, and I turned away. I didn’t want to hear what he was saying.

I said, “Whatever Brian did was on him.”

“It’s on you.”

I stopped, then gulped. What did that mean?

“He didn’t come to me, Taryn. He doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. He went to others, and they went to others. I was told too late.”

“What?” I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

“He said your family was forced to take you in. He wanted to know the social worker that put your adoption together.” His chest lifted and I heard the pain in his voice. His voice hitched on a sob. “That’s a government worker. Do you know what happens when there’s rumors a drug dealer wants to talk to a government worker?”

“No, no, no,” I started whispering, starting to put the pieces together. No, no, no. I couldn’t think anything else. There was no way.

“They didn’t come to me. He didn’t come to me. I was too late.”

“No, no, no.” I kept shaking my head.

“He’s dead, Taryn.”

No, no, no, no, no, no. I heard what he said, but I couldn’t accept it. It couldn’t be. I had talked to him twenty-four hours ago. He had been fine. “He’s fine.”

“He’s not.” Jace’s eyes looked dead. “Trust me, he’s very far from being alive.”

“No…” I couldn’t talk. Burning pain filled me. It washed all over me, branding me as each wave crashed over me. I couldn’t think anymore. I could barely stand. “No…”

I heard Jace’s voice from a distance now. “Kevin Parson owed me a favor. I cashed it in. I needed you out of here. Do you get that? I wanted you gone. I gave you something you wanted, a family. I handed you a better future on a silver platter and you refused to take it. What THE FUCK were you thinking? Just take it. That’s all you had to do. Sit down and accept your new family.” His voice rose as he kept going, “I don’t give a shit if they don’t like you. You shouldn’t either. You have a home. You have a sister that I can tell you already love. You could’ve just accepted your new life, but you kept coming back. You kept asking fucking questions, questions that I knew you would ask even if you were here. My god, Taryn.” His head fell back down. An anguished sob came from him. “Why couldn’t you have just let it go?”

Brian wasn’t dead. I wouldn’t accept that. There was no way. “How do you know?”

“Because I know you.”

“No.” I shook my head. I was dizzy. The room was starting to spin. “I meant Brian. How do you know he’s—” I couldn’t say the word.

“I identified his body.” He closed his eyes. His body wavered, and he had a cemented grip on the table in front of him. His shoulders were bunched together tightly. His voice came out raw. “It was an execution. They shot him in the middle of his forehead.”

I couldn’t talk anymore. I felt myself falling, and I reached out for the desk. I was going to crumble to the floor. As I found the chair and held onto it, trying to steady my knees, Jace said further, “Someone—a very bad guy—came to town. My boss. He’s here, and I wanted you gone before he got here. I wanted you away and distracted by your happy life. I thought you would be. I really thought you would stay away, especially since that’s what you always wanted. You wanted out of this life. Why didn’t you just let it go? I didn’t want you involved. I didn’t want Galverson to know about you. Brian hated me, but you—I care about you. He would realize that. He could’ve used you to hurt me, but now…” He stopped. Then his voice grew rough. He was hardening himself back up, closing the wall. “It’s too late. He knows all about you now, and he’s curious why I tried to hide you.”

His boss did this? His boss killed Brian? A hoarse cry ripped from my throat. I couldn’t comprehend any of this.