Dane

The shock was intense, like ice-water over his head on a hot day.

​​

Dane sucked in a breath and his entire body came alive. For a minute he didn't move, his head screaming at his heart that SHE WAS THERE.

His father watched him carefully.

He knew he shouldn't let himself reveal such raw emotion, but seeing her there, walking and talking, and with the camera so close up... At times he could see only her chin and cleavage, or her face would be visible, but not her shoulders.

Then Dane also recognized Harry's voice from behind the camera.

Then his heart stopped beating.

On the screen, Lila was frowning. His father hit the spacebar and the feed stopped.

Dane swallowed. "Is that live?" he croaked.

"No, this was a few days ago."

"I thought you said he wasn't one of yours…"

"Harry Quinn? Fucking magpie," his father growled.

Dane was surprised again. His father didn't usually let others see when someone had gotten under his skin. He would have looked to see the expression on his face, but he couldn't take his eyes off Lila on the screen. His mouth was dry. "Yeah. I thought he was a target."

His father's face went dark. "He is. We got the footage from a tech."

Dane stared hard at the screen, and Lila's face. "He was with Lila?"

"He's using her for information. About you."

Dane closed his eyes and let his tension show. When he looked back up, it was to his father. "Let me do it, Dad. Give me the gun on him." He said it through his teeth, let all his frustration and rage at his father bleed through into his eyes and his tone. His father didn't need to know who the feelings were for—he just needed to know the feelings were real. "C'mon, Dad. Let me show you what I can do."

Doug's eyes had that weird light in them. "I told you I'd think about it."

"The operation is tonight. He's been meeting with my wife. He's going to be nothing but trouble—let me in on it!"

Douglas's lips twisted and for a moment Dane thought he'd say yes. But instead he turned back to the monitor and started tapping on the keyboard again. "Before we get into that, I wonder if you need to see this—just to make sure you're… prepared for what's going on out there."

An ice cube slid down Dane's back as his father hit another button and another scene from inside the Police station appeared.

In this one, Lila sat at an interview table, across from another officer. "He's one of ours," Douglas said casually, then tapped another button and the screen came to life.

Lila's face was hard. The video was beside and slightly behind her, so he couldn't see all her face. And the sound didn't start immediately. But then Doug hit another button and suddenly her voice filled Dane's ears.

She sighed and leaned towards the officer. "Dane has told me a great deal about his upbringing, and while I may not have known these particular details, I can say that it's my opinion you should be looking at his father even more deeply than you look at Dane for this. Because if that video is real and it wasn't something he was forced to, I need to know even more than you do. Because… because the man I saw on that screen isn't the man I believed I married. And if he's hidden this side of himself from me, I will make sure I'm not married to it a day longer than I have to be, so tell me, Detective, are you and your team working to find out if it's real and unaltered?"

"Yes, we are."

"And will you let me know what you find when you get to the end of those investigations?"

"Yes, we will."

She nodded. "Then I would like the keys you have to my home, please, because I find myself in need of a rest."

His father hit the button again, then turned to him.

Dane just stared at the screen, her voice echoing in his head. Had she known? Was this a way to get a message to him? Or was she setting up his father? Or was it true?

… the man I saw on that screen isn't the man I believed I married. And if he's hidden this side of himself from me, I will make sure I'm not married to it a day longer than I have to be…

"Which video is she referring to?" he asked slowly.

"The old one," Douglas said. Then he smiled. Dane couldn't take his eyes off the screen, but he was hyper-aware of his father's eyes on him. And his father leaning, in, fascinated. "How do you feel, Dane?" his father asked quietly.

Dane blinked and turned to meet his father's serpent stare. He thought he'd feel afraid. Or angry. But he was neither of those things.

He was fucking livid.

His father had done it. His father had broken his wife—if she was thinking this way before she got the video a few days ago… it was the last nail in the coffin of his marriage. She was gone. Done. And could he blame her? Not really. Honestly, he'd never expected to get as far with her as he had. He'd been so surprised she didn't give up earlier.

But, damn, he wanted to scream. He wanted to beg her to reconsider. He wanted to explain.

And he wanted to wipe that fucking smirk off his father's fucking face. His fingers twitched, they ached so hard to be around Douglas's throat. But he forced himself to calm. To stillness, as his entire body was infected with nothing short of homicidal rage.

He wanted to kill his father, he realized. And not just to get free. He wanted to kill him because he hated him.

He wanted to grab a gun and shoot him. He wanted to find a knife and stab in him in his ice-cold heart.

He wanted to take that knife and—

The memory hit him, rolling into his mind like a rush of wind, tumbling him over and over until he couldn't do anything but give up to it.