Free Slaying the Dragon (Deception Duet #2) by T. K. Leigh Page A

I was looking into Galloway, and maybe they followed me to her. I don’t know. It wasn’t until the night I was taken away that I realized I was being set up and someone was tasked with silencing your mother, too.”
    Listening to him speak about those last few weeks reopened old wounds I never allowed to fully heal. But as much as I wanted to blame Charlie for it, like I had done for years, I just couldn’t. Not anymore. “What did you talk to her about?” I swallowed hard, trying to hide my unsteady tone.
    “The time leading up to the attack on the embassy. Your father. It was during this conversation I realized he was still alive.”
    “How? I didn’t even know he–”
    “It was the way she spoke of him,” he interrupted. “I’ve studied human behavior and responses. People respond a certain way when speaking of someone who’s no longer with us. Your mother displayed none of those characteristics when speaking of your father. She responded as one may when talking about someone they see on a somewhat routine basis. She spoke of him in the present tense. That usually only happens when someone just died. However, at this point, he had allegedly been dead for eight years. Surely, she would have been speaking of him in the past tense. I pushed her to disclose his location and she denied he was alive, just as you did. A few days later, she called, asking me to meet her at a location several hours out of town. It was the same day I was taken away. The same day she…” His voice grew quiet. “All I can think is someone knew about us and was trying to keep us from helping each other figure out the truth of what really happened all those years ago.”
    “And what’s that?”
    He sighed. “I still don’t have a fucking clue. I’m trying, Mack, but I’m no closer to finding out who’s behind it than I was years ago. All the physical evidence still points–”
    “To my father.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Maybe he is behind it all,” I offered. As much as I didn’t want to think my father could be capable of committing such a heinous crime, I couldn’t disregard what years of investigations had concluded. “I have no idea what evidence there is either way, but I can’t help but want to put faith in our criminal justice system.”
    “Well, you shouldn’t, Mack. The decisions made in law enforcement offices across the country…fuck, the world …are nothing but power plays done for political gain. It’s all about public appearance in the press, making the concerned citizens believe that something’s actually being done to put a stop to rampant criminal behavior. So they find someone to pin crimes on…”
    “You expect me to believe everyone who is arrested is innocent?” I asked, my voice heavy with disbelief. “I highly doubt that, Charlie.”
    “I’m not saying that, Mack. I’m just saying that, in high profile cases, ones with a lot of public attention, you have to take everything you learn from the media with a grain of salt. Hell, they think I’m responsible for killing over a dozen people. Their only evidence? A web blog and some phony visitation records. Anyone with decent computer skills could have faked that.”
    “But why?”
    “Maybe because I was getting too close. Maybe because someone figured out I knew who you were and wanted to try to protect you. Until I know the answer, please promise me you’ll be safe and will stick close to Tyler.”
    My breath hitched and I debated how much I should tell Charlie.
    “I can’t,” I whispered. “We… We’re not together anymore.”
    “What? Why? What happened?” His voice was panicked.
    I considered telling him everything. How Tyler had only dated me to find my father, just like Charlie had, but it made me seem simple-minded and gullible.
    “It just didn’t work out between us, Charlie, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
    “Shit, Kenzie,” he muttered. “If I had known…” There was a heavy pause and I could picture