I fought not to shrink under that black-eyed gaze. From behind his mask, his dark hair wild, Owen really did look like a picture-perfect villain.
And yet, he was all but confessing his crimes.
Or at least his family’s.
He turned, his jaw working. “I could have stepped up. I could have said I’d do it—God knows the military trained me to do it. But I let my little brother become the family’s killer instead.”
“What, so you think because you already had blood on your hands from Afghanistan, you deserved to keep killing? That’s put you through hell for the last ten years,” Liam argued. “Ronan didn’t want that.”
“Better me than everyone else,”
“I don’t think it would have mattered,” I said quietly.
Both men turned to me like they had both just remembered I was there.
“Look, I don’t know you, Owen, or what you’ve been through. But I know Ronan. And he’s done whatever he’s done for one reason only: to prove he was worthy. To earn his place with the rest of you. That wouldn’t have changed even if you’d done it too.”
They were quiet. Neither of them argued.
Finally, Owen slumped into a chair across the room. “He’s smarter than the rest of us combined. Do you know that?”
No one argued with him.
“He could have been the best of us,” he mumbled into his hands. “He could have been anything.”
“He still can be,” I said.
Owen’s hands dropped as he looked at me.
I forced myself to straighten with as much dignity as possible in a hospital gown and grippy socks. “What can I do? Give him an alibi? I was with him the night of the… murder… right?”
It was hard to say it out loud. But if Ronan had to face this, I wouldn’t let him do it alone.
“Were you actually with him between the hours of six and nine the night you met?” Liam’s expression told me he already knew the answer.
I had to shake my head. “But I could?—”
“No, you couldn’t,” he cut me off before I could finish my thought. “For one, we’ll pretend you didn’t even start saying what I assume you were saying. For two, it wouldn’t work, anyway. Vegas is crawling with cameras in every casino, every streetlight, every corner store, not to mention you had four other women with you all evening until you met Ronan. It would take approximately three seconds to call you on perjury.”
“I don’t care—” I tried again. “I could still?—”
“Yeah, but Ronan would.” Liam crossed his arms. He was very tall, just like the rest of the Black family. No wonder he fit in like he was one of them. “He called me right before they put him in the transport to Vegas and told me point blank: he’d rather go to prison for life than watch you lie to save him.”
Oh, God. I could just hear his voice, the shake in it, the desperation as he said it.
“He loves you.” Owen’s voice was wooden as he stared at the floor. Or maybe at his hands, which lay open in his lap. “I didn’t think it was possible. Not until I watched him give everything away to come find you.”
Liam cast a sympathetic look at Owen, and for the first time, I realized his head had been hit in more ways than one. This explained why Ronan had seemed so genuinely surprised by everything growing between us. When you grow up without love, you can’t recognize it when you see it. You don’t even believe it’s real.
One question, however, was still bothering me. “Did he do it?”
I stared at Liam, daring him not to answer. To his credit, he didn’t. After all, he wasn’t my lawyer.
“We don’t know.” Owen sounded tired.
“Owen!” Liam snapped.
“Again, she can’t testify against him, so what does it matter?” Owen snapped right back. “She deserves to know whatever truth she can have. Because you love him too, don’t you, Laney? Don’t you?”