Page 46 of Royal Salvation

Everything inside him baulked at the request but something in Bishop’s expression made him nod. “Fine.”

“I’ll wait here.”

Reaper dipped his chin in acknowledgement and headed back inside to find his father standing at the sink looking out into the backyard. “Talk, old man.”

“Can we sit?”

Reaper nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets to stop from reaching out to steady the weakened man as he headed into the living room and sat in a chair facing the window. Reaper took the other and waited, his hands clasped in front of him.

“We all knew Playboy and Chess were guilty. It wasn’t the first complaint that had been made about them. Neither were fit to wear the uniform and we all knew it. We were all set to have them arrested on charges but at the last minute, a message came through from General Sykes that Richardson and Rawlings were to be released and no charges laid against them. I was asked to leave the room and when the others came out, your fate was sealed.”

“So General Sykes is behind this?”

“No, but he’s friends with Richardson Senior and is Parker Richardson’s Godfather. I tried to argue against it, but nobody would listen to me. I was only a Major at that point.”

Confusion gripped Reaper as he tried to tell if his father was lying to save his own skin. But whatever else he’d been and done, he’d never lied to his sons, even when he’d sometimes wished he had to save their feelings. “That’s why it took you so long to make Colonel, isn’t it? Because you made waves.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t matter now.”

Reaper swallowed back the regret he felt that they’d never had this frank openness between them before. “Are you dying, Dad?”

“Perhaps. They don’t know how long I have but I’ll keep fighting.”

“Cancer?”

“Lung, but it spread to my bones.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Malcolm looked up his eyes clear. “After the way I treated you all, why would you care? I was an awful husband and a terrible father. You’re all better off without me.”

“You were a bit of a dick.”

Malcolm froze, his face stern before he laughed, making him cough again and reach for a hankie in his pocket. “I was a dick, and it’s my biggest regret. I hate how I treated you and Caleb and your mother. She never deserved it. God, she deserved so much better than me and I have no idea why she put up with me for as long as she did. Still, it’s done. No use crying about it now. I got what I deserved.”

“There still might be time to make amends.”

Malcolm shook his head. “No, I won’t guilt them into forgiving me because they feel sorry for me, and I’m asking you not tell them, please.”

Reaper shook his head, knowing he wouldn’t promise that. “I can’t promise that, old man. I’m my own man these days and I decide what and who and when.”

His father nodded once. “Yes, you are and you’re ten times the man I am. I’m proud of you, son. I know I haven’t the right to say that after everything I put you through and God knows it’s not because of me, but nonetheless, I’m proud of you.”

Reaper coughed to cover the choked up feeling in his chest. All his life he’d wanted those words but hearing them now, he realised he didn’t need them. He had the respect of far greater men than his father but he knew the man needed closure and so he gave it to him. “I don’t know, you can take credit for my right hook and tenacity perhaps.”

His peace offering meant a lot to the older man and as he walked out of his father’s house possibly for the first and last time, he felt a sense of peace inside him he hadn’t expected.

He knew the truth about what had happened the day his career had ended, and they had another thread to pull to find Playboy and Chess. That he’d been so right about them filled him with no satisfaction, just deep sadness that so many young women had most likely suffered horrid atrocities and possibly died at their hands. If he could go back in time, he wasn’t sure he would’ve stopped with just a beating. Men like Playboy and Chess didn’t deserve to breathe precious oxygen and if it was the last thing he did, he’d see them in the ground.

Reaching the car, he got inside, the cool air a relief from the sickness in his father’s home.

“You good?”

“Yeah, I am actually.” He proceeded to tell Bishop everything he knew from his father including his own sordid past.

Bishop curled his lip in the same disgust he felt. “Those two need to be gone.”

“Oh, I’m going to make sure of it and I’m going to make sure they feel every second of it too. Now, enough about them. Let’s get back to Lucía.”