Page 64 of Tangled Past
Jonas’s mouth tightened. “It was.”
That did it.
Asa took a step forward, his weapon still trained on center mass. “Say another word,” he warned. “Give me one reason not to put you down right now.”
“Asa, no.”
He barely registered Maya’s voice.
Jonas didn’t retreat. He didn’t reach for a weapon either. “You’d shoot an unarmed man?”
Asa knew it was a lie.
“That’s why you’re dangerous,” Jonas said. “You always were.”
Asa laughed once, harsh and humorless. “You don’t know anything about me.”
Jonas’s gaze flicked briefly—just briefly—toward Maya.
Asa’s pulse spiked. “Don’t look at her.”
Jonas’s eyes lifted a fraction. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, Asa, but I’m afraid this must end tonight. For both of you. I can’t have you telling the world the truth about who I was.”
The words hit like a blade sliding between his ribs.
Maya inhaled sharply next to him.
Asa’s voice dropped, deadly quiet. “You killed my father. He loved you like a brother.”
“He was already dead,” Jonas snapped, the first crack in his composure. “The moment he decided to protect her.”
Silence slammed down between them.
Asa felt the truth of it—felt how long Jonas had been carrying that justification, polishing it, turning it over until it fit neatly enough to live with. “You murdered those women. On the mainland. You hunted them.”
Jonas smirked. “They didn’t matter to anyone, but I made sure they mattered to me. I made sure they were remembered through the mementos I kept from them,” Jonas said, his eyes bright. “I made them immortal.”
Asa shook his head. “You’re sick.”
The wildness went out of his eyes. “I was sick, but I stopped.”
Asa’s grip tightened until his knuckles burned. “You don’t get to claim recovery after that.”
“I stopped after Raymond, I promise,” Jonas said. “Because of you.”
The room felt like it was closing in.
“That’s a lie,” Asa said with steely calm. “You killed Malone, and Hale after my father. The adoption worker.”
Jonas shook his head. Malone got too close to the truth, so I had to put him down. And Hale, well, he’d served his purpose as Kathy Zalansky did. They helped me accomplish what I needed, but I couldn’t leave them alive to grow a conscience andrat me out.” Jonas swallowed. “But killing your father, well, it broke me.”
Asa stared at him and shook his head. “You expect me to feel sorry for you?”
“No,” Jonas said, his voice quiet. “I expect you to understand.”
“I don’t, and I never will.”
Jonas’s gaze sharpened. “That’s why you both have to die.” He looked at Maya. “Neither of you can ever understand, and I can’t afford to have you destroy my carefully constructed world.”
