The Formidable

37

"Give me the keys," Jase said calmly when he joined Madison outside the front of the pub. She looked up at him but his eyes remained straight ahead. His jaw was sharper these days, he had a more manly look to him. That sliver of boyhood was gone.

"What?"

"You've had several drinks, give me the keys," he repeated. She did as he asked and followed him to the car, hanging back a few paces. His silence was unnerving. She had expected thousands of questions but Jase wouldn't even look at her. He finally spoke when they were halfway home. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me Mickey Kimber is your dad?"

"You've heard of him then," she sighed.

"I don't know anyone in this job that hasn't," Jase growled.

"Then you should know why."

Jase clenched his jaw and gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles whitened. Fucking Mickey Kimber. He'd just about kept his cool in the room with him but his mind was going a million miles an hour now. His daughter's grandfather was Mickey Kimber, he ran their world. And Jase had kept his daughter locked up in a house constantly on the edge of being sold like meat. His palms began to sweat.

"What does he know?" he asked.

Madison shrugged. "Everything." He looked at her sharply.

"Everything?" he barked, switching his attention from the road to Madison and back. She rolled her eyes.

"What would have happened to me back at the house if I told you?" she asked. Silence.

Jase relented. "I don't know."

"Exactly," she said, "I didn't know either and I wasn't going to risk it." More silence. Jase shifted.

"Okay. Then what exactly does he know?" he asked again. Again, Madison rolled her eyes.

"Everything. He wanted to know where I'd been all that time, why so many people had mentioned you. I told him everything. At first he was coming after you, but once he found out you were Mia's dad, he backed off. He won't touch you." Jase laughed manically.

"He has every right to put a bullet in my head, you know that?"

"And whose fault is that?" she clapped back.

He shook his head. "What about Sam? Kieran?"

Madison rolled her window down a few inches. The alcohol was really taking effect. The cooling air helped lift the heaviness behind her eyes.

"Everyone is safe. Relax. He's more concerned with Caspar than he is with any of you."

The silence returned. After a few more minutes, Madison rolled the window up, pulled her jacket tighter, and shuddered. Jase turned the heating on.

"I suppose Mickey Kimber being your dad makes sense, given how you are," he said. Madison scoffed.

"Yeah, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in these parts," she mumbled, annoyed at him for having the audacity to be annoyed at her. Unbeknownst to Jase, she wasn't talking about herself. There were other reasons why she didn't want Jase to have anything to do with her dad. Jase didn't know it, but they had history.

It was the reason behind why she'd lost control inside. Everyone in that room knew except Jase. And now her dad expected Jase to work with him, having no idea what her dad had done. A sickness swilled in her stomach and it had nothing to do with the brandy.

She was going to have to tell him everything. To let him know that her dad had no right to harm him and why. He deserved the truth.

The thought of having to break any news to him right now was daunting. Especially bad news. His fingers were still gripping the steering wheel. His jaw was still tensed. The muscles at the side jutting out as he assessed the damage in his mind, calculating his survival rate around Mickey.