His head hung down, and he nodded before pulling his hand back. It fell to his lap, and he stared at me across the table. “I wasn’t a good enough father to you, and I killed that man because I thought, ‘Finally, there was something right I could do for my girl.’ I never knew you thought any of that, or felt that way. I’m so sorry, Bren. I’m truly so sorry. I’m a… a broken man and there are no excuses I got for you. Just, I don’t know.” He glanced to Maxwell before grimacing. “They need to know you won’t say anything.”

I glanced at the man, deciding before turning back to my dad. “I think that’s a given. I never told anyone that you killed that guy to finish what I started until last year. Kept that to myself, and I’m not stupid.” I looked and spoke straight to Raith now. “I don’t know what I can do to reassure you, your men, but I won’t say anything. I don’t want to battle with you guys. I do want to be a bounty hunter. It makes sense to me. I grew up from violence and it’s ingrained in me. I need it, but I can channel it so it’s good that way. I won’t hunt any of your men. I’ll excuse myself from the team every time, but other than that, I don’t know what I can do or give you to make you feel safe with me.”

“There’s nothing you can do now, but there could be in the future.”

I waited, my heart pounding.

Without showing any emotion, he said, “You could name your firstborn child after me.”

Then, nothing.

I sat there.

He sat there.

I didn’t look at Derrick.

“You’re shitting me?’

“Bren!”

A wide smile broke over Maxwell’s face and his shoulders shook in laughter. “Yeah. I’m fucking with you.” He stood, his chair scraping over the patio. At his movement, the other men were all on high alert and began to come toward us. Maxwell motioned to them, saying to me, “I know you ain’t going to say shit because if you did,” his tone turned dangerous, “you know we’d come back and we’d kill that boyfriend of yours.”

I felt all eyes on me, weighing my reaction.

I showed them my teeth. “My dad touched my arm and I stabbed him. Did it without even thinking. It was instinct. What do you think I’ll do if you threaten my loved one again? Or if you did do something to hurt him?”

The guys didn’t say a word. They were waiting for their leader.