“Your mother ever tell you about her time serving on my ship?” He seems completely unruffled by my tone or the weapon in my hands. I grit my teeth, fighting the urge to shoot him and be done with it. I don’t know what he’s trying to do here, but maybe getting him talking is a good thing. It’s possible he’ll slip up and reveal something useful. Or maybe some part of him truly means what he’s saying about my mother, and I can take a note from Scorpia’s book and talk my way through this.

“Of course she did. But I’m guessing that won’t stop you from telling me again.”

He barks a laugh.

“Fine, I’ll spare you,” he says. “Here’s a better question: Did she tell you why she left?”

Again, I feel a flare of anger when I really shouldn’t. Momma’s gone now, and the past he speaks of was so very long ago anyway. Still, it irks me to hear him speak of it in such a way.

“She didn’t leave. You abandoned her to die on Titan.”

“Ah, is that how she put it?” Again comes that annoying grin. “Truth is, the two of us agreed it was time for her to go. As I’m sure your unfortunate sister would tell you, space isn’t a great place for a child to be born, and a ship is no good place for a pregnant woman.” His grin drops. “You were supposed to provide access to Titan for the both of us, but that backstabbing bitch decided to cut me off and go out on her own.”

Even as I will my mind to ignore what he’s saying, the pieces click into place. Momma never mentioned that she was already pregnant when she left the Red Baron, only that I was born on Titan. And she never offered an answer to the question I was bold enough to ask only once. I remember again the sting of her hand on my cheek, the taste of blood. “The blood you share is the only thing that matters.”

My emotions claw and tear at each other—grief and uncertainty and red-hot fury tumbling over one another in my head. Fury wins. I step right up to Captain Murdock, jamming the barrel of my gun against his chest.

“The fuck is this supposed to be? Some misguided attempt to get mercy?” I growl in his face. “Enough. Tell me where the cargo is or I’ll rip that stars-damned tongue out of your mouth.”

Murdock’s lips stretch in a satisfied smile that’s even more infuriating up close.

“Mercy from a Titan vet? Unlikely. Just wanted you to get close enough.”