Penance (Devout Trilogy #3) - Lesli Richardson Page 0,27

will be on him and Daniel as a result.

I can’t risk bringing attention to Liam like that. Which is why, last month, I started working for a small law firm in Atlanta that handles a lot of social justice cases. It’s one way in which I can atone for my years in the GOP and enabling their fuckery with my fearful acquiescence.

Yes, I’m now a registered Democrat.

Other than work, and being at home in my small condo here in Atlanta, the only other place I ever go is, ironically, church.

I found a nice Episcopal church not far from home and I feel at peace there. Still not sure I believe in Heaven and Hell anymore, but the comfort I draw from the services is worth the time I spend in their pews. They also welcome LGBTQA+ members, even if I’m in the closet and no one knows I’m a member of that fellowship.

This church reminds me of some of the ones Liam and I attended in New York, and the one in DC.

It makes me feel a little closer to him, and to Daniel, if not to a deity or supernatural higher power.

During the week, I frequently field calls from folks who want me to consult for political campaigns. I always turn them down. The emotional energy I’d need to step back into that world just isn’t there. Not without my men at my side.

The only satisfaction I truly feel is that prosecutors indicted one of my father’s business partners three weeks ago with the information I anonymously sent them about him. It gives me hope more arrests and indictments will follow. I tried to send evidence I knew they could independently corroborate and not require me to identify myself or how I came about the info. Putting together the patterns, all the pieces, so it made sense and they could follow the trail.

I’m sitting at my desk on a rainy Friday afternoon when my phone’s intercom sounds.

“Mr. Callahan, you have a visitor.” I’ve insisted they shouldn’t address me as “Senator” around the office. I flinch every time someone does.

That whole life…wasn’t me.

I know I accomplished a few good things, and indirectly helped Liam accomplish even more, but I cringe when I think about the good works I could have done throughout all the years had I been living authentically in the first place.

Plus, I could have been a senator’s husband.

Then again, maybe Dad would’ve had us both killed. Who knows? That’s the question I can never answer for certain, although I suspect it’s exactly what would’ve happened.

Fuck you, old man.

Upon his death and gaining full access to several of his safe deposit boxes, I realized he literally had his hands in far more crimes than I ever dreamed, going back decades.

A couple of them, there are no statutes of limitation, so I anonymously sent the info to the proper authorities for them to do with as they will.

The rest?

I burned it.

But should anything come of those few investigations and implicate my father, I felt it was better I not be in DC, where the mud could splash on Liam and Daniel.

I drag my mind back to this interruption. That’s another problem I’ve had lately, a lack of focus that makes me struggle with my daily tasks on a regular basis. With my father dead, and my personal life an empty shell, there’s not much else for me to do but work.

“Who is it?”

She sounds perturbed. “He won’t give his name and says he’s an old friend, and that it’s personal business.”

Fuck. It’s likely someone from Olivia’s family wanting to try to squeeze blood out of this turnip, so to speak. Because we put on amicable public faces, her family thinks I’ll help any of them with their bullshit, from looking through real estate contracts all the way to defending DUIs. The only way to get him out of my office will be to speak with him, I’m sure.

“Send him in.”

I stand and grab my jacket and put it on. My back’s to the door when it opens…

And then my jaw drops open when I turn and see Daniel standing there. He hadn’t responded yet to my good-morning text today, but that isn’t unusual when he’s busy.

I still text him every morning and every night. Liam, too, but always Daniel first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. I haven’t chatted over text with Liam in a couple of days, though, because he’s been busy with hearings.

Daniel closes