"I was in hiding—"
"Hiding from what? From whom?" Liam's chest felt tight as he gasped for air.
"Why did you make us think you were dead? What the hell were you thinking? I had no one, Dad. Just you. You were all I had. And you," his voice broke again, "you left me."
His dad moved to a chair and slumped into it, suddenly looking much older. "Sit down, son. I need to explain."
Liam wanted to refuse, to keep yelling, but something in his dad's voice compelled him to sit. He grabbed a chair, his jaw clenched.
"I wasn't always the dad you thought I was," his dad began quietly. "The guy you knew, the IT consultant who went to work every day, who came home for dinner, who helped you with your homework, that was real, but it wasn't the whole story."
"What's the other part?" Liam asked.
His dad looked at him, pain evident on his face. "I was a government agent, Liam. Special ops. Deep cover gigs. I did things, necessary things, to keep this country safe."
