Hugh dropped his gaze and clenched his eyes tight. “I didn’t ask. He offered.”
“And you just didn’t tell him no,” Honor growled. “How could you do that? How could you let your brother go to prison for your case?”
“I begged him to let me help by telling my superiors. But he knew if the truth came out, my cover would have been blown, and then the work that we’d both done would have been all for nothing. He wanted Victor as badly as I did.”
Hugh was met with silence from his admission. Was she mulling it around in her head, trying to make sense out of it?
Damn, if Hugh could do it all over again, he would have never let Teddy play this game of cat and mouse.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?” Hugh asked, abandoning his box. He turned the full weight of his gaze in her direction. “Why did I let him? Why did he offer? Why not just come clean?”
She shook her head. “Why did he want Victor just as badly as you? What was his reasoning that he’d risk his freedom and put his life on the line? Especially, after you said, he’d kept running away. He didn’t owe you anything, so why was this so important to him?”
Honor Elizabeth Bennett wasn’t just beautiful; she was smart and not just book smart but street smart. He wouldn’t get away with brushing off her question, and she wouldn’t be satisfied until she got the truth, no matter how it would change her opinion of him or Teddy.
Hugh dug his fingers into the tension building in his neck before he answered. “Teddy’s mother died because of Victor. Back when Victor was working his way up through the gang hierarchy, he’d been tasked with collecting money from shops around town. They paid for what everyone was calling protection at the time, only Victor never did protect them. Teddy’s mother paid, though. She was smart like that. Victor had been there to collect the ‘insurance money’ when someone tried to off Victor, and Teddy’s mom died in the crossfire.”
Honor’s mouth parted, and she snapped it closed.
“Teddy wanted payback, and I was trying to get it for him. I wanted more than anything to give him closure so he could see that justice got served…but at every turn, I was cut off. It was as though they knew I was a cop.”
Honor pulled in a deep breath. “How did Teddy get involved?”
“Victor had been trying to look out for the kid. He’d offered him odd jobs, including some not-so-legal ones. So, when Teddy found out I was digging for dirt, he offered to help, and I tried to talk him out of it, but you know Teddy….”
“He would have done it regardless,” Honor said. Her gaze lost focus, as if tuning back into her memories.
“And he did,” Hugh said, clearing his throat and biting back the anger he’d felt when he found out that Teddy had inserted himself in with Victor’s league of goons. “So now you know everything. Now you know why this ledger is so important and why I need it.”
