Page 27 (2/2)

He stammered incomprehensibly for a moment and then he took a deep breath and collected himself

“I found the letter my dad left to my brother before he died,” he explained shakily

Then he passed it to her

“Are you sure?” Elena asked, taking the letter gingerly

He nodded and Elena read through it carefully When she had finished she looked up and placed a hand on his shoulder

“You were right,” Neal said quietly, “ Apparently, I’m too scared to live my life, and he was too much of a coward to tell me”

“He was just scared, Neal”

“He was my father,” Neal said harshly “I should have been ih to him to try At least to try”

“I know,” Elena agreed iree He should have tried to talk to you He should have attempted to close the distance between the two of you, but… parents, they’re human too They’re flawed They make mistakes At least your father realized he had made them in the first place”

“He realized,” Neal qualified, “but he made no move to correct them”

“He trusted your brother to"

“He passed the buck”

Elena was about to say so else, but she stopped herself Neal was hurt, the wound was fresh and nothing she could say wouldthat she would have wanted the same

Neal stared down at the letter Elena had passed back to hiry for the reasons he had just told Elena, but a larger part of hiry for a whole other reason The letter was a testae’s relationship with their father It was apparent how very close they had been

Neal had always known that they had shared a bond that he had never had with his father, but seeing it on paper was different fro it in your heart Certain phrases stuck out to hie to hear