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“It’s not that they’re bad, but it’s late, and they’re way too long.”
“I agree,” Spencer says, getting up. “Pick a thriller, or something, Toshi. I’ll get the snacks.”
Toshi brings up a streaming service screen and passes me the remote.
“Your choice,” he says. “I picked the new bed.”
“I think we all kind of picked the new bed.”
“Well …” he starts as I try to pass him back the remote.
He trails off when my phone starts to vibrate.
“Oh, crap,” I murmur. “I meant to call Secret earlier.”
I get up and take my phone out of my pocket.
It’s Secret. I knew it. I’m a terrible mother. It’s no wonder she doesn’t want to start calling me mom.
“Secret, hey! I was just thinking about calling you,” I tell her as I walk toward Toshi’s room.
“Well, Seth just told me he met your mate this afternoon.” She doesn’t sound pleased about that.
Seth is head of the coalition, whether he likes that or not. E.A. must have handed the file to him.
“Yeah …” I start, not sure where she’s going with this.
“I caught him calling one of the other Alphas, because E.A. gave him a file on a trafficker, and Seth seems to think you might be about to do something really stupid because of that file.”
Oh. Shit. E.A. must have told him what the original plan was.
If anyone knows I have selective listening skills when I’ve got my mind set on something, it’s Seth.
I’ve ignored his unsolicited advice more than once, and believe me, he’s noticed.
“I don’t know …” I start, going with denial and quickly regretting it.
“Please, don’t,” she implores me. “Don’t say you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m not … I’m not your mom, Leanne. I won’t let you lie to me.”
I move a little deeper into the darkness of Toshi’s room.
“E.A. lost his mother to that trafficker, Secret. You don’t know how much that’s affected him.”
“You know what, maybe I don’t know how it’s affected him,” she says. “But I’m damn sure losing you to that same monster will affect him even worse. Don’t do this.”
“I’ve got one shot at that evidence. I can’t ignore it.”
“It might not even be enough to convict anyone.”
“But it might be, and if it is, it’s the only evidence anyone knows about. If we get it, and it stops any more women from being trafficked by that bastard, isn’t it worth it?”
The line goes quiet. She sighs softly a few seconds later.
“Why are you so determined to ruin your life?”
A lump rises in my throat as I try to find an answer that isn’t bullshit.
I’ve been on a downward spiral since the day she was born.
