I desperately wanted to pull her into my arms, but she needed space—time to process this devastating revelation.
Instead, I thrust my hands into my pockets and swallowed the lump in my throat. “We should have looked deeper into her background.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue, heavy with guilt. “I should’ve thought about it.”
Liza’s fury was a storm about to break. Her hands clenched and unclenched, an unconscious movement that betrayed her struggle for control.
“Who are you talking about?” Liam asked.
“Rosalie. She was getting weekly calls from an unknown number.” Liza scanned through the documents again. “Shortly after each call, money would be deposited into her account.”
“Could be coincidental.” Liam shrugged half-heartedly. He was well aware our situation was far from ordinary.
“Except the calls were traced to a VOIP number.” I pulled a copy of the file from the pile in front of me and passed it to him. “A fake number.”
Liza’s expression flashed with hurt then confusion as she read on. “This isn’t right. It says Rosalie’s father is in prison, but Rosalie told me she doesn’t know her father. He was a married man who had an affair with her mom, and when her mom got pregnant he didn’t want anything to do with either of them. Her grandmother raised her.”
“I’m sorry, love, but she lied to you. Isaiah double-checked. Rosalie’s father and sister raised her. He owes a lot of money to a loan shark. She changed their names and got a new identity when he went to prison to distance themselves and escape his past,” I said bitterly, my protective instincts warring with the need to give her space. “Either way, it’s all caught up to her in the end.”
“Her father’s debts must be astronomical,” Liam said, glancing up from the file. “I know the shark. The guy’s a nasty piece of work. Rosalie’s job as a chef’s assistant wouldn’t come close to paying off a fraction of what will be owed.”
“Which means Castro could’ve easily planted her,” I finished, my gut twisting. Why hadn’t I looked closer at Rosalie when Liza hired her?
“Fuck it,” Liza cursed, slamming her fist down on the table, making me, Liam, and Isaiah jump.
“Easy, love.” I went to her side. The ache in my chest mirrored the anguish I was sure she was feeling.
“Everything we’ve been through, and it’s one of our own who betrays us…again.” The room rumbled beneath our feet, but Liza quickly controlled the rage. Her training was helping her. “How could we have missed this?”
“None of us are infallible,” I said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Now we’ve discovered the truth, we can deal with it.”
“Deal with it?” She shrugged off my hand. “How do we even begin to fix this? We thought we were safe, and now? Now we’re back to square one. I want to confront Rosalie.” Her lips twisted into a sneer. “If she betrayed us, I need to understand why.”
“Absolutely not.” Isaiah and Liam echoed my sentiments, their expressions hardening as well.
“None of you have any right to deny me this,” Liza said, her anger exploding like a volcano. I went to reach over and take her hand, but my body was frozen, not from the cold, but from what I could only assume was Liza’s newfound ability to paralyze us with her powers. I couldn’t move anything except my mouth. It seemed Isaiah and Liam were in the same predicament.
This was new.
This was terrifying.
Panic shot through me. “Liza, stop this.”
“None of you will prevent me from confronting Rosalie.” Her fury was evident in the way her words scraped against the walls, making the air itself quiver.
“Okay, Liza,” I spoke through gritted teeth, forcing my voice to remain steady. “We’ll do this your way, but you won’t go alone. If Rosalie is a threat, I couldn’t live with myself if you were hurt.”
“Fine,” she snapped, her chest heaving.
As her anger dissipated, her grip on us loosened, and my muscles instantly regained their strength. She slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and terrified as she looked at the three of us.
“Shit, I’m so sorry.” She was visibly shaking. “I had no idea I was able to do that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “We’re not hurt, just surprised. We’re learning new things about your abilities every day. Now we’ve discovered another one.”
“Let’s just… be careful, okay?” Liam said. “We’ll be there with you when you confront Rosalie, but we won’t interfere unless it’s necessary.”
“Agreed.” I tried to quell the dread in the pit of my stomach. Liza had every right to face Rosalie, but the thought of her putting herself in danger made me want to wrap her in a protective embrace.
“Thank you.” Her eyes met mine for a moment before she turned away, steeling herself for the confrontation to come.
