Wide-eyed beneath his safety glasses, Tony lifts his hands in front of himself innocently, steam partially obscuring his features from the stainless-steel pot in front of him at his station. “She waltzed in here, asked for you guys, and tased Jericho when he was staring at her chest and ignoring her. I wasn’t about to be stupid enough to interrupt when he deserved it.”
With a nod, Merrick dismisses him, and Tony wastes no time in fading back into the background.
“He’s one of the good ones. I hope he survives.”
He’sgoodat hiding in plain sight, just like Adrian.
“Cynical. See, that’s why we’re a good match; you’re more like me than you want to admit.”She slithers around beneath my skin like smoke attempting to poison my thoughts, and I have to physically shake my head to dislodge the imagery.“It’s practically impossible to tell where one of us ends and the other begins.”
Pointedly not responding to her comments, I force the last smile in my reserves onto my face. It’s not completely fake; I’m genuinely happy to see Merrick, but I’m terrified just the same. I don’t want to see the look on his face, onanyof their faces, when I give them the news that I’m not actually their daughter, but their sister-in-law. I don’t want to see the disappointment or put them through any more pain than they’ve already been through thanks to my sister-mom, but I respect them enough to give them the truth before Ash decides to throw it in their faces later when it better suits his agenda to fuck with their heads and throw them off guard.
“Are you okay?” he demands, looking me over with a more critical eye.
Half-heartedly, I slip the bag from my shoulders and offer it to him. “You guys didn’t come home last night, so I figured you might be getting axe murdered or mutinied on. And if not, you might appreciate something to eat.”
With a pinched expression, he holds my eye for a minute before looking to where Jericho is beginning to get to his feet. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You have a death wish?”
Rather than cower, Jericho glares right back at him, and I don’t have to be well-versed in pack drama to understand that he sealed his fate with that move. Even knowing it was coming, I jump a bit at the sharp sound of bones snapping when Merrick takes his head between his hands and sharply twists. One second Jericho’s eyes were filled with violence and disdain, and the next, they’re staring blankly at the warehouse ceiling.
The brutality barely even registers on my radar anymore, and I’m not quite sure what that says about me and how disconnected I’ve become from the humanity I’d managed to passably emulate all of these years. Before, I could at least pretend to be an arguably decent person. Now?
I have to admit that it’s never been about actually being better than anyone. It’s been a matter of me subconsciously trying to prove that even terrible people can put in the effort if they have the proper motivation, even if it isn’t a good one.
Wetting my suddenly dry lips, I shift between feet. “I have something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Beckoning us to follow him towards his office, he shoots me no less than three wary looks along the way. By the time Bo is closing the door behind us, Merrick’s a nervous mess and blurts, “You’re not leaving, are you? Because I know we’ve been busy, but I promise, it’s only temporary. We fell behind, and-”
While Sebastian hastily clears off their desk, Leo gestures to one of the metal folding chairs in front of it. “What’s going on?”
Setting the bag on the desk, I untie it. “It’s nothing like that, don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.” My stomach flips as I face the harsh reality of those words. Taking out the three plastic containers, I lay them out in front of me along with three forks, sliding them their way. “I’m not sure how warm it still is, so why don’t you start eating while we talk?”
Leo’s emerald gaze locks onto me, scrutinizing my face. “We’re not eating anything until you do.”
Tugging off the lid, I take a bite of chicken stir fry and slide it back his way. “See? Not poisoned.”
He rolls his eyes, but it helps take a bit of the edge off and he takes it from me. Sebastian praises, “You didn’t have to go through all of this effort, but I’m glad you did.” Taking a hearty bite, he mumbles, “Haven’t eaten something this delicious in ages.”
I hitch a thumb over my shoulder. “I can’t take any of the credit, this was all Kaige.”
For once, they don’t send dirty looks in his direction simply for existing. Sebastian diplomatically states, “Good way to stretch things.”
Merrick can’t take it anymore and demands, “What was so important to talk to us about that it couldn’t wait until we got home? Did something happen?”
Fisting the hem of my borrowed shirt, I stare at a point on the sparse wall behind them. “Yeah, actually. Ash paid us a visit while we were at Damian’s parents’ house.”
They all become stock-still, Merrick’s fork frozen halfway to his mouth. “Did he hurt you?”
Swallowing, I start to shake my head, but think better of it and nod. “Not physically, but... yeah. The things he said hurt to hear, whether they were true or not. And sadly, I think they were for the most part.”
And I lay it all out there. The demons and betrayals, the method to his madness and where Annika and I fall into the grand scheme of things. Their silence after I finish is harder to endure than anything I experienced yesterday, and my nerves are shot, having reached their limit for the day already.
“Say something please,” I whisper, murdering the hem of Cinjin’s shirt I stole in my clenched fists.
It snaps them out of their pensive states and Merrick is the first to snap, “Are we seriously so fucking awful to be around that every woman in your family comes up with an excuse to sever ties with us?” Slamming his fork down on the desk, he glares at me. “Someone took you away from us once, Sabrina. I’ll be damned if I sit by and let it happen again.”
Leo picks up where he left off. “We don’t give a shit about technicalities, I thought we made that clear when you first got here. Fuck Ash, and fuck Annika.” My eyes widen, and I’m pretty sure I forget how to breathe. “You’re our daughter, and that’s the end of it.”
Bo’s hand settles on my shoulder, squeezing gently, and I reach up to latch onto his wrist as Sebastian declares, “We didn’t need a paternity test to tell us whether or not we were going to take care of you as if you were our own. We’re here because we want to be, not because we have to. That doesn’t change because of whatotherpeople have done. You’re not collateral damage.”
