I’m so sorry.
Please forgive me.
Your brother,
Sam
The world tilts on its axis, the ground shifting beneath my feet.
It can’t be a coincidence.
Sam…is Caran’s brother.
And his supplier.
God.
This entire time…
What the fuck was Caran thinking? How could he do this to me? He had to have known that Teddie would never approve of him and his brother selling us out to our enemies.
He was so desperate that he didn’t care what the price was…even if the price was me.
Did he know? Did Caran know this entire time?
Red-hot tears well in my eyes as memories float into my head of sitting at their dinner table, laughing, joking, teasing Caran about his apron.
Was all of that a lie?
Dismay and hurt transmute into fury. The anger inside me crystallizes into something sharper, deadlier—a blade honed by betrayal and fueled by a need for vengeance that threatens to consume me whole.
How could you, Caran?
How could you?
“Brylee?” Kylian's voice breaks through the haze, his hand tightening on my arm as if to pull me back from the edge. “What does it say? Who do I have to stab?”
“I…I need to talk to my brother.” The words stumble out of my mouth, clumsy and inadequate. I turn away from them all, the note clutched in my hand like a weapon, the paper crinkling under the force of my grip. “I need to find Teddie.”
Without waiting for a response, I stride in the direction of our jeep, each step a declaration of war.
The note feels like a brand against my skin, a constant reminder of the web of deceit I now find myself in.
I don’t even know who my anger is directed at.
My mother?
Caran?
I’ll confront them both, I’ll strip away their masks, and I’ll make them answer for every life they’ve destroyed.
The storm inside me has found its purpose, and it won’t be contained.
45
BRYLEE
The heavy oakdoor to my brother's chamber creaks beneath my hand as I push it open.
