Violet saluted me and started eating. I turned away quickly before retreating back to Reed.
He looked up when I approached, sketchpad forgotten at his side. The muscle in his jaw ticked, and for a second, neither of us said anything.
I stopped a few feet from Reed, close enough to smell his medicinal scents.
“We’re gonna have a conversation,” I said, voice low, “and you’re gonna tell me what happened to Violet.”
He arched a brow and wiggled his shoulders in defiance, again, a very Violet like move. Part of me expected him to sayfuck offorno way in hell, but after a momentary staring contest, he sighed.
“Fine.”
Chapter 20
Violet
Ihuddled with Skye in the corner of my nest, a large chunk of black tourmaline clutched in my fist.
“So, you never graduated high school?” Skye asked, scrolling through my brother's social media on his phone.
I had a SpaceFace account too, but it’d be long forgotten. Mrs.Stellar wasn’t to concern herself with such trivial things. And now that I was just Violet again, I didn’t want to risk Logan tracking me down, although, after the whole incident yesterday, I worried that was inevitable.
I dropped my rock and grabbed my phone and typedI turned 18 on October 4th, I got married October 5th.
The night Reed and I reached legal adulthood, our parents said they had somewhere special to take us. Mom went with Reed to God knows where, and dad took me to the Stellar mansion.
I thought we’d be finishing a painting, that’s what he said we were doing. But, when he went out of the car to grab our bottle of solvent, he never returned.
No goodbye. No, I love you. NoI’m sorry, but this is what family does. I hadn’t even known my parents were drowning in debt until Logan explained to me what was going on.
Logan said I wouldn’t need an education, I’d be taken care of,I typed.
Skye’s expression soured as he continued to scroll. I wondered which long forgotten part of me he was seeing.
The girl with a ribbon in her hair and glitter on her cheeks? The one who went to junior prom with her twin instead of a date? Or maybe the confident debate team members holding a trophy nearly as large as her. No matter what he saw, I’m sure it was the best parts of me that had since withered away.
I’d always questioned if our mom and dad ever loved me, especially after they sold me off, but I never had to wonder with Reed.
Even when he got it wrong, or clung to me too tightly, or acted so possessive it scared off any potential alpha who may have been interested in me, my brother always made sure I knew I was cared for.
Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Reed forcing me to believe I was more than a burden, I would have believed everything Logan told me.
I would have believed I was stupid. Replaceable. That I was lucky anyone wanted me at all.
For a long time, parts of that still felt true. And, realistically, I was a burden now, pregnant, quiet, damaged beyond repair. I needed help to eat. Help to rest. Help to do anything and everything under the sun. But even burdens didn’t deserve what he did to me.
I didn’t deserve to be raped. I didn’t deserve to be hurt and told it was love. I didn’t deserve to be owned and discarded and blamed for surviving it.
I wasn’t weak. I wasn’t a failure.
I’d just been subject to the world’s cruelty.
Skye’s phone went dark as he locked the screen, and he turned toward me fully. His eyes were shiny, and his lower lip quivered.
“You know,” he said quietly before batting at his eyes. “If I ever meet your parents, I’m going to punch them.”
Skye pounded his fist in his hand, and the bugs on his arms danced with the moment. Even now, I could see the definition in his arms, and I wondered what Skye looked like when he wasn’t pregnant. If I’d be around long enough to see that.
Slowly, I shook my head before signingdead.
