Page 293 of Knot What I Expected

“How could you?”

His eyes dart away.

“Sorry, sis. I owed Ethan. He—he was gonna kill me.”

The words hit me harder than Ethan’s insults ever could.

All those payments. All those extra shifts.

Every aching night at Dick’s. Every hundred-dollar tip Rowan left me that I secretly sent to Nando. I thought I was keeping Matteo safe.

Instead, I was feeding the addiction that eventually sold us out.

“Nando.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No.”

My voice breaks.

“You don't get to be sorry. That's my baby.”

“I didn't have a choice.”

“We always have a choice.”

His eyes flicker. For half a second, I see the boy he used to be. Then it’s gone.

Whatever Witch’s brew he’s addicted to has hollowed him out from the inside.

There’s no reaching him.

And that hurts.

But Matteo needs me more. He comes first. And he always will.

“Listen to me!”

Ethan’s voice cracks across the clearing.

“If you want Nando and little Matteo to live, you will be coming home with me.”

His composure is slipping.

“The Wake thinks I’m weak because my mates won’t breed. They think I can't produce strong offspring.”

His eyes burn with something feverish.

“But I bred you.”

My stomach turns.

“And I will again.”

“No.”

“I don't care what kind of freak you are.”