Page 14 of Road to Redemption

“Seriously?” Dom balked. The suggestion alone looked like it made her sick, which only made Viv double down.

“Seriously. I don’t know what you’re used to, but entitlement won’t serve you well here. And the look on your face is enough to tell me that you haven’t accomplished what the Oracle set out for you two. You can barely tolerate each other through a thirty minute garden tour, and you want me to believe that you’re an effective enough team to take down Zeus?”

That was only thirty minutes? It felt like hours…

Maybe she had a point. But surely there was another way we could accomplish team bonding.

“Miss, um…?” I stalled out. I’d only ever called her Mrs. Dumont as a child, but given the circumstances, I was guessing she didn’t use that name anymore.

“You can just call me Viv.”

“Viv…” I offered awkwardly, “I’m totally okay to share a room with Spencer and Leo. If Dom wants her privacy, then⁠—”

“It’s not happening.” Vivienne cut me off. “Think of it as exposure therapy.”

The walls were closing in. There was no way to explain to her what a bad idea this was. I turned to Spencer and Leo for help, but Leo just shrugged her shoulders. “She’s not entirely wrong, Kier.”

“What?!” My jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

“We’ll miss you.” Spencer offered sheepishly. “But it’ll only be a few nights.”

I couldn’t believe it. My two angels were throwing me to the big bad wolf without a hint of regret. As I looked between them and Viv, I couldn’t make any sense of this situation. It seemed like I didn’t have a single sane ally left in the state of Washington.

No one understood my despair besides Dom. In fact, the suffering seemed doubled on her face. And somehow, that pissed me off even more.

I don’t know why she’s acting like I’m some big fucking punishment. This is her fault anyway.

But that’s when it hit me: Dom hated this even more than I did.

It was written all over the set of her jaw, the shifting eyes, the slight hunch of her shoulders. So as she flicked her icy blue eyes down to meet mine, I welcomed them with a warm grin.

Because if I had to suffer, I would make certain that Dom suffered more.

11

KIERA

Viv presided over the upstairs landing like an empress overseeing the fulfillment of her orders while the rest of us milled about the hallway like chastised children.

“Kiera’s stuff goes in Dom’s room.” Viv pointed to the door farther down the hall.

At her command, Leo and Spencer sprung to action, each ready to grab my bag before Viv held up a hand to stop them. “No, Dom can do that.”

At that, Dom threw up her hands. “Are you kidding me?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

Viv had only been back in our lives for a matter of hours, but I remembered the authority she’d wielded in our childhoods vividly. She was gentle, never rash or needlessly cruel. But if you pushed the limit, you were in for a world of trouble.

Dom doesn’t know how not to push.

Since we’d gotten back here, it was like watching her speed run the progression from sulky toddler to moody teenager. There were years of feelings for her to work through, a decade of lost time with her mother to make up for.

As if to prove my point, she crossed her arms as she grumbled. “Suddenly you want to play mother hen? This is bullshit.”

The hurt in Viv’s eyes was only visible for a second before the steely armor of her lawyer persona snapped into place. “If you think I’m a tight ass as your mother, then you’ll hate to see what I’m like as your warden. Get moving before you learn that the hard way.”

I braced myself for the bite back, but it didn’t come. Instead, with a sigh, Dom pushed off of the wall with a huff and headed for the room closest to the stairs.