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Surprised rage lit up Geo’s eyes as he stared at Niko. I swallowed hard, worried Geo was about to voice the thoughts he had about Niko and me. After a long moment, Geo only huffed out a chuckle.
“Alex. Come here,” a voice called from outside. A chill ripped through me. My gaze darted between Alex and Niko.
“Your dad is here?” I whispered, wondering what the hell was going on today. Their dad hadn’t come to the house since I’d gotten here.
“Yeah,” Alex answered, already moving toward the door. “He’s helping me work on the Jeep. It’s time to get back to normal, Sage. Which means spending more time with family.”
Normal. Nothing about this life would ever be normal. But I wouldn’t have to deal with it for much longer. I’d been slowly getting things ready to execute my plan. This time I wasn’t running. I was bringing the society into the public eye.
My gaze wandered to Niko. Every time we went to the store, I got something I needed. None of it was out of the ordinary, though they were things I didn’t usually buy. If Niko had questions, he hadn’t voiced them. I still needed to buy one more thing that would make it glaringly obvious that I was planning something. Niko was still adamant that the only way for me to survive was to accept this life. Besides his offer to help me leave. If I were smarter, the answer would have been yes. But I couldn’t stand the thought of hiding forever like I had for six months. That meant staying here and pretending with Alex. For now.
I’d rather die trying than live like this forever.
Every day I struggled about whether I should tell Niko what I was going to do. There was no denying that I trusted him. But what I was planning would put his entire family in prison if I succeeded. Including him. Because I couldn’t think of a way to keep him out of it and expose everything else. He was connected to it all.
Which was why I’d been taking my time getting everything in place. I didn’t want to lose him. I couldn’t see my life without him. But I was doing this for my freedom. More importantly, for Lacey and my mom. And for any future woman whom the society chose. If I accepted this life and did nothing, women would continue to be murdered. I couldn’t live with that when I had a chance to change it.
It was bigger than Niko and me. No matter how much it hurt to think about.
“Why don’t you go say hi to Dad, Sage?” Geo’s words jolted me out of my conflicting thoughts. “It might help you accept everything if you can stand to be in the same room as our parents.”
I shot him a glare before walking out of the room. Niko moved out of the way so I could get into the hall. He didn’t say anything, but I could feel his stare on me as I went to the living room. I was relieved to see Alex and his dad outside. I didn’t want to talk to Theo any more than I wanted to be in the same room as Geo.
“You’re going to have to forgive Dad, along with me, if you really want the family and group to accept you.”
I spun around at Geo’s words to see them both behind me. My body went cold when a slice of panic hit Niko’s eyes, sending fear rippling through me.
“Forgive him for what?” I asked.
Geo shrugged. “That our dad—”
“Not now,” Niko hissed, glancing at me. “You’re going to tell her when he’s here?”
“Are you worried about how she’s going to take it?” Geo asked, frowning. “Or are you concerned about her feelings? You’ve been spending too much time with her. It’s making you soft.”
“I’m thinking of the fallout,” Niko argued back. “Alex hasn’t told her. It’s not up to you.”
“Tell me what?” I spoke up, dread sliding down my spine.
Geo locked eyes with me. “I’m honestly surprised you haven’t put it together yourself yet.”
“Geo. Don’t.” Niko warned, stepping closer to me. “Let Alex tell her.”
Geo ignored him, keeping his gaze on me. “Why do you think it was Lacey we chose for our family’s ceremony? Why we chose your family specifically.”
Confusion rocked me. “Because of our hair color. I already knew that.”
“Alex is younger than you, isn’t he?” Geo asked, clearly already knowing the answer.
“Yes.” I couldn’t see where he was going with this. Why did it matter that Alex was ten months younger than me?
“He was born premature. At six months.” Geo paused as if waiting for me to suddenly understand.
My conversation with Niko filtered through my head about his mom getting pregnant with Alex the same month their ceremony was held.
“When did your mom go missing, Sage?” Geo asked without a flicker of remorse or concern.
My chest went tight when I realized what he was saying. My gaze darted to Niko, who was failing to keep his face blank for once. The apology and pain I saw flash through his eyes confirmed what I was thinking.
“She went missing in June. When I was two months old,” I whispered, tears of anger falling on my cheeks.
Geo nodded. “An interesting timeline, don’t you think?”
“Your dad. He killed my mom,” I choked out. “She was the one chosen for his ceremony.”
“Why do you think he wanted you or Lacey to be chosen for ours?” Geo cocked his head to the side. “Alex was a miracle baby. Mom got pregnant nearly immediately after the ceremony. He was born premature but was in perfect health. Your mom’s ceremony proved how important your family was. You and your sister were chosen from that moment.”
I grabbed the back of the chair, sucking in deep breaths. Not only had Geo killed Lacey, but his dad had murdered my mom. Niko stared at me, keeping his distance as Geo shook his head.
“If she’s going to learn to live with everything, she needs to know,” Geo said, his cruel words taunting me. “You can get over it all, right Sage?”
My chest heaved as I kept my screaming thoughts to myself. Anger built as I looked between them. Niko had kept this from me. To protect my feelings or his family, I wasn’t sure. Either way, betrayal filtered through my anger. As much as I trusted him, there were things keeping the wall up between us. And I didn’t know if we’d ever break through it.
“Hey.” Alex pulled the screen door open and poked his head in. “Dad and I have to go get some parts and then we’re going to help a friend out with something. Probably won’t be back until late tonight. Want to come, Geo?”
“Nah.” Geo threw an arm around Niko’s shoulder. “I’m going to hang out here. Maybe I can prove to Sage that we can play nice.”
A slight frown played on Alex’s lips at that response, but he only nodded and muttered a goodbye to me before shutting the door. Bile burned my throat when I met Geo’s smug face. Pretending all day with him would be a hundred times worse than with Alex. I was still reeling from what I had just learned about their dad, and I wanted to be alone.
Raising my chin, I strode toward the hall, only for Geo to step in front of me. I gave him a silent warning, which he ignored.
“Where are you going?” he asked, knowing full well what I was doing.
“Back to sleep.”
“Now, how can we work past everything if you do that?”
Continuing to move past him, I went rigid when he grabbed my arm. Niko moved next to me, his attention on Geo.
“After what Alex just caught you doing, you probably shouldn’t put your hands back on her,” he murmured, his voice quiet yet threatening.
The atmosphere between them had been bad for a while, but they weren’t hiding it anymore. Geo kept his fingers around my arm as he met Niko’s gaze, while I stayed stuck between them. Anger saturated the entire room as Geo slowly let me go.
“You go into your room, I’ll follow,” Geo told me, keeping his eyes on his brother. “You chose to be a part of this family, Sage. I’m the only brother you haven’t spent quality time with. That’s changing now. I plan on getting to know you better.”
Niko studied Geo’s face, as if trying to figure out what he was up to. I backed away from them both and went to the kitchen to get some food. I had no doubt Geo really would follow me to my room, and I’d rather stay out here than be trapped in a smaller room with him. I also suspected Niko was close to his breaking point. If Geo touched me again, he was going to snap, and Geo’s suspicion would become tangible proof.
It was going to be a long fucking day.
