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Until…
“I told you to fucking leave her out of this!” That was a voice I recognized.
I tried to force my mouth open, desperate to scream the name I’d said so many times before.
“This is all about her, Eli!”
“Yeah, I’m aware, and that is why you have me here because I said I would help you. You didn’t need her too.”
“Well, we need a plan B!” the girl, who I’d decided I hated, replied with a smugness in her tone.
“You don’t think I fucking have one of those too?” Eli growled, and my heart split open slightly from hearing him so close. My best friend. The first person I met and wanted to be with that wasn’t Keaton.
“Get your plan moving faster, Eli, or these little sessions won’t stop…”
A finger hooks around my pinkie and I’m being tugged backward, my eyes flying open and out of my dream. I collide against Keaton’s chest and grapple the outline of his hoodie, swiping my tears off my face with the material.
“Hey!” Keaton squeezes me in his arms, and I suck in another deep breath when I feel his heartbeat against my cheek. “You’re here with us. You’re safe.” Even though his arms are around me and his words are like balm over a burn, it doesn’t subside the panic. What was that? A dream? A flashback? It can’t be. I don’t recognize those memories at all.
Oh my God, Kyrin.
I turn back around to see Kyrin’s eyes searching mine. His brows are downward in worry, and his mouth flat. “What happened? What’d you see?” God, we’re all a bunch of fucking weirdos.
“It was—”
“Cartier,” Keaton whispers into my ear, and Kyrin’s eyes flick back to his face, and all of that worry that was etched into his face moments before has evaporated. Lilith touches his arm and he shifts slightly into her. Who knew. With all of the crazy that Lilith is, she’s the rock of our group. She has become someone I think we all rely on for different reasons, yet… she’s been through the most out of all of us.
Keaton’s bold fingertip skates over my neck. “Tell us what you saw and don’t fucking lie. We already know who you are.” Thanks to me. You guys aren’t that fucking smart.
“It’s something that’s going to upset people…” I can’t move my eyes away from Lilith because this… this could be the one thing that pushes her away from me for good.
Kyrin glares at me. “Too late. Doubt I can get more pissed, so just go ahead and douse the fire, Princess.” Keaton’s arms remain locked around my waist, but they’ve relaxed a little, as if he’s relieved that I’ve calmed down enough to speak.
“It’s about Eli.” I chew on my bottom lip as Lilith’s once calm demeanor fires to life. I wince. “And about him still being alive.”
Kyrin hisses through clenched teeth, but Lilith does nothing. She remains in the same spot, her mouth open and her skin paler than normal. Out of all the things Kyrin thought I was about to say, I’m guessing that wasn’t one of them.
“Lilith—” She steps closer to me and fear prickles over my skin. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. She totally deserves to beat my ass, and I’ll take it because I deserve it. She has kept my secret, and I couldn’t even tell her hers. I’m a shitty friend. Cold hands come to my cheeks. Or I’m running hot. “I’m sorry…” My eyes spring open, a new set of tears threatening to wash through me. God. I may have been training for my position for years, and I may be this person to The Fathers and to others, but hiding it from my people all this time has been hard, and after unloading everything in the space of a few hours, I’ve realized just how heavy it was.
“Wait—” Kyrin stops the conversation, gritting his teeth. “We need to have this conversation in a room.”
“My room—” I answer, looking between all of them and Kill, who is watching the whole ordeal without saying a single word. This isn’t good. Killian has something to say about everything and everyone, so if he’s silent, then I know we’re all in trouble. “—My room because I know it’s not bugged.”
“And how do you know that?” Kyrin snickers as I shuffle out of Keaton’s grip.
I ignore him and move to the elevator, well aware that they’re all following me, except for Keaton, who is directly beside yet somehow slightly in front of me. I’m worried about Lilith. About how she’s going to take this news and what that might mean for her and me, but I know that the longer I keep it from her, from them, the more I have to do this on my own and I can’t do it on my own anymore.
I can’t.
I’ve tried. I’ve tried so hard over the years to gain access to information on the takeover, and to get to Eli and the reason as to why he thought he was helping me by going with them. Why they even wanted me to begin with, and anyone I’ve asked—The Fathers only—they haven’t known. They give me the same answer, that it has to do with my biological father and Patience, but I know.
I know this is something worse than that or Eli wouldn’t have gone through great lengths to keep me away from them. Patience was bad, but we buried them months ago.
This is something entirely different, and to crack it open, I need them. I need them to know everything. The guilty secrets you carry are always held in the dark clouds that hover over you while you keep them. This is me popping that cloud.
I push the PH and swipe my card. The space in the elevator is already small without Keaton, Ky, and Killian’s big ass bodies filling it, and that’s not including the energy that surrounds them all. I lean over to take a look at Lilith, but she’s curled under Kyrin.
The corner of my mouth curves in a small smile, not enough to be obvious, but enough to release my heart from the happiness it’s holding. I never thought I’d see my brother happy, much less happy with two people. I need to get Eli back.
