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Not this time though.
This time, I was either gonna die for it or it was going to be mine.
Permanently.
A knock at the door pulled me from my ruminations and I looked at the clock on the wall.
Notquitea whole twenty-four hours to myself like I’d asked for, but it was close enough.
I dragged myself from the bed with a groan, still aching from the beating by Randy and Carmen, which I still, ridiculously, found a little amusing. I still wasn’t sure how Carmen hadn’t recognized my face the way Randy had. And even her recognition hadn’t been immediate.
I had to remind myself though, that all this shit was a lifetime—mylifetime, of thirty plus years—ago for them. It had been shut down and blocked out to make room for a new life, new experiences.
For Jesse Garrett, a whole new existence.
Thatwas why he had called his grouppredators.
He knew plenty about being one.
At the door, I wasn’t surprised to find Alicia on the other side, wearing a cautious smile.
“I know.” She raised her hands. “You needed a day and I told you we could insulate you…”
“But you’re tired of waiting and you need answers?” I guessed, pushing out a sigh as I stepped aside, letting her in the door. “Come in.”
Her smile turned warmer as she joined me in the room, taking a seat at a chair that had been pushed against a little desk in the corner. “You look better.”
I chuckled, dropping to a seat on the bed. “Uh… I don’t think it would take much, considering the state I was in when I got here.”
She nodded. “You ready to tell me who did that to you?”
“Why do you sound like a big sister ready to go cause havoc at the bus stop?” I laughed.
“I’ll be that.” She shrugged. “Whose ass do I need to kick?”
“You can’t kick these asses,” I said, then corrected myself when she raised an eyebrow at me. “Or rather… you really probably shouldn’t.”
“And why is that?”
“Because… it was Carmen Tate and Miranda Garrett.”
At first she frowned, processing the names that weren’t immediately familiar, but then her mouth dropped open and she sat forward. “Tati and Blue’smothers?!”
“Not just that.” I let out a sigh as I prepared to give her more—much more —than I’d given Tati. “Jardin D’origine.”
“Get the hell outta here!” she exclaimed, hopping up from her seat. “They’reRoses?”
“Married toThorns.”
She gasped, putting a hand to her chest, eyes wide. “Nyx,what the fuck?! Are you trying to send me into cardiac arrest?”
“Just… bringing you up to date,” I explained. “A lot of this I didn’t know until they took my hood off in Randy’s greenhouse after they sedated me and snatched me off Tati’s porch. And I’m only guessing about them being part of theOriginalGardenprogram, but it tracks.”
She nodded. “Yeah. They’re what… late fifties, early sixties? It would definitely track.” She blew out a sigh, shaking her head before she started pacing the floor. “Damnit, Nyx. How in the hell did you happen to get caught up with them? And Iknowit wasn’t a coincidence, so just spill it.”
“Jesse Garrett is my father.”
She froze.
