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Matt gestured to the couch. “Thinking he is, since he’s the one who saved my next stepmother.”
Peter’s head whipped over. “Matthew.”
Matt shrugged. “What?” He grinned. “No more secrets, Dad.”
Seraphina sat even further upright. Her arms dropped from around Chrissy’s arm, but they were still linked around her hands. “Wait. What?” She looked between Chrissy and Peter. “You two?”
Cyclone snorted. “Even I knew that much, and I’m ten and three-quarters.” He looked at Kash. “Who’s Chase?”
I drew in a deep breath.
Kash said, “He’s my brother.”
Marie sucked in another breath.
Theresa, who was also in our meeting but had been quiet and in the background, muttered.
“You have a brother?”
All eyes went to Seraphina, who was no longer holding on to Chrissy at all. Her hands were resting on her own legs. She had scooted to the edge of the couch. Her gaze was firmly latched onto Kash. “Like a real brother?”
“What’s that mean for me and Matt?”
Kash’s eyes swung to Cyclone, then back to Seraphina. “I have a brother. A twin, actually.”
Seraphina’s mouth fell open.
“You do?”
“Madre de Dios.” That was Marie.
Chrissy coughed, clearing her voice. “Kash’s brother is the one who rescued me from the men that had taken me. He, uh, he helped me remember things.” She looked at me again, her eyes piercing. “He showed me a video of you.”
My heart skipped a beat. I’d been holding on to Kash’s arm in front of me, but now my fingers sank tight into him. “What videos?”
“You at my funeral.”
Another skip.
“You at some ceremony at your school. You had a dress on that I knew you hated wearing.” She smiled, but her eyes were so sad.
Skip.
“You at a bar with a couple of people.”
I was clinging to Kash’s arm, and my knees were starting to knock against each other.
“At your school. In your library. At other times you were with Kash, with your guards. There were more pictures. With Matt. None here. I don’t think he could get close enough for a long-distance lens.” Her head folded down.
That’s when I saw she was clinging to Peter’s other hand in her lap.
“I saw in the pictures as you were coming back to life. I was glad, Bailey. I was thankful.” Unshed tears lined the bottom of her eyelids. She swallowed. “You didn’t let him win. I was proud of you. Damn proud.”
I couldn’t stand.
My knees gave away.
Kash caught me, an arm sliding around my waist, and no one could see, but he was holding me up.
