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I wanted to throw up.
“She told them to pick on me. She’s the one who created that website where they ranked everyone in our class, and she knew I could see it. She’s the one who put that my personality needed work. It would’ve gotten worse except Bailey hacked into it and my mom was too scared to type it in again. She thought Bailey would look again, see it came from her, and would show it to you, Dad. That never happened, but…” She looked at me, and I was bowled over. “Thank you for doing that. I never felt like I could really tell you how much it helped, but it did. Those girls weren’t as mean to me as they were before. And Kash, I’m sorry that I liked Victoria. I know she was friends with Mom, and I know she was your ex, but I overheard that she was mean to Bailey and I’m really sorry about liking her. But sometimes… sometimes I didn’t like her at all.”
Kash leaned forward. “That’s why you’ve been nervous around me?” he asked quietly.
She nodded, her head almost jerking forward at an awkward angle. “I felt bad. I’m really sorry.”
I had no idea what conversation she had overheard, or when, but I wanted to just grab her and hold her forever.
“Ser.”
She looked back up at him.
“You don’t have to feel bad about anything. Okay? I think of you as my little sister, and that will never change.”
“Never?” A whisper from her.
“Never.”
She sat up a little higher, her entire face brightening up. “Okay.” Still a whisper, but it was progress.
“Those girls aren’t mean anymore because I told them what you did, Bailey,” Cyclone said. He was looking at me, too, and I continued to be bowled over. “I made them scared of you, told them you could hack into their parents’ bank accounts if you wanted, and no one would know.”
Matt snorted in a choked-off laugh.
I ignored him, reeling from what both had just said.
One. Two. Both with punches, because both were looking at me with such conviction, such strength.
Cyclone kept going. “I told them that they better watch what they say. If I heard one whisper they were being mean to my sister, I was going to sic my other sister on them. I told them even the FBI knew about your skills and gave you a wide berth.”
Okay. That was funny.
My mouth twitched. I heard a low chuckle from Matt.
Seraphina was gazing at her plate and her bottom lip was trembling.
I couldn’t take it.
I shoved back my chair, was around that table in a flash, and I had both my arms around my little siblings. They were sitting next to each other, but moved in with me, hugging me back.
Cyclone let go first, and I heard a little giggle from him.
Seraphina wound her other arm around my neck. She whispered into my neck, “I love you, Bailey.”
Oh. Damn.
I was gone. Blubbering.
A mess.
My bottom lip was the one trembling now.
I eased back and smoothed down her hair, smiling at her. “You are so beautiful and so kind and you have the best soul I think I have come across. Anything Quinn told you was wrong. If you need to fact check me, look at where she’s at right now. Not here. Not with her family. She did that, no one else. She is not the victim. She is not misunderstood. She hurt people, and because of that, she lost the two greatest things she’s ever done in her life. You two. What your aunt said is right. You can still love her. You know that, right? You can miss her. But she hurt people, and she needs to atone for that.”
Seraphina’s hands came up and gripped mine where they were resting on her shoulders. She squeezed them, saying gently, “I know.”
Good Lord.
