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Kat couldn’t hide her surprise as she glanced at each of us. She had no idea we’d done that. William had been getting worse the older she got, and we knew she needed an outlet. She used to sneak into Eli’s house just to play when she got overwhelmed. But life was hell for her when William caught her leaving late one night to go play. We didn’t see her for weeks. We decided to make sure that didn’t happen again.
“Let’s not forget the first time we were going to send her away. I was ready to ship her off the second that basketball court was made.” Richard shook his head. “Even back then, you proved you’d do things for her instead of doing what was best for the families. For Braidwood. That’s not how this city runs.”
“We stopped,” River argued, standing from the chair. “You said she’d be able to stay if we stopped overstepping.”
My jaw ticked, remembering the day my dad came in telling me that Kat was leaving. We begged them to change their minds. And they did. The first time. Until she left when we were thirteen. Kat’s eyes were wide; she was realizing there were things we hadn’t told her.
My dad finally lifted his head. “But you didn’t stop. Why do you think we allowed William to send her away?”
Kat’s hands clenched as her gaze darted to every single person in the room before they stopped on her stepfather. “I thought it was because you caught me in your office.”
I tilted my head, watching her speak. Something about the way she said it didn’t ring completely true. She seemed hesitant.
Richard looked at Eli. “Did you never tell her what happened the week before she left?”
“Tell me what?” She whipped around to look at Eli. When he didn’t say anything, she glanced to me before her gaze landed on River. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” I said with a shrug, ignoring the churning nerves in my gut. They had warned us, and we’d done it anyway. “The kid apologized to us.”
“Do you remember that little school dance, Katalina?” William asked.
Confusion covered her face. “The one days before I left?”
William nodded. “That boy Tom from a couple of streets over wanted to ask you. Nice kid. Wealthy parents. But he never got a chance to ask you.”
River blew out a chuckle. “He walked into a door. He was the clumsiest kid on our basketball team back then.”
“That wasn’t his story at first.” Richard reached for a whiskey bottle and poured himself a glass before passing it to William. “He only changed it after you three talked to him.”
Tom didn’t exactlywalkinto a door. We went to tell him not to ask Kat to the dance. That she was going with the three of us as friends. His crush on her was more than we thought, and he refused to back down. We pushed him around a little, and Eli’s last shove might have been a bit hard.
“It was a couple of stitches on his eyebrow,” Eli muttered. “Nothing serious. Hopefully, he’s learned how to fucking walk by now.”
“Enough of the past,” Richard snapped, setting his glass on the desk. “The trouble is what you’re doing now.”
“We’re doing exactly what you all asked,” River argued. “Getting along for the city to see.”
“Getting along too well,” William murmured as he glanced at Kat. “Did you all forget that we know everything that happens in this town?”
“River’s little dance at the campus bar. Eli’s power move at practice,” Richard listed off everything they’d heard. “And the manager at the Blue Lounge informed me yesterday that Eli had the entire club shut down to talk to a girl with purple hair.”
My pulse hammered as strained silence filled the room. Eli and River were rigid, trying to figure out where they were going with this.
“There are four founding families in this city. And that’s how it will stay,” my dad spoke up. “It’s always been a rule that the families marry outside of Braidwood. It’s how we build connections. None of you three will ever be permitted to date Katalina.”
“Are you serious?” Richard’s eyes narrowed as Eli spoke. “We were just messing with her. Asfriends. Like you all wanted.”
The things we did with her were more than what friends did, but they didn’t know any of that. We knew marriage was never an expectation, but they’d definitely pressured it our whole lives. This was the first time they’d told us Kat was off-limits in that way.
“There was so much hate when River and Katalina came back that I didn’t think it would be an issue,” William said with a cruel smirk. “But she seems to have dug her claws back into you three in the short time she’s been back. Whatever is going on, it ends now.”
“Nothing is going on,” Kat hissed, taking a step forward. “And I’m right here. No need to talk around me.”
William’s lips pressed into a thin line, and my guard rose. Getting them angry would only make it worse on all of us.
“Let me make this perfectly clear.” William reached forward and grabbed Kat’s jaw. My chest tightened as the three of us moved closer. Eli’s hands were clenched, and River’s fingers were twitching. I half expected him to pull out his gun. Kat stood perfectly still, her eyes spitting hatred as William dug his nails into her cheeks. “You are expected to produce a Whitman heir. And you’ll do it. You will also marry someone we deem acceptable.”
“Marriage is not required,” River snapped, his eyes not leaving Kat. “My mother never married. It doesn’t have anything to do with our traditions.”
