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The guy disappears into the crowd.
I can barely breathe as the media fill the space around us again. I’m this close to breaking open for the whole world to see and the thread between me and my twin is the only thing keeping me tethered.
“The car.” Riot says, reminding us of our objective. “One foot at a time. One breath. Ignore them.”
“Ready?” Rebel asks as he lowers my fist until my arm goes slack and falls back to my side.
I don’t fucking know how I’m supposed to go through the motions right now. My lungs are so tight. My breath labored.
“Nicole Hawthorne is releasing a statement,” one of the journalists announces.
The whole crowd starts to move. Phones are pulled from pockets or shifted from camera mode as the journalist who announced it holds up her phone and presses play on the statement that is going live right now from somewhere inside the hospital.
A moment later other people start listening to it too and I’m forced to hear Nicole Hawthorne’s faked heartbreak in surround sound. See it on dozens of device screens. A solemn and disheveled Alec Hawthorne supports her with an arm around her. Somehow he still manages to wear a crisp suit to a pre-breakfast crisis.
Does that mean he was in the hospital the whole time? Was he waiting for me to leave to make his appearance?
“We’ve had a truly heartbreaking situation befall our family, but thanks to the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly to save my daughter and Alec’s sister, Ivy is still with us this morning.” Nicole pauses to clear her throat and dab at her eyes. Alec bows his head as though he too is overwhelmed.
None of their emotion is for Ivy. It’s all an act.
“I can’t leave her with him here.” I spin around only for my brothers to block my path. “Get out of my way.”
“No,” Rebel says.Not now.You’ll only make it worse.
“We really need to get out of here,” Riot says and the two of them all but carry me through the crowd.
We’re almost at the white SUV Bianca drove to the party last night when Nicole starts speaking again. “I thank you, as does Alec, for your support during this time. We have a long and arduous road to recovery ahead of us and would appreciate it if our family could be afforded the privacy we need to help Ivy get back to the strong and positive girl that she was before she became involved with Rogue Maddox. My daughter didn’t deserve to be tangled up with an abusive monster like him. Even when she said no to him he wouldn’t leave her alone… he stalked her until she gave into him.”
The blood whooshing in my ears blocks out whatever she says next. My knuckles are still bloody from that creep pap and Nicole Hawthorne has just accused me of abusing her daughter in front of the entire world. Fuck.
“She didn’t,” Riot says like he can’t fucking believe what he’s hearing. Even though they heard the conjecture when they were driving in.
“She fucking did,” Rebel growls.
Camera flashes go off at our backs, as the media who are keeping pace with us start to ask the questions they’ll be speculating over for who knows how long after this.
Did I hurt Ivy? Am I abusive? Am I the monster in this story?
I shake my head as I look into my twin’s eyes. He has to know.I didn’t hurt her. I swear.
I know you didn’t.Rebel squeezes my bones until they ache.
The pain Rebel is causing me is good. It grounds me when everything else has turned into a nightmare.What am I going to do?
“Get in the car,” Rebel orders as Summer again tells the crowd we’ll put out a statement later in the day. “Don’t turn around. Don’t speak. Get in the fucking car.”
I’m all but shoved into the back seat before Rebel slams the door on me. Riot climbs in on the other side as I bury my head in my hands. They’re shaking again. Stained with blood again.
As we drive out of the hospital parking lot I rub the blood from my knuckles.
“Do you think that was orchestrated?” Riot asks, glancing back at the crowd. “Like they paid that asshole to rile you up out there.”
“Fuck.” And I fell for it like an idiot. Gave them more to use against me.
“If that guy comes forward we’ll settle,” Rebel says. “Get him to back off. If he did it for them it’s about money, right? We’ll give him more to back off.”
“Let’s wait and see what happens,” Summer says.
