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The four of us strode down the street, leaving our first home together behind.
I wished the walk was longer. I coughed uncomfortably as we got to the front door of my mom’s place. My hand hovered over the doorknob. “One quick thing I should probably tell you all before we go in.”
The three of them looked at me expectantly.
“I haven’t told my mom and Karmichael about the house yet.”
Rebel’s mouth dropped open, and she slapped my chest. “Are you serious? She’s going to kill you!”
Kian groaned. “At least you told her about the business.”
He eyed me when I didn’t say anything.
“You did tell her about the business, didn’t you?”
I shrugged.
“Is it too late to remove myself from the family?” Fang asked quietly. “I don’t do scenes, and I think there’s about to be a big one.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“Do it fast, Vaughn,” Rebel warned as we let ourselves into the house. “Don’t let the afternoon drag on without telling her.”
She was right. I just had to rip it off like a Band-Aid and tell my mother that I’d lost everything my father had worked for.
Fuck.
As confident as I was in the decision, it didn’t sound great when I thought about it like that.
We all traipsed into the kitchen where Mom was busy flittering around, mountains of food on trays covering the kitchen counter. She jumped a mile when she noticed us. “Oh my word, the four of you snuck in like you were robbing the joint. What’s wrong with you?” She laughed and came around the counter to kiss me. “Hi, sweetie.”
“Where’s Karmichael?” I snagged a cookie from a tray of them that were cooling on top of the oven, making polite conversation as an ease into what I really needed to say.
She batted it out of my fingers. “Stop. You’ll spoil your appetite. Your stepfather is out with his brother, cleaning pools again. He’s been gone most of the week. It seems ridiculous to me that they’re still so busy when it’s winter, but apparently everyone has pool heaters these days, and winter spas are all the rage.”
“Vaughn gave the house and the business to a sex trafficker,” Rebel blurted out.
Everybody froze.
My mom’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse me, I think I just had a stroke. I thought you just said Vaughn gave the house and business to a sex trafficker.”
I widened my eyes at Rebel. “Seriously, Roach? You’re fucking killing me.”
She frowned at me. “Don’t swear in front of your mother.”
I threw my hands up. “That’s what you’re worried about after what you just said?”
“I think I need to sit down.” Mom slumped backward toward the kitchen chairs.
Fang and Kian both caught her by the arm, helping her to sit.
Eventually, she looked up at me with watery eyes. “I don’t understand. Is that true?”
I sighed. “It’s not the full story, but yes, that’s basically what it boils down to.”
“Vaughn, your father worked so hard for that business!”
“I know. But he didn’t know any of what Harold Coker was doing behind his back. I couldn’t be involved in any of that, Mom.”
