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Tor’s gaze dropped to my stomach as he narrowed his eyes until the gold just barely peeked out.
“Yeah.” I nodded and touched the scar through my shirt. “I wasn’t lying about that. This is where my father shot me.”
“Why fake your death?” Hayden asked.
“Because it was the only way for me to have a life. Otherwise, people would try to use me. I wouldn’t be able to go to school, to have a real life, because people would constantly be trying to make use of my name and my bloodline. My father was Kyler Williams and my mother Caroline Hester.”
Hayden cursed beneath his breath, the word vulgar enough to take me by surprise, given he didn’t typically say such words. “So you’re essentially a Mafia princess, huh?”
“You see why I lied. If anyone knew who I was, I’d never be free, I’d never get to live my life how I want My father used me all my life, caring only about how he could sell me off to benefit himself. I didn’t want that future.”
“There are rumors that the girl who took over Kyler’s spot was related to him, but it’s not easy to get anything specific.”
I couldn’t stop myself from seeing Nem’s face then, from seeing the way she scowled, or better, the way her expression softened whenever she looked at me. “Nem. She’s my sister—well, half-sister. We share a mother, but her father wasn’t Kyler.”
“Fucking hell,” Char whispered. “You’re telling me that your sisterisNemesis? The psycho bitch who runs the West Coast?” He paused, then let out another string of curses. “Which means those bodyguards you talked about, you’re saying they’re the Quad?”
I laughed softly at his tone. It was far from the first time people had reacted in such a way when they figured out I knew the Quad. Normally, it amused me. The flash of fear when the recognition hit.
This time, my laughter felt hollow.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “They’re like brothers to me.”
“And who were you talking to in that alley? I didn’t recognize the voice and it doesn’t seem from the conversation that he was one of the Quad,” Hayden asked, his tone one of barely contained anger.
In for a penny.I had no reason not to tell them, did I?
“He’s a fixer. He goes by the Fox.”
“Jesus,” Vance growled out. “Even I know about him.”
“I guess this explains why getting attacked didn’t freak you out,” Hayden said. “Why would it when you were raised as a Mafia princess surrounded by the worst of the worst, when your family has the most dangerous killers in it?”
“It’s not like that,” I said.
“Not like what?” Char asked. “Because I’ve worked in the shadows long enough to hear plenty of stories. Are you going to tell me they’re killers with a heart of gold or something?”
I shook my head. “It’s not that. I know how dangerous they are, but that’s not who they areto me.To me, they’re family. To me, Nem is the woman who could have left me to my fate, to be sold off by my father and killed, but she didn’t. She risked everything and came back to rescue me. The Quad are my brothers, men who put themselves between me and danger time and time again. They’re overbearing and annoying, but they care about and look out for me and gave me stability in life when I didn’t have any. Even the Fox—he stepped in like a father for me when he had no reason to. I’m not stupid. I know people fear them, but to me? They’re just my family.”
Hayden let out a sigh that implied he thought me stupid. “You’re naïve, Kenz.”
“I’m really not. I didn’t grow up nearly as sheltered as you seem to think. I’ve seen my share of terrible things, I’ve seen people killed, I’ve been targeted, I even know what it’s like to feel my blood leaking away and think…this is it. It was the Fox who carried me to help, who saved me, and it was Nem who took over for my father to ensure I could leave and get away from that life. I know exactly who and what they all are.”
Silence descended on the room, but it held less tension than before. It seemed like they each thought hard, like they worked through the pieces I gave them.
“Does Lorien know who you really are?” Char asked.
I nodded. “He does. He said it on the phone when we spoke alone.”
“So that’s why he wants you?”
I shuddered as I remembered the way he’d called us soulmates. “He said he loves me. When you were out of the room, he said that my real identity was why his family supported him going after me, but that he wanted me because we’re soulmates.”
A strange chill crept over my skin, and when I looked toward Tor, a darkness in his eyes made me want to curl in on myself. He blinked quickly and ripped his gaze from mine, as though shielding me from it.
“Doesn’t that mean you’ve met him?” Vance asked. At my look, he shrugged. “If he claims he loves you, he must have met you. He came back specifically for this auction, for the one where you were set to be sold. He had to have met you somehow then, or he wouldn’t have had any reason to target you.”
“He used a voice changer on the phone,” Char pointed out. “Even if she knew him, she wouldn’t recognize his voice.”
