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“Waverly.”
Images of the little girl running to Tim and throwing her arms around his neck haunted me. She was adorable and innocent, but she belonged to not only one monster, but her grandfather probably made Tim look like he had a halo and angel wings.
“I want to meet her.” My throat felt dry as the words left my lips. “She’s my sister. I’ve lost one already, I would love to have a relationship with this one.”
“I understand. She is adorable. But Holden, maybe wait until River is back before you mention this to Tim. He’ll know you were checking up on him. I don’t want to take any chances.”
“I won’t say a word, but I wonder if Mom knows.”
“Again, I wouldn’t say anything. She could go straight to Tim and mess up all of our hard work.”
I leaned back on the couch. “Guess Mom and I will have plenty to talk about soon.”
“Let’s hope so. The clock is ticking with your demand for Tim to bring River home. Don’t think we’re waiting around, though. We’re hoping Laura will expose her bosses.”
“She’s still the only lead we have, huh?” I picked at an imaginary ball of lint on my jeaned thigh.
“I suspect, by the end of the day, we’ll have more. It’s just a hunch, but I’m usually pretty good at those.”
My stomach flip-flopped. “I hope so.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I know something. Oh, and Holden?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for taking care of Zayne. It’s difficult for him now that Vaughn and Claire are engaged, and Pierce and I are married. A night of fun will do him some good.”
My eyes widened. “He told you?”
Sutton laughed. “We’re like you, Brynn, Chance, and Jace. We share everything with each other. We’re family.”
I doubted they’d all fucked Sutton, but I had no intention of revealing that part of our relationship to her.
“Hopefully he’ll enjoy himself.” I wasn’t sure how he couldn’t. The girls were gorgeous and definitely knew how to show a guy a fun time.
“Have a good night. I’ll call as soon as I have an update,” Sutton said.
“Thanks. You, too.” I disconnected the phone and shook my head before I looked at Jace. “Tim’s secrets just keep coming.”
“Do I want to know?” Jace stood from his chair and headed for the kitchen. He grabbed a few beers and Brynn’s chips. “I’m starving. I haven’t been eating right since River, and now Brynn …” He twisted a cap off and handed me a bottle.
“Me too. We should order some food since nothing is cooked and I’m not really up to it.”
Once we decided on dinner from PF Chang’s, I updated him on my new sibling.
“Honestly, I’m not surprised.” Jace popped a chip into his mouth. “I swear, the older we get, the more we learn how our reality and family don’t line up. Our families for sure weren’t who we thought they were. I mean we knew Tim as a good guy.”
“No shit.” It was insane how fast my perception had changed.
Jace and I ate and watched television. I doubted either of us was really paying attention to the show, but it was noise. It was nearly ten in the evening when Chance texted me.
You guys want to FaceTime?
“Jace, Chance wants to know if we want to FaceTime with him and Brynn.”
“Hell, yeah.” He scooted closer to me on the couch and ran his hands through his hair. He was as nervous as I was to see her. The sight of her struggling to breathe had fucked us both up.
Chance’s video call came through, and I positioned the phone to include Jace and me on the camera. I tapped the accept button, then Chance’s face filled the screen.
