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“I will. I’m going to find out everything I can—”
I cut him off. “That’s not why I’m asking.”
He stares at me not understanding. “They’re here.Both of them.”
He swallows hard.
“If you love Mamma at all, or me and Wren, find a way out of their grasp, Dad. Even if you can’t bewithher, the fact you’re here with them kills her. We fight for the people we love. It’s time for you to prove you’re more than a cold-blooded killer or accept who you’ve become at the hands of the Leones,” I tell him and then walk away.
“Each time I call, he sends me to voicemail. I’m going to kick his ass when he gets back. I can’t believe he left and didn’t say where he was going. I can’t believe he didn’t make sure you were okay first! What kind of pyscho ex is my brother dealing with?” Wren asks.
I’m curled up on the bed while Wren paces the floor. “I know where he went,” I admit brokenly.
She stops and stares at me. “What do you mean?”
“He went to see her. Where else would he go? She just told him he has a son,” I say quietly.
Her lips press in on themselves. “Brittney, there’s so much we don’t know. I don’t believe her. I think this is a trap.”
I sniffle. “Why would she lie? She has to know he’ll demand a DNA test.”
She sits on the bed beside me. “I can’t explain it, but I feel it in here.” She balls her fist and presses it into her chest. “It’s not true.”
I smile weakly. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but I think I may have to accept that it is. And maybe they should try and give him what he deserves…a family.”
Wren laughs but there’s no actual humor in it. “Families are overrated.”
“You don’t mean that,” I say.
“Don’t I? Look at my family. I don’t even know them. Look at yours. I remember your folks and your crazy sister,” she admits.
“I didn’t think you noticed,” I say, surprised.
“Of course, I did. My brother liked you, so I paid attention,” she says.
“I guess you know I basically have no one left, then. My dad moved back to Winchester, so I don’t see him much and my mom is in Greendale Valley, but she’s always with some new boyfriend. And my sister is…I don’t even know where she is. We don’t speak. I have a best friend. But no one else,” I admit suddenly saddened by the thought of my broken family.
“Why don’t you talk to your sister?” she asks.
A sigh escapes my lips. “She tried to seduce Hawk to spite me when we were teenagers. Then she said it was my fault, he should’ve picked her. There’s more to it, but it’s the long and short of it without giving you details about your brother I’m sure you’d prefer not to hear.”
Wren’s face flushes red and her nostrils flare. “Yeah, thanks for saving me from conjuring a mental picture of my brother I can’t erase but…what a bitch. I can’t imagine. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ve accepted it. And I’m used to being alone. It’s fine,” I say, feeling more hollow inside than any previous time in my life.
“Brittney, you have me.” She squeezes my hand.
I smile at her. “You don’t have to say that because you pity me. But I appreciate the thought.”
“I mean it, Brittney. I know I seemed standoffish before, but I don’t let anyone in besides Mamma and Hawk. We all need someone, and I think it’s time I try to make my circle a little bigger,” she admits with a smile.
She glances at her phone again. “He’ll be back soon, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he will. And he’ll finish breaking my heart,” I say around tears.
“He won’t, Brittney. Even I can see how he feels about you,” she says.
“He may not have a choice,” I tell her.
