“It’s fishy. Adam’s been hiding for four years, then makes an appearance, and all of a sudden Bill wants to help him.” Saint shakes his head. “I’m not buying it.”
“I didn’t think much about it at first,” Sin goes on. “I just knew I didn’t want three Spade brothers on my family because I killed one of them.”
“And now?” Saint questions. “Why come to us about this now? What’s changed that’s got you questioning Bill?”
“My father and mother-in-law are both prisoners here at Carnage. My father-in-law and Tyson traded them for me.”
“You’re not getting anyone back,” Saint reminds him. “What we did for you was a one-time thing.”
“I—”
Saint goes on. “You can choose one thing when it comes to Laura, but that’s it. She stays here. She remains ours after she delivers, and so does your father.”
“No.” Sin raises his hand. “I don’t want either of them. You can bury them both alive for all I fucking care.”
Haidyn leans back in his chair. “Then what do you want?”
“My mother called me yesterday, wanted to have Elli and me over for dinner. We’ve kept our distance…after we found out what my father did to my wife…” He swallows. “But Elli urged me to go. Said she wants the babies to have a family. One that she never had. So we went. And Bill was there.”
Haidyn frowns. “Why the fuck would he be at your mother’s house?”
Sin sits across from me once again and his knees begin to bounce. “Elli recognized him, of course, because he was at our house when she signed the papers, but after we left my mom’s, she said she remembered him from her mother’s house…the night she married Lincoln.”
“He was friends with Laura or Lincoln?” Saint asks.
“I don’t know.” Sin sighs. “But it got me thinking. What if Bill set all this up?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific.” Saint lets out a long breath.
Sin turns to look at Haidyn. “Bill knew Charlotte’s future at Dollhouse because of Isabella. Bill also knew that you had a deal with Isabella for Adam. What if Bill wanted you to fall in love with Charlotte, knowing you’d leave her with your brothers, who would then go after you, knowing you’d lead them to Dollhouse?”
Haidyn scratches the back of his head.
“Bill did tamper with Charlotte’s IV treatments to make sure you knocked her up.” Saint nods at Haidyn.
“He could have burned Dollhouse to the ground at any time but chose to let you sit there for a week,” Sin growls.
Saint shakes his head. “No. Bill said he thought he knew where Haidyn was, but that he was waiting for confirmation he was there.”
“Maybe he lied.” Sin gives a humorless laugh. “Not the first time a Lord has lied for his own benefit. Besides, who is the insidesomeonethat he was awaiting confirmation from?”
The room falls silent, and Haidyn leans forward, placing his head in his hands. “What does any of this have to do with Bill being at your mother’s last night?”
Sin sighs heavily. “Like I said, my father is here. He’s dead to the world and to the Lords.” He turns to face Haidyn once again. “And so is Isabella—Bill’s wife—Charlotte’s mother.”
Haidyn slowly gets to his feet, his face sharper, his jaw harder. “Get to the fucking point, Sin,” he growls, not liking the fact that Sin brought up his wife.
“While at my mom’s last night, she announced that she’s been regifted…to Bill.”
Fuck.
The room falls silent, but everyone might as well be screaming with the way you can hear our minds working.
“Sin—”
“How much do you trust him?” Sin demands. “Because I thought I could, and now…” He jumps up and shoves his hands through his hair. “Now he’s my…stepdad? Putting himself in my mother’s life. And Elli—what the fuck is he doing?”
“Lords don’t get to choose who they are gifted,” Saint says softly.
