Confusion and frustration swell inside me. What the actual hell is going on? None of this makes any sense.
Memories of my childhood flicker on the edges of my mind. The training. The lessons. Char and Miles pushing me beyond exhaustion to learn all I could. To be prepared. To be safe.
But why?
My eyes flutter closed as something else scrapes along my brain, begging me to pay attention.
“Someday, people are going to come for you,” Miles murmurs, brushing tears from my sticky face. I’m so tired of practicing my fighting skills. I just want to take a nap. “They’ll learn of your existence, they’ll come for you, and they will hurt you. You have to be ready for them, sweetheart. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I whisper, wiping my face. “I understand, Uncle.”
A look of pain fills his face, but he quickly blinks it away and gives me a smile.
“You must always be ready. Always be prepared to fight.” He leans in and kisses the top of my head. “But don’t let it stop you from living a beautiful life. That’s all we’ve ever wanted for our girl.”
I blink back to the present, my heart hammering in my chest as Miles’ words ricochet through my brain. My hazy gaze meets Madeline’s, and for the first time since arriving here, I look,really look, at her.
Our features are similar, close enough that you can tell we’re related. But her eyes and mouth are different from mine, and she’s much taller than I am. Those things can be explained away, can be blamed on the fact that I don’t know who my father is, that I share half his DNA.
Yet every time I close my eyes and see his face, a feeling of rightness settles over me. It’s quickly followed by an image of Charlotte; me in her lap, her laughing at something Miles has said, the dimples in her cheeks that match mine. The constellation of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
My trembling fingers glide across my face, tracing the identical pattern.
“Ella?” Hunter asks softly. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to be sick.”
I swallow hard, my eyes never leaving Madeline’s.
“Skylar.” She sucks in a harsh breath and slowly releases it. “You know.”
Holy shit.
“Know what?” Hunter shifts beside me, but I can’t find the strength to look away. “What the hell is going on?”
The room fills with tension so thick, I struggle to breathe. Or maybe it’s because my world as I know it, the reality I thought I’d finally grasped, is changing again.
She lied to me.
They all lied to me.
But why?
“You’re not safe, mi cielo,” Char cries as she draws me against her chest. “We’ve gone to great lengths to protect our baby girl, and it’s all been for nothing. He found you.”
“Who?” I ask, worry filling my belly as I blink into my dark bedroom. “Who found me? What’s wrong, Aunty Char?”
Under my cheek, her heart beats too fast to soothe me the way it usually does when she puts me to bed. Something is wrong.
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispers, kissing my head. “He’s a bad man, Skylar, but me and your fath—Miles, we’re bad too. We’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”
I blink up at her. “You’re not bad. You could never be bad.”
She gives me a sad smile.
“Oh, sweet girl. We’re the monsters under the bed.” Her smile grows as she cups my cheek. “But we’re your monsters.”
“What’s going on,” I say calmly, answering Hunter’s frustrated question, “is that Madeline is not my mother.”
His hand slams down on the table, making me jump. “Then who the hell is she? Who are your parents?”
