Her tongue darts out, wetting her lips. “That’s not exactly true.”
My features harden, and my eyes blaze. “Has anything been true?” Right now, thinking my parents had gotten into bed with the wrong business partner would be preferable than the truth. I know, whatever this Luminary society is, my parents are all mixed up in it, and they have been for some time. “You have both lied to me my entire life.”
“Not about everything,” Dad says.
“And it was done out of love.” Mom reaches for me, but I push her hand away. “Everything we have done was done to protect you. To keep you out of this lifestyle. To give you the freedom and choices I never had.”
My spine stiffens as I slip out of Jase’s embrace. I square off with my mom. “I want the truth. Who are you? And who is your brother?”
She casts a glance over her shoulder at my father, and he nods.
When she turns back around, there are tears in her eyes. “My maiden name is Pamela Manford, and James is my brother.”
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Ashley
Iblink profusely, unsure if I heard her correctly. Jase slides his arm around my waist from behind, holding me tight. Briefly, it registers that neither of my parents are in any way surprised by the PDAs between Jase and me. I thought I had been clever to hide my forbidden relationship from them, but it’s obvious they have known all this time. Is there anything they don’t know? My brain is close to shutting down. This is all so overwhelming, and I have barely scratched the surface of the things I need to know.
Clearing my throat, I try to focus on the horrifying new reality. “Do you mean that James Manford is my uncle?” Mom nods as I start fitting the puzzle pieces into place. “Is he a Luminary?”
“Your uncle is the Sloth Luminary, and Julia is his heir.”
“Oh my god,” I splutter as it dawns on me. “She’s my cousin.”
Her head bobs.
Oh fuck. This is…I have no words to describe this fucked-up situation. I’ve been screwing my cousin’s fiancé this whole time, and I never knew it.
I’m in love with the man she will soon call her husband.
I hate Julia Manford with the intensity of a thousand suns, and now I will forever be tied to her through blood and this Luminary shit.
All the times she has spouted “I’m the Manford heir” at me, I have scoffed at her super-inflated sense of self-importance. I thought she was referring to inheriting her father’s media business, but there is clearly a lot more to it than that.
I start laughing because it’s either that or shoot my parents myself. Once I start laughing, I can’t stop. It feels like I’m unraveling from the inside out.
Mom and Dad exchange a worried look.
I’m wiping tears from my eyes a minute later. “No wonder you were forcing me to be friends with her. Now I get why you stepped up when her mom died.”
“Julia is my niece, and I owe James my life.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story.” She holds up a hand when my face pulls into a grimace. “Which I will tell you after you come back to the cell. We need to clean the scene and get Bree and Jase out of here before someone finds and reports them.”
“Will you be killed?” I look up at Jase as the horrifying thought lands in my brain. Judging by the way he just killed a bunch of people in cold blood without breaking a sweat, I am guessing that is the usual way things get resolved within the Luminary world. Fear for him and Bree surges through my veins.
“It’s against the law to kill a Luminary or a member of a Luminary family,” my dad explains. “Breanna and Jason are the children of the current Lust & Envy Luminary. No one can kill them without signing their own death warrant and that of their loved ones.”
I blow air out of my mouth as relief sweeps through me. But it’s only short-lived. “What form of justice would be handed down?” I ask no one in particular.
“There are various punishments,” Mom says. “It would be up to the Board of Luminaries to decide on the appropriate sanction, but we can stop it if we act now.”
“We’re wasting precious time,” Dad says, looking over my shoulder at the Stewart siblings. “Go back through the tunnel, get into your car, and leave. I have called in a favor. A couple of guys will meet you on the road, and you can switch vehicles with them. They’ll plant the car on a couple of known carjackers. I’ll backdate a police report of the robbery and manipulate the camera feeds, wiping all trace of this.”
“They won’t know you’ve ever been here,” Mom supplies, tugging me out of Jase’s arms.
