“I suspected he was cheating on my mom before,” he blurts.
“When?” I ask, lifting my head from Jase’s shoulder. “You never said.”
“It was before you and I were together. I was fourteen, and I saw him one day at a café around the corner from his work with another woman. He was holding hands with her over the table. As soon as he spotted me, he dropped her hands like a hot potato. Fed me some bull about her being a work colleague and he was consoling her because she was upset that her cat died.” He rolls his eyes. “I didn’t buy it. I asked him outright if he was having an affair, and he denied it to my face, but I sensed it was a lie.” His tongue darts out, wetting the small cut on his lip. “I thought of telling Mom, but I hadn’t seen enough. I didn’t want to upset her if I was wrong. I watched him more carefully after that, but he must’ve taken extra precautions. I never saw anything again, but I always suspected. Poor Mom. She didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”
“He was a shitty husband, but he wasn’t a sex trafficker,” Jase says.
“No, he wasn’t.” Chad sits up a little straighter, moving his body in slow careful motions. “I’m going to make amends with Hera,” he promises, looking me straight in the eye. “Now I know why she did it, I can’t continue to hold it over her. Losing a child in that way must make you desperate, and I understand it better now.” He scrubs a hand down his face. “You care for her, and I want to patch things up.”
He really seems sincere about turning over a new page and I’m thrilled. Not just because it will make my life easier. Harboring all that hatred and guilt and anger was consuming him. He needs to let it go for his own sake.
“She’s overseas right now, but I’m sure she’ll love that, Chad. She has never held anything against you.”
Turning sideways, he takes both my hands in his. “I’m sorry about your dad, Ash. Poor Hera. I bet she’s devastated.” His eyes widen, and his face floods with alarm. “They were carrying you out of the ambulance! And you got shot! Shit! I can’t believe I forgot that!”
I can. He was drugged repeatedly from that moment until last night, and he’s been abused and assaulted. It’s no wonder his brain is scrambled.
“Are you okay?” His frantic gaze roams over me, checking me for injuries. “What happened? Where did they take you, and what did they want?” It’s as if a light bulb has just gone off in his head, and he’s remembering everything.
Panic jumps up and bites me. We had hoped he didn’t see all that or wouldn’t remember. I know Ares did, but he felt sure Chad was unconscious before that went down. I guess he was wrong. Looking over my shoulder at Jase, I wonder how the fuck we can explain it. I don’t find the answer on Jase’s face. He looks as unsure as me.
Forcing my panic aside, I turn around and face Chad, purposely only answering one of his questions. “I’m fine. I had a concussion, but I’m okay now.” With everything going on, I haven’t had the time to feel any pain. Apart from conking out the second my head hits the pillow at night, I haven’t felt the aftereffects of my injury. I pop some pills daily that conceal any lingering aches in my hips and my legs from the fall. I was lucky the bullet only grazed me slightly. I lift my hair. “I still have a mark here, but it’s healing well.”
The panic eases on Chad’s face, quickly replaced by fear. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
“We have told you as much as we can for now. In a few weeks, we’ll be able to tell you more,” Jase says. Chad opens his mouth, and Jase raises his hands. “Please, buddy. If we could tell you, we would. We need you to trust us.”
It’s a tall order. Especially when we’ve agreed there will be no more secrets. But this is about keeping Chad protected until it’s safe to tell him.
“This is about The Luminaries, right?”
My mouth falls open, and I hear Jase suck in a gasp. “What?” I stutter. “Where did you hear that?”
His mouth purses. “Madame X. That bitch who kidnapped me,” he clarifies. “She had no intention of letting me go, so I guess she thought it was safe to spill her guts while she was abusing me.” A muscle pops in his jaw as he drills us with a look. “I know it all. I know who you all are and what’s expected of you.”
ChapterThirty-One
Ashley
Cleo Carter just signed her own death warrant. That’s what I’m thinking as Chad tells us everything she blurted to him. He knows it all. What the Luminary society is, the current structure of Luminaries, masters, experts, and grunts, and how it came to be. He knows each of the four families—the current Luminaries, their heirs, and their areas of responsibility, and he knows about initiations and the tasks Jase and I have to uphold as part of our commitments.
She blabbed it all.
And now she’s going to pay for it.
“Rhett either lied to us or lied to her.” Jase looks as shell-shocked as I feel when Chad finishes talking.
“She hates him,” Chad adds while smothering a yawn. “She knows he cheats on her, and she’s mad.”
I scoff. “They all do. Not sure why she’s so mad when it’s the norm.”
“With that generation.” Jase holds me tighter as he dots kisses into my hair. “Not with ours. Not withme.” He drills me with a pointed look, making sure I understand the promise behind the words.
I wasn’t worried. I already knew he’d be faithful to me.
“That’s one of the first things we will insist is upheld when we’re in control,” he says.
“Thank fuck, our responsibilities will change after we’re married and in charge of the Sloth Luminary. I don’t know how your mother has put up with the things your father has to do.”
