“Oh, please, yes,” he replies. “Do that while you’re riding my cock.”
I smack his shoulder.
“We need to talk,” he says suddenly.
The shift in his tone wipes the amusement from my face. We’ve both been keeping things buried for too long.
I know it.
He knows it.
But before either of us can say anything else, the door bursts open.
My sister rushes in first, Arlo close behind her. She’s crying.
Adelaide follows with Isaak, who leans against the wall with his arms crossed. Then Ido steps in with Eleanor, and Piper arrives with Hunter.
Hunter goes straight to Milo and claps him on the shoulder way too hard.
“Don’t fucking hurt him,” I snap.
Hunter smirks at me. “He’ll survive.” He looks down at Milo. “Glad you didn’t die.”
“How very kind of you,” Milo mutters.
Isaak gives Milo a brief nod. He hasn’t really left the hospital, he and Adelaide have been coming and going constantly.
Adelaide meets my eyes and gives me a small smile.
What she did months ago was unforgivable.
But I understand it now in a way I didn’t before. I don’t agree with how she chose to handle it, but I understand.
It’s her story to tell, not mine. And if nothing else, it made me realise that we are all fighting battles no one else fully sees.
I return the smile.
Piper is the next to reach me. Her freckles are more visible on her flushed cheeks. I hold her tightly for a moment.
Eleanor hovers at the back, her eyes distant and unfocused. Ido watches her closely, never taking his eyes off her.
My sister almost throws herself at me.
She hugs me so tightly my ribs protest, but I don’t say a word.
She’s crying properly now.
“Look at you,” she says through tears. “So hurt. I knew something was wrong when you stopped visiting and calling. I could feel it.”
She studies my face. “But I won’t push,” she adds quickly, wiping at her eyes.
My sister doesn’t know aboutDeath, and I hope she never finds out.
Adelaide told me she has been answering her messages while I was kidnapped, and I am grateful beyond words that my sister and my mother were spared the agony of thinking I was dead.
I despise hiding the truth from her, but if it protects her, so be it.
She knows I am meant to take over when father steps down, yet she has never wanted the details of what that truly entails, and I am thankful for that.
