They don’t know.Relaxing slightly, I shrug. “Here mostly. We could have simply run away from our foster family. As you said, the system is corrupt. Sometimes, they give teens to people who have no business having them.”
“The Fieldings had male teens,” Harlan presses.
I give him a long, measured glance, waiting for things to click.
“Why would we run away if things were good?” I ask, rolling my eyes.
Isidro is the first to understand, and smacks Harlan over the head.
“Think,amor,” he growls.
Harlan’s eyes grow wide as he curses, and I refuse to look at Syrus. What if he thinks differently about me?
“Hey,” Syrus grunts. “Eyes on me, Spitfire.”
Blinking, I give him what he wants until he sees whatever he needs to.
“Good girl. Please continue,” he murmurs.
Kyren purses his lips as if he doesn’t like what Syrus said, but that’s too damn bad. Whatever he might think, whatever might happen next, I don’t belong to him.
I belong to myself.
“What happened in that house?” Harlan asks, swallowing hard.
Resting my arms over the top of the chair, I shrug. “Luke and Brad were lowlifes that were used to being given everything they could ever want. It never made sense to me why their parents always turned a blind eye to things.”
“Silva,” Harlan bites out. “What the fuck happened?”
“She doesn’t owe you her story,” Syrus tells him. “I can punch you all day long. Please don’t tempt me.”
I can’t help the small smile I offer him, though it’s unamused.
“I did what I had to, Harlan. The first night we were at the Fieldings, I overheard Luke say that he wanted to rape my sister. Instead, I offered myself in her place,” I explain. “There was no other choice for me.”
Syrus squats where he is, and I expect it’s to keep himself from falling. He takes a deep breath, his eyes on me the entire time, somehow focused on giving me strength.
“For how long?” Kyren asks, his good ole boy accent gone as he swallows hard. Syrus is right, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t with them.
“Roughly three years,” I say. “Lexi and I both presented as omegas, and the brothers decided they couldn’t be happy with just abusing one sister. When I found out, I made plans to run. We weren’t out for long when someone found us.”
“Who?” Isidro asks.
“Someone who knows how to make people disappear,” I rasp out. “Fuck, I need a drink.”
Standing, I walk over to the bar and reach for a bottle of whiskey. Grabbing a shot glass because I’m not planning to damage out the entire bottle, I pour out a drink and shotgun it.
“Silva, I can’t help you if you won’t give me more,” Isidro says, coming over to grab my arm.
I glare at him over my shoulder, ignoring the way he freezes as his nostrils flare. Yeah, yeah. I smell like almost nothing. It’s confusing, isn’t it, asshole.
Ugh, talking about this stuff almost puts me in the worst mood.
“I don’t need help,” I say, shrugging him off. “We got out. We have the town, and they’re not coming back for us.”
“Who?!” Kyren yells. “We’ve been looking for you for years, Silva. It’s become an obsession at this point. Harlan and his brother keep coming back to you two: the twins who got away. The least you can do is tell him everything.”
“Did I ask for your obsession? No,” I state, leaning against the bar. I ignore Isidro, knowing that I can get to my stun gun if necessary. “I’ve been the unhealthy obsession of too many alphas, and it’s frankly exhausting. I like my quiet life.”
