"Please," I whisper, and she steels herself before turning to face me.
"I'm sorry," she says again, her eyes welling when they finally hold on to mine.
"For what?" I shrug. "You have no more control over who your parents are than anyone."
She sniffs.
"I should've told you sooner."
"Maybe," I relent, "but you're telling us now, and I'm glad you did."
"You are?"
My stomach twists, and I swallow back the bile trying to rise in my throat, squeezing her hand tighter to stop the tremble from showing in my own.
"I am. Right now, it's important for you to know that I don't give two fucks if you're biologically related to him, but what does matter—what Idocare about—is how that affects you. How knowing this affects how you feel about us. And…abouthim."
My skin itches, and my throat is dry as I push the words out.
"It would be completely normal for you to…" I choke on the words. On the bile in my throat. "For you to feela connectionwith him, and if this changes?—"
"No," she says firmly, gripping my hand back with the same tenacity that I'm holding hers. "I mean,yes, of course, if he were anyone else,maybe, but this is the man who betrayed your family, who stole from you, and held you captive andhurtyou. He's the man who almost had you killed in Paris. His menshotSeven. They'd do worse—he'ddo worse if he ever got his hands on any of you. I could never have that sort of connection with anyone who would want you dead."
She isn't going to leave us…
The sick roiling in my stomach recedes enough for me to relax some of the tension in my shoulders.
"But what about you?" she asks. "I'm the daughter of the man who broke your family. Can you actually accept that? Acceptme?"
I use my grip on her hand to pull her right out of her seat and onto my lap, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face against her chest.
"You accepted my scars, Angel. What kind of man would I be if I couldn't accept yours?"
And I know it when she trembles in my arms and holds me back just as tightly. I love this woman.
Iloveher.
I love her, and I am not willing to lose her. Not for anything. Not for the return of my family's legacy. Not for pride.
And definitely not for vengeance.
I hope my brothers feel the same.
43
TRICK OR TREAT
AURORA
How is it Friday already?
"Happy Halloween," Seven mumbles against my hair as he wakes.
I groan, rolling over in my bed to face him. Glad he snuck in for my last night at home.
"But that means I have to leave."
"What if you didn't?"
