She buried her face in his shoulder. Bryson knew people. He was smarter than that. Adria just couldn’t understand what it was that motivated him.
His fingers curled around her face, and he pulled her chin to look at him.
“Is that what you think? That she tricked me?” he said, sincerity written all over his face.
“It’s not your fault,” Adria said. “I brought us there. I didn’t know.”
How could she have guessed the depraved lengths her mother would go to get a seat at the Nine?
“Your mother didn’t trick me. I could see her plan to get rid of me from a mile away,” Bryson said.
“Then why leave? Why play into her hands?”
Bryson stared out at the city skyline. “When I was talking to her—the night before we left—I saw it more clearly than I ever had.”
He turned to her. “She only cares about herself. And I tried, Dri, I really tried, to find some shred that showed me that she was doing something, anything, for you. But there wasn’t anything to find.”
Adria’s heart squeezed. “Some family we both have, huh?”
Bryson put his hands on her waist, pulling her into him, resting his forehead against hers. “I wanted to tell you. But I couldn’t. Right or wrong, I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to break that bubble you had created. But I knew that there was one thing I could do.”
“What?” Adria said, taking in his jawline. Following the contours until she found the tattoo on his neck. The one he had put there, marking him as hers.
“I—we—could show you what a real family was. The opposite of our parents. I could show you that a real family sacrifices for each other. Protects one another. And makes space.”
Adria could feel her body tremble. “You could have died.”
His lip twitched. “I’m not going to lie, I hoped you would save me. But I knew Seth and Kaydon were in good hands. And if I had to die to keep you three safe, I would—still would.”
“So would I,” she said.
“I love you, Adria,” Bryson said.
Adria found his lips and pressed into them with her own. Feeling his hands wrap firmly around her, she knew that everything was going to change.
The world they had known. The world their parents had shaped was about to be different.
They were going to be different.
And it all started and ended with them. Because their past was just that.
The past.
It shaped them, but it didn’t define them.
And from this point on, they made their own futures.
CHAPTER 74
NORTH CAROLINA-4 MONTHS LATER
Kaydon chased Adria into their bedroom. She kicked off her shoes. Bryson was hot on her heels as he looped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the floor. Adria squealed when he tossed her onto the bed—her laugh sent a thrill through Kaydon. Seth flopped in beside them, and Kaydon smiled as he vaulted forward and landed on the pile.
“Oof! Kay, you’re heavy,” Seth grunted as he pushed up against Kaydon’s chest.
Kaydon wriggled closer and playfully licked the side of Seth’s neck. They’d just returned from a job.
“Disappointed we didn’t kill anyone, Killer?” Kaydon teased.
