“No, it’s not, sweetheart.” She shushes Jessica, smoothing back her hair. Emily still holds onto Jessica from behind and looks up at Sixes, whose brow furrows with worry.
Jessica whispers, “It is! Because I killed Boris.”
My mother pulls back. “What?”
She swipes at her nose, hiccupping. Lightning flashes outside the conference room window, followed by a thunderous boom. “I killed Boris,” she whimpers.
A series of images plays in my head, like a movie on fast forward, of Boris grabbing her in the kitchen, dragging her away with warnings that he would kill all of us in our sleep. He attacked her, tried to rape her. She fought back with everything she had, and Shadow appeared, slamming his fist over and over into Boris’s face. Boris pulled a gun, and Jessica struck him with lightning right through the center of his chest.
My mother’s hands float up to her mouth. “Oh, Jessica.” She turns toward my father. “Nathan,” she breathes in horror.
My father’s gaze drops to the table. “Anders, you didn’t tell me.”
Anders stares down at Jessica. “What did he do with the body?” he asks.
She shakes her head. “I?—”
“He brought me to the body he hid in the forest, and I incinerated it until it was nothing but ashes,” Liam says next to me. “It was the night of the guard ball, right before I left for the airport.”
“You knew?” I ask Liam, incredulous.
“He didn’t tell me what happened, but I put two and two together, especially when I found her that night returning to the mansion.”
“You kept that to yourself?” Elias snaps.
Liam gazes at the table but doesn’t answer.
Sodie interjects, “She didn’t want anyone to know. She was scared.”
“You knew something was wrong and didn’t say anything?” Chris retorts.
Justin adds from the doorway of the conference room, “She didn’t want anyone to know because she was scared she would be sent away if you knew she killed someone, even if it was an accident or in self-defense.”
“That doesn’t matter right now. We need to figure out what to do about Byron Niles,” my father says, glaring at Anders.
Jessica wipes her face with her hands. “Trade me, for Shadow.”
My mother counters, “No. We arenotdoing that. I know you feel like this is your fault, but we are not trading you for Shadow. We will figure this out.”
Jessica maintains eye contact with Anders. “Trade me.” Her voice cracks.
His jaw clenches, and his eyes narrow. “We’re not discussing this. Girls, take her back to her room, and make sure she stays there!”
Chapter 64
The True Spy
LIAM
Six Years Ago
Chris paces in front of the large screen in the conference room. “Play it again. Can you slow it down?” We’ve watched the video call over and over for the past hour and a half.
The Alpha King and Anders left the conference room probably to have a very heated discussion. Elias went with them to mediate, but he looked just as pissed off as the other two.
Shakti left briefly with Jessica but returned with Emily.
Emily whispers to me, “Aunt Tater is with Jessica, and Sixes went to see what the Knight twins are doing with the recruits and their new magic abilities.”
