Valen squeezes me once, and when I lift my head, he takes a long beat to scan my eyes before standing and opening the door.
Grant, Chief, and Sterling file in, each more grim than the last. Chase follows, carrying a duffel bag that clanks when he sets it down.
“Weapons,” he says with an apologetic shrug when I frown. “Just in case.”
Just in case.
Because everyone is aware that Terra could burst through the door at any moment.
Maybe she will.
Roman enters last with a tablet in hand. “The perimeter’s secure. I’ve got eyes on all entrances.” He looks up, and whatever he finds in my expression has him softening his militant stance. “We’re as safe as we can be for tonight.”
“What about tomorrow?” Though it’s not intentional, the eerie, detached tone of my youth is back. “Or the day after that. She’s proved she can get to us anywhere. Anytime. How is she doing this?”
“That’s what we need to talk about,” Grant says. He pulls over the room’s single chair, spins it around, and straddles it backward with his arms folded over the back. It’s so unlike the stoic Grant I’ve been getting to know that it throws me sideways.
Is he trying to appear relaxed? In control? I think I like his bossy big brother energy better.
The others arrange themselves around the room while I ponder Grant.
Valen sits down next to me. Giving up control must be hard for him. He’s spent his life planning and executing these types of missions. I can’t imagine being on the receiving end is easy for him.
“What did you find?” Valen asks.
Grant removes his phone from his pocket, then hesitates as he stares at something.
My internal tremors ratchet up to a level eight earthquake.
“What is it?” Valen is good at masking his emotions, but even he’s struggling to control his tone.
“I’ve been going through Mom’s files for the last few months. The…” He glances up, but his eyes are cloudy with emotion. “The encrypted ones I don’t think she intended for us to find. That’s how we found Clover. There’s—” He’s holding back. Is he scared? “There’s a lot we didn’t know about her.”
“Besides the ability to fake Terra’s death and then imprison her?” I still can’t wrap my head around that. How does a banking heiress have the wherewithal to accomplish something like that?
She would’ve made a badass heroine.
“That’s part of it.” Grant casts his weary gaze in Valen’s direction. “But it’s more…complicated than that. Mom wasn’t just a businesswoman. She used her wealth, her connections, to dig into a world she simultaneously attempted to shield us from. That’s how she was able to save you both from ROS.”
I’m angry. Livid. Pissed off at the unfairness of it all. Who would I have been if I wasn’t brought up by the cruelest hands?
Would I be as brave as Valen? As playful as Chase?
What’s stopping me now?
“What world?” I ask.
“Our mom grew up with your parents, Clover.” Grant’s choosing his words too carefully. “Your dad’s family ran…programs for women and children… Victims. Survivors. That’s what ROS started out as. We think your parents were there to shut her down when they died, because Terra had already turned ROS into something…corrupt. From what we can tell so far, your parents death allowed Terra to continue operating ROS however she saw fit because the funding for it came from a trust.”
“How did Terra even get connected with ROS in the first place?” Valen asks.
“From what we can piece together,” Sterling says, “Terra connected to ROS through her stepfamily.”
“What family?” Valen croaks. He didn’t know anything about his mother’s past when he knew her. He probably knows even less now.
“The O’Connell family,” Grant says cautiously while staring at me as though it should mean something. When I don’t react, he frowns. “Clover, do you know who Calla was?”
My heart riots as though my body is under siege. “Terra said—she said it was me—but I don’t know.”
