“I don’t think so. I told her my name was Langford back then. She knows me as Brax now. I don’t think she’s put together my last name is different from Brodie’s. And besides, I look nothing like I did at seventeen.”
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
“Because,” he groans, rubbing both hands over his face, “there are more important things happening than what my fucking last name is.”
“Like what, Brax?”
He lifts his head and looks at me. “Her parents are connected to The Octopus, Chase.”
Every ounce of blood drains from my face.
“The Octopus was there the night her dad was shot,” Brax says quietly. “She never saw his face, just the tattoo. I showed her a picture, and she confirmed that’s what she saw.”
My whole world tilts. I’m frozen, unable to think, move, breathe.
How is this even possible?
“Erin told me someone came for her,” I whisper. “But she didn’t tell me you told her it was The Octopus. Why didn’tyou?”
“I’ve been trying to piece this together so she could come to you herself. She wanted to understand what she’d be telling you. And I wanted to honor her privacy. I could have told you. It would’ve been easy.”
“But it wasn’t your place,” I say quietly.
“It wasn’t but it’s more than that.” Brax leans forward. “Erin’s whole life has been controlled and shaped by the actions of her mother. You know that. I wasn’t going to be another person who took what little control she’d fought to have.”
“But I already knew, Brax,” I argue.
“No,” he says flatly. “You knowofThe Octopus. You didn’t know he and Erin had crossed paths. You didn’t know her parents knew him. The same way Erin doesn’t know thatyouknow about The Octopus because of your brother and Laurel.”
The truth slams into me from all angles. I wasn’t honest with Erin, either.
“If I told you everything first,” Brax says, “it would’ve shoved Erin back into the box she’s been trying to claw her way out of.She was going to tell you.” He holds my gaze. “But be honest with yourself, if you were in her shoes, would you have shared what you knew?”
I sigh. “Not unless I had to.”
My hands shake. My eyes burn.
“This can’t be happening,” I mutter.
“What are you afraid of?” Brax asks.
“I’m scared that if I tell her Elliot and Laurel were involved with The Octopus, she’ll find a way to blame herself. And she’ll run. She’ll run as far from my life as she can, thinking she’s bad for me.” My voice trembles with the truth, spilling out before I can hold it back. “I can’t lose her, Brax. I love her so fucking much.”
The rawness surrounds me, and it doesn’t take long for that terrified streak to surge through me from start to finish all over again.
“This thing with Elliot and Laurel is already complicated enough. I didn’t want it anywhere near her. I didn’t want her to be tainted by any of this. I thought I could balance it. Protect her.” I shake my head. “Erin has worked so hard to untangle herself from her mother. If Clarissa Rose is tied to The Octopus—if both of them are part of whatever Elliot and Laurel got caught up in—I don’t want Erin carrying that weight.”
“Don’t spiral,” Brax demands. “I get you’re scared, but you have to trust she loves you enough to stay. If you don’t know by now that she’d walk through fucking fire for you, then you don’t deserve her.”
His bluntness lands exactly the way he intends it to.
He’s right.
I close my eyes and force my lungs to work.
I wanted to open that locked door.
I just never imagined all ofthiswould be behind it.
