“Call me Atreus,” Atreus says.
“Whatever,” Levi barks back. “Don’t touch my sister.”
“He can touch me when I say he can,” I rebuke. “No one decides for me.”
“This is a joke, right?” Dad growls, pointing at Atreus. “A Foley?”
“Yup,” I reply. “And there ain’t nothing you’re gonna do about it.”
“What if I forbid it?”
Kai snorts. “Good luck. She’s just as unstoppable as her mother.”
“Fucking really?” my uncle growls. “Anyone but a fucking Foley.”
“Do not bring your personal feud into this,” I warn him.
He rubs his eyes. “Whatever.”
“I didn’t ask for permission. Not from any of you. But I do need you to accept that we’re a quartet now,” I say, putting my arms around my boys. “For better or worse.”
“Well, well, you got roped in too, bro?” Heath says, winking at his half brother. “Nicely done.”
“That’ll be the end of him,” Apollo says, flexing his muscles. “Want me to save your ass?”
“I’m right where I want to be,” Orion replies.
“He likes the pain,” I say.
“TMI,” Cecelia responds, averting her gaze.
“Wait, so you’re only fucking them from now on?” Elliot asks. “I thought you were a ho.”
“I’m still a ho, I just choose to be a monogamous ho,” I quip, throwing him a look.
“I’m impressed, Xav, not gonna lie,” Aspen says, winking at her brother.
“But why them?” Silas asks.
“Because they helped me get through the toughest time in my life,” I say, swallowing away the lump in my throat. “I couldn’t tell anyone this before because it was too fresh, too personal. Back when I was in the hospital, the doctor wanted to speak in private about my condition.”
“I remember,” Mom mutters.
“Those men I killed, the ones Foley wanted to arrest me for … they took away my ability to ever have children.”
The whole room has gone quiet, and I think the only audible sound is my own heartbeat pounding in my rib cage, trying to jump ship. But it’s now or never.
“So I had my revenge.”
Mom immediately jumps up from the couch and runs to me, wrapping her arms around me so tightly the tears spring to my eyes. We’ve hugged … but not like this. She’s never hugged me this intensely before. And it moves me in a way that it’s almost impossible to breathe through it.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she whispers.
“It’s not,” I whisper back. “They broke me.”
“God, I wish I’d known sooner, I would’ve helped you get your revenge,” she says, clenching her jaw as she pulls me back to look at me. “You shouldn’t have gone through this all alone.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I say, smiling as I nod at my boys. “They helped me.”
