Page 77 of Hide Little Traitor

“You poured both things for me,” I remind him. “Is this what the future looks like? You criticizing every gram of sugar I consume?”

A smile tugs at his lips, and I realize what I said. Future. A thing I haven’t let myself consider in such a long time. Living life on the run isn’t conducive to a full life, and yet somehow, in such a short time, I’ve allowed myself to think about what the rest of my life could look like.

With them.

“It’s okay, Sparrow. I’ll make sure you’re sugared up each day.” Ronan grins, giving my thigh a squeeze beneath the table.

Metal clinks loudly, and I glance up to see Damon clutching the bench like it’s the only thing stopping himself from launching over it.

“Thanks, Ro.” I lean over and kiss his cheek.

It’s a shitty thing to do, pushing Damon like this. But after years of cruelty, years of insults and jabs, it feels a little too good to finally get some revenge.

A door opens on the other side of the cabin, and I turn to see Kingston step out of the room with his coat on. His eyes scan the room, noting Ronan’s hand on my bare thigh and the shirt that belongs to him still hanging from my body, before he sucks in a breath and steps toward the door.

“Ronan, you’re with me today.”

“Where are we going?” he asks, pushing himself to his feet slowly.

“You’re not planning on killing him, are you, boss?” Ryker asks. “I only ask because my siren is attached to him, and I’d rather you didn’t upset her when she finally has a real smile on her face.”

We each turn to him in surprise. Tears gather at the corners of my eyes, but not because I’m upset. It’s because he noticed that all the smiles I used to give were a farce, and for the first time since I escaped the cellar when I was eighteen, my smiles are real.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

RONAN

NOW

This is weird.

There’s no other way to describe being alone with your godfather after almost two decades. All of which I spent hating him for taking my mom away, something I’m no longer confident is the full truth.

I wasn’t old enough when the accident happened to understand the gravity of what Dad was telling us, and after he lost his mind when Mom asked for King not long after the accident, I knew better than to ask any questions.

But the one thing that never made sense to me was that she always kept a photo of them beside her bed, even though it drove Dad mad.

If he were responsible for her accident, would she want that reminder beside her while she slept each night, even if she had lost her sight?

It never sat right with me, but questioning Dad only ever ended one way, and I learned quickly that I was better off accepting whatever he told me as gospel.

He’s in the driver’s seat as we make our way to a town an hour away from the cabin. He was kind of vague about what we were doing, but I’m pretty sure he’s not using this as an excuse to kill me.

“Was it you I spoke to when I called Hawk Security looking for Chloe?” I ask after forty minutes of silence.

It didn’t click until I had Chloe fast asleep in my arms this morning, but now I have to know if my suspicions are true.

“It was. I knew you’d call eventually, and I wanted to give you what little peace of mind I could.” He glances over the SUV that appeared out of nowhere this morning, his dark eyes open and unguarded. “I wanted to believe that you had nothing to do with what happened to her, but I couldn’t take the chance. So I gave you what I could at the time.”

“Why didn’t you tell me she lost the baby?”

“It wasn’t my place to give you that information. I honestly thought Chloe would find a way to reach out eventually, to let you know what happened. But she was scared.”

I nod. Now that I’m able to look at everything with a clear head, I can understand why she never contacted me. It would have been a risk, and putting herself back on Dad’s radar would have been the last thing she wanted to do.

“Thank you for taking care of her through all of that.” I swallow down the emotion that tries to push to the surface. “I would have given anything to be there for her, but I’m just glad she wasn’t going through it alone.”

“It was my privilege to hold her through those days.” His voice is thick, and I don’t miss the way his eyes glisten.