Page 132 of Make You Mine

He’s right. It isn’t. And what he’s telling me gives me enough evidence to convict him. I mean, he confessed he did it. He killed Joseph and Lucien.

Part of me wants to run away, escape the danger he endorses. Call the police. Leave everything behind.

Except I can’t.

Because it’s Kayden, my Kayden. And he doesn’t look okay. He needs me; I need to listen.

He seemed confused after I called out his name, after I saw it was him behind the mask. And I don’t understand why. It’s as if he were in a trance all along, someone else wearing his skin.

I have to admit, the fact that it’s been Kayden and not someone else settles something in my stomach. It soothes me and angers me at the same time.

Part of me wanted it to be him, for him to be so twistedly obsessed with me that he would do something as wicked. That he’d reciprocate my feelings. It’s exactly what I wanted. Not have to choose between these two sides of him that I seem to have fallen for.

On the other hand, I wanted to be saved from my own constant thoughts about my stepbrother. To have someone who’d break the spell, the hold he’s had on me since I first met him.

“So, yeah.” Kayden presses his hands together and leans closer to me, pulling the chair forward. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything. I want the root of all. The beginning.” The origin of the name that’s tattooed on my skin still. “Who the fuck is Devon?”

“Shit.” He coughs, pressing a fist to cover his mouth. “You’re not going to like this.”

“Is it worse than you chasing me around the school with a knife and then fucking me against the copy machine?”

“Fuck. When you put it that way…” He swallows. “Devon was my brother.”

It dwells on me, the paraphrasing of his words. “Was as in…”

“He’s dead.”

Oh…He must have died before our parents met. Neither Lucas nor my mother ever mentioned anything. Did she know?

“I’m so sorry.” It’s the only thing I can offer.

I can never compare the pain of losing someone that way to the pain that I felt. Even if I did lose someone. My father chose not to be a part of my life. He isn’t dead—he’s just dead to me.

“I can’t even imagine how painful that⁠—”

“I killed him.”

I choke on my words. “W-what?”

He clears his throat. “Do you regret asking, sis? Knowing I’ve done more damage than you knew? Another body on the pile?”

My chest tightens. “K-Kayden…that’s not…”

“Do you want to run away from me yet? The door is open. I won’t blame you.”

“No.” The words slip out of my lips with ease, surprising me.

I’m sure he has a good explanation for this. I didn’t know his brother.

It makes sense why he wouldn’t ever mention him.

“No one else knows about this, Maddy.”

He doesn’t look at me as he speaks, as if he’s not proud of this. As if he’s afraid of judgment. Which given the situation, and what he just confessed, feels adequate.

“Except my father, and that’s because he guessed. But his memory is fucked up, so I guess that leaves you and me now. When I was fifteen years old, a year before we met, I found my twin brother with the girl I loved. He knew I liked her and that I was going to confess my feelings for her, so he stole her from me. I was furious. I don’t remember the details or how it happened with clarity. But something took over me.”