“Got it!”

  Kash was at my side, phone in hand. He read it off to whoever was on the other side.

  “It’ll take a little bit of time, but I can turn off his security program. Or at least get the codes, if they need them.”

  Kash gave me a look, saying into the phone, “Yes, Detective. You can reach me at this number. Thank you.” He put the phone away and doubled his look. “An officer of the law just heard you offering to illegally hack a security system.”

  Oh.

  Not good.

  “Oops.”

  He shook his head, exasperated, but bent and kissed my forehead. “Only you. Only you.” I heard the amusement from him, and that lessened some of the anxiety in me.

  We waited another twenty minutes before a nurse came to show Quinn and Peter to Matt’s room. I wanted to point out that Matt wouldn’t have wanted Quinn in there. If he had a choice, I would’ve been the female he would’ve preferred, but Kash just gave me the signal to keep quiet. He held back, then said he was going to seek out the doctor again.

  He wanted to check one more thing.

  Torie had been waiting with us until then. Kash told her she could go and she did, saying good-bye to me and letting me know I could call on her for anything. I appreciated that. I did. She’d become a quick friend, and at this point, I was being loose in my classification of friend. She was it, for the moment.

  It was an hour later when we were told that Matt’s prognosis was good, better than good. We could all go home and let Matt sleep the night through.

  As soon as we got the report, exhaustion hit hard.

  That was when we heard the shouting. Kash was walking with me, down a hallway. At the same time, Peter and Quinn were just coming off an elevator. They saw us. There was no surprise, so they must have planned to leave with Kash and me.

  But then a stairway door burst open and I heard, “I am going to see my daughter whether you want me to or not! She’s mine! I saw her on the news, heard the story, and this hospital is the closest to that club where patients would be sent. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’s here, and I know she is. Call it mother’s intuition.”

  A blond head was walking into the hallway, talking to two hospital staff behind her. Another nurse was behind them, looking aggrieved, and from down the hallway, hospital security was heading our way.

  Then that blond ball of fury looked my way, and I swear I could see steam rising from Chrissy Hayes’s head.

  “There you are!”

  My mother had arrived.

  FORTY-FIVE

  Chrissy Hayes hadn’t arrived. It was Christina Kathryn Hayes, and she wasn’t messing around.

  I was lectured on the way out of the hospital. I was lectured in the car ride back to the estate. I was lectured as she followed me into Kash’s villa, only pausing once to comment on how breathtaking the home was. She avoided looking at the mausoleum, even sniffing and wrinkling her nose, but she hadn’t paused in her lectures.

  Not one word. Not a beat. She never missed one.

  She kept on even after Kash returned from talking to Peter.

  He sat on the couch. Chrissy didn’t stop.

  I was an imbecile.

  I wasn’t thinking.

  I was being ruled by childhood hopes and dreams.

  I was being selfish.

  I hadn’t been thinking. That was a favorite of hers. I heard it sixteen times. Yes, I started counting.

  How could I have done this to her?

  Hadn’t I known better?

  She birthed me. She hadn’t needed to do that. She could’ve kept me in her stomach for all of eternity. I ought to be grateful I was pushed out of her vagina. What a wonderful vag she had. I had ruined it, for a couple years. It was never the same.

  What would my grandpa and grandma think? Had I thought about the other family? My cousins were missing me. (I was pretty sure they had no idea I’d been gone.) Apparently, Cousin June got married and everyone wondered where I was. She was humiliated. (She didn’t know that I knew Cousin June went to Guatemala on a mission trip.) I had missed the county fair. I never missed the county fair. (I missed it all the time.) I had missed bingo at the VFW. I wasn’t around to be the caller for the nursing home bingo tournament. (All not true. I never went to them in the first place. Elderly playing bingo were scary. Mistakes were for the weak.)

  There were bake sales.

  There were football games. (Football hadn’t started.)

  There were basketball tournaments.

  Softball. Baseball. Every single sport imaginable that I had never participated in, watched, or followed. I missed them all this past summer.

  A pinball something. She didn’t know what it was, but I missed it.

  The words should’ve been hurtful, but I knew she didn’t mean them. She was hurt and she’d been scared and she was rambling until she could deal enough to really talk to me. Everything else: air. Just air.

  Kash listened to it for a while, waiting for a break so he could introduce himself. There was none. After an hour, I signaled that he could go to bed. His relief almost had me going with him, because I wasn’t relieved. I was envious. If I’d gone with him, Chrissy would have just brushed her teeth, still talking, changed into her pajamas, still yelling from the bathroom, and then crawled into bed with us.

  She would have. That was no exaggeration.

  Kash came back out from the bedroom in pajama pants and a white shirt. He bent down, kissed me lightly, the mint smell from his toothpaste lingering, and murmured, “You going to be okay?”

  “Save me now.”

  He chuckled, though we both knew I wasn’t joking. Running a hand down my hair, he asked, “Want me to stay?”

  I did, but I knew he had things to do in the morning, and since Chrissy was still talking, I knew she wasn’t going to end until she passed out. That could be four … tomorrow afternoon.

  I shook my head, my shoulders slumping. “Nah. I’ll probably pass out while she’s talking. It’ll be fine.”

  “You sure?”

  He was wonderful. I held his hand and nodded again. “I am.”

  Another kiss, another hand smoothing down my hair, before he headed up the stairs to my room. We had been using my room all this time because he had crawled into mine. I hadn’t gone to bed in his. Now I was thinking that was foolish.

  “Kash.”

  He paused on the landing above us.

  “Let’s sleep in your room.” I motioned to my mom. “She can have mine.”

  “You sure?” He tilted his head to the side.

  “Yeah.” His bed was bigger. He was closer to the door, in case something happened. I was sure. And I wanted to curl up and snuggle in with sheets that held him, just him. His smell. His feel. His everything. My room wasn’t my room anymore.

  He came back down, mouthing “Come to bed when you can” as he passed by.

  As soon as his door shut, Chrissy stopped talking.

  My head whipped to hers. “You’re done?”

  Her eyes were on the room Kash had just disappeared into. She watched it for a second, then a new look found me. A determined look. A look that told me she wouldn’t be pacified, and I had better come clean about everything or I’d be grounded until I was sixty.

  “Is he your boyfriend?”

  That was a real question. Now we were starting. “What?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “He’s your boyfriend.”

  “Mom.” I shifted on the couch, tucking my knees against my chest.

  She added, ignoring me now, “You have a very hot boyfriend.”

  “Mom!”

  “Hot. Wealthy. Famous boyfriend.” She looked at me now. “He’s powerful.”

  I began rubbing at my forehead. “Mom.”

  “Not him.” She grunted, lifting a shoulder. “Well, him too. I was talking about his grandfather.”

  Oh God. I really wanted to disappear now.

  “Mom, please.” I was shaking my head. “Not now. Not after tonight.”

  “Why not now?” She leaned forward, her arms resting on her legs, her focus totally and completely on me. “Because your half brother is in the hospital from overdosing at that fancy dirty nightclub?”

  “Is that what the news is saying?”

  “They’re saying a rich, entitled boy took drugs at a nightclub and is in the hospital. He’s not the big news. It’s you and your boyfriend. Your boyfriend, mostly.”

  I looked down, hugging my knees tighter to me. I wanted a shield against this whole conversation. “He was poisoned.”

  She was quiet a beat. Then, “They know by who?”

  Crap. The answer confirmed the disdain that was dripping from her voice. I just shrugged. “They’re not sure yet.”

  She snorted a laugh. “Always knew when you were lying. Can’t pull one over on your mother.”

  “Really?” I shot upright, my feet straightening back to the floor, and I twisted around on the couch to face her more squarely. “You had no clue I was going. You were all excited about spending a free night in a lavish hotel.”

  “You’re right.” Her voice raised. “I was.” She shifted, so her body was facing me squarely. “I thought I raised you better!”

  I shot to my feet. “He knew about me.”

  Those crystal-blue eyes stopped, then closed.

  Her fight vanished. She seemed to shrink back into the couch.

  I kept on. “You made the decision to keep me away. Not him. Not me. You. And you lied about it all my life.”

  She cursed, soft and quiet, then stood up. “Let’s talk about this tomorrow.”

  I blocked her from leaving. “No way.”

  Then she threw at me, rearing back, “You think you know everything, but you’re wrong. All of this doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to be here. The kidnapping attempts aren’t real. It was all a hoax, an act to get you here.”

  What?

  There was a crazed look in her eye. Her hair was a little undone, more than normal. A vein was sticking out from her neck, pulsating at a rapid pace.

  I’d made my mom lose it.

  “Mom.” I had done this. I couldn’t believe I’d done this.

  I reached for her, but she turned away, her shoulder jerking back, rejecting my touch.

  “No.”

  She folded her arms over her chest, her back to me, and bent her head down. She was settling in. When she got this way, it was useless to try to reason with her. I would have needed a sledgehammer—the drink and the tool—to make any headway.

  I debated, and then decided. Screw it. I was going to try. I had to try.

  I said it all to her back. “The attempt was real.” I laid it all out to her. She hadn’t been in the room with the cops. She had no clue how bad it had been. I told her about the guy who was my ally. About the supposed rape. About Boots, Rafe, Clemin. About Arcane. I told her how I had yelled for Mrs. Johnson.

  I told her how scared I’d been.

  I told her that I couldn’t remember the whole night, and that was the only thing I couldn’t remember.

  I told her about the other attempts.

  I told her everything, all the sordid details, and she seemed to shrink into herself with each word I spoke.

  About my decision.

  About seeing Kash in the interrogation room, then the elevator.

  About leaving her that morning.

  About coming to this new and huge home.

  About meeting Cyclone, Seraphina, Matt. About Marie and Theresa. About seeing my father for the first time.

  I told her about the first day, the second, the third. I told her how I couldn’t go on a computer.

  All of it. I left nothing out, except the sex.

  And I ended by saying, softly, as I moved so I knew she could feel my words on her back, “And I’m pretty sure, not completely, but fairly certain, to a one-hundred-twenty-percent sure, that I’m falling in love with that boyfriend you mentioned.” A deep breath. A painful breath. And I released the rest. “And I’m terrified because, while my father ignores me and Matt lies to me, I don’t know how Kash can hurt me, but I know that if he does, he could shatter me. Shatter, Mom.”

  She turned then, big fat sobs rolling down her face.

  “Oh, honey. Come here.”

  And then I stepped into my mother’s arms, where I should’ve been the entire time.

  FORTY-SIX

  Chrissy was up before any of us the next morning. She marched over to the main house and had a word with Marie. Somehow, the two had a hashing out of sorts. Neither would tell me what they spoke about, but they did let Quinn and Peter know that my mother was staying.

  They didn’t ask. They informed.

  There were other words shared. I wasn’t allowed in on that conversation, but I got the gist of it later. Chrissy said it was for the parents. Quinn, Peter, my mother, and Marie were all included. Kash and I weren’t. Not that I was champing at the bit to get in there, but I knew they were talking about me.

  My mom had been not happy when I mentioned the part about Peter ignoring me, so I was guessing she wanted to deliver an ass chewing, and I was guessing Marie wanted to be witness to it.

  An hour later they came out and the decision was announced.

  My mother was here to stay.

  Quinn left moments after that for a charity meeting, and the other bit of business was next dealt with. Seraphina and Cyclone were told about my mother, and then about me. No one could have been prepared for their reactions. Cyclone started sprinting around, pumping his fists in the air, his head back, chanting, “Yes to the matriarchy!” Seraphina dissolved into tears.

  I’d been nervous about how they would react. Having a fun friend was one thing; having a sister was a whole different thing. At the first sight of Ser’s tears, I almost dropped to the floor. Kash grabbed my arm, holding me up until Seraphina had wiped enough tears aside and came to me. Those thin little arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and she buried her face into my side.

  Her words, though. Her words cemented everything.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her nose pressed into my shirt.

  “Honey.” I exchanged worried looks with the rest of the women in the room. Quinn was noticeably absent. No shock there, and something I knew my mom had noted, pressing her lips together.

  Unwinding Seraphina’s arms, I knelt down so we were face-to-face. Or closer to equal level, because now she towered over me. She’d had a recent growth spurt that I was just catching on to.

  “Ser? What are you sorry about?”

  “How you must’ve felt.” Her eyes were decidedly not looking at me. She was biting her lip. Her head folded low and she was bunching her shirtsleeve over her hand, tucking back some hair that wasn’t there. Her hair was perfectly swept back in a bun. Looked too tight for her head, to be honest.

  “Felt?”

  Her head lowered even more, almost falling to my shoulder. I could barely make out her next words.

  “Us not knowing. You … We love you already.” Her eyes lifted, meeting mine. Tears lined them. She was still whispering, but with renewed vigor. “You being our sister, now we can love you more. Should’ve loved you like that from the start. We didn’t know.” Her eyes fell to the ground again. Her voice hitched on a sob. “I’m sorry we didn’t know.”

  She felt bad for me, for them not knowing.

  Done. Everything was done for me then. I had fallen in love with my siblings before, but now I was even more in love. Chrissy and I were never leaving. School be damned. Well, not school and life in general, because I couldn’t only be here.

  She sniffled, and I promptly lost my resolve.

  I was never leaving this little girl’s side. Bring us bunk beds, because I was moving in. To infinity and beyond infinity.

  “Oh, Ser.” That’s all I could get out. A huge slobbering lump formed in my throat, blocking me from talking and doing anything else. I just gathered her close, and I didn’t think I could let her go. I managed to break out, “You loving me the way you’ve already been is more than enough. I’m not going anywhere.”

  We were both blubbering messes.

  Chrissy was wiping at her nose.

  Marie was blinking over and over again, then turning sharply to wheeze.

  The men … I had no clue what they were doing. Kash was in the room, behind me somewhere. Cyclone had quieted. And Peter was there too, but like all the other times, he was in the background and still being quiet. Since my mom had arrived he hadn’t looked at me, but why would I expect otherwise? Past behavior predicts the future. Well, future meet the same. He was being the same.

  Then Cyclone launched himself at Seraphina and me and the moment was done. He hugged us both, kissed us both on the cheeks, and tipped his head back again to yell out, “Pillow fight!”

  And it was on.

  Whack!

  He got Marie right in the face.

  Chrissy went for him, a pillow in hand. Seraphina was giggling, shrieking, trying to help Marie get him back. When they began advancing on Kash, he gave them a look, arched an eyebrow, and they took off.

  We could hear Cyclone yelling down the hallway, “Theresa! We’re coming for you!”

  Seraphina was still giggling right with him.

  I looked up, but Peter had disappeared.

  Chrissy saw, too, and I swear, if she’d been holding a balloon, it would’ve deflated from disappointment. Marie took it all in, then slapped her hands to her legs. “Right. Okay.” She said to my mother, “You come with me. We’ll find you a room on the estate somewhere.”

  And that was that.

  Kash and I went to visit Matt the next hour.

  Kash had gone earlier in the day, giving me time with Chrissy, and I knew he was checking up on the Bonham situation. He didn’t share details when he took me with him later, and seeing how weak Matt was feeling, I didn’t say anything to add stress to what he was already going through. Instead, I told him all about my mother’s arrival, and he was grinning by the end.

  Coughing, he rasped out, “I can’t wait to meet her. Seems like I’ll love her.”

  He probably would, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “The two of you will be like two peas in a pod. Troublemakers.”