Page 136 of It Starts With A No

She gasped. “Did you prepare all this to butter me up for some really bad news?”

“I promise I didn’t hurt Winnie.”

“Of course not. You guys were just kids.” And if Seth and his brothers ever hurt someone, it would’ve been Holly.

Seth opened his box of pancakes. “Haven’t you heard about kids hurting people?”

She arched a brow. “I’m on your side and you’re disagreeing with me?”

Seth cracked a smile, then dropped his gaze to the flowers. “And no. This is what people do when they’re dating, right?”

“Thank you. It’s nice.”

“Whatever happened to your ex-boyfriend? The one who—”

“I only ever had one. He’s … I’m not sure. I didn’t bother to keep track of him after we broke up. I came back to the States right after I graduated.”

“Good,” Seth said.

Clary licked her lips after taking a mouthful of soft souffle pancake. “Do you know what happened to Winnie?”

He shook his head. “It was a chaotic night. Zane had gotten into a shouting match with a very drunk Holly. Oliver was having one of his violent sleepwalking episodes. Elton and Aldric got into a fight with Jimmy.” Seth leaned back in his chair. “We didn’t realize Winnie was missing until the next afternoon when Jimmy raised a stink about it.”

“You didn’t realize she wasn’t in the house?”

His chest rose again. “Holly didn’t adopt Jimmy and Winnie until years after Oliver, and it quickly became clear why she did—for drama.”

Eolenfelds did love that. But why? Wasn’t Holly getting enough drama from all the harm she was inflicting on Seth and his brothers?

“Before Jimmy and Winnie,” Seth continued, “Holly would single out Oliver. She’d punish us and reward him. She’d lavish everything he wanted on him and made us watch. She’d try to get him to turn on the rest of us.” He laughed once. “She chose the wrong person. Oliver would cry so hard when he watched us get punished, and he would always share whatever he got with us. She tried for years, but Oliver refused to cooperate with her sick games.”

“So she adopted Jimmy and Winnie.”

“They were half-siblings, but Jimmy was extremely protective of Winnie. Because of that, it was easy for Holly to cause a rift between us. It was always them or us, and all Jimmy cared about was keeping Winnie safe. So we never became close. The five of us stuck together.”

“And the two of them were on the other team.”

Seth nodded. “So when Winnie went missing …” He sighed. “Honestly, I didn’t care.” He ran his hand through his hair. “And right after that, we were all separated into different foster homes. Zane and I were focused on just one thing then: getting the five of us back together.”

Clary blew out a breath and considered if she should let Seth know what Mr. E had told her. “Again, despite working at Safe Home for years, I never really know what to say.”

“I’m not a child.”

“So I’ll let you decide. Not that I’m defending Mr. E, but would you like to hear what he had to say about what happened?”

Seth poked his tongue into his cheek.

“‘No’ is an acceptable answer.”

“I’d like to know.”

So Clary told him. “I’m not saying he did the best he could for you guys or that he wasn’t to blame. He did what he thought was the right thing. He could’ve and should’ve done more, and—”

“It’s okay, Clary.” He took her hand. “You don’t have to explain anything for him. You don’t owe me that.” Then he lifted it and gave the back of her hand a peck. “Zane never said anything about it, but I’m sure he had help from the old man getting us back together.”

“Why did Jimmy think you guys were involved in Winnie’s disappearance? Because of the dynamics at home?”

Seth dropped his gaze. “I swear I didn’t hurt her.” He took a deep breath, then locked eyes with her again. “But he saw me burying Winnie’s bloodied jacket.”

---