Page 35 of Queen Of Clubs

“We wanted to! But you didn’t live there anymore.” My brows furrow. Something's not right here, something's not adding up.

She laughs in disbelief. “Didn’t live there anymore? Are you kidding me? I fucking wished.”

“They fucking lied to us.” Zane shoots to his feet, a look so deadly even I lean away from him. “I knew they were fucked up, but this? Why do this!!” he roars.

“Who lied?” Jade jumps to her feet now. “What the hell is going on?”

As my pulse picks up, I start to feel a little sick.

“When we couldn’t get a hold of you, we called Karen, hoping she wouldn’t be a raging bitch and let us talk to you. She told us you didn’t live there anymore. She said that the first opportunity she got, she had you shipped off to another foster home out of state. When we demanded to know where you were sent to, she refused to tell us. And when Zane—” Everett looks toward the man in question as he paces the room like a crazy man, “demanded she tell us, or we would come down there ourselves, she threatened to call the cops on us. We tried to offer them money, a crazy amount too, for them to tell us where they sent you, but they wouldn’t take the bribe. She just hung up the phone.”

“No.” Jade shakes her head, her body trembling as she stumbles, falling back onto the chair. “I didn’t get moved. I—I was still living there. I didn’t leave, not until—” her face goes pale, and all the warning bells inside me go off. “Not until I turned eighteen.”

“See!” Zane roars, picking up a lamp and tossing it across the room, sending it shattering to the floor. “They fucking lied to us.”

“Would you chill the fuck out,” I snap. “You're going to get us kicked out!”

“Fuck you!” He gets in my face. “We just found out that those fucking sacks of shit screwed up our lives. I will not calm down.”

“Why would they do that? Why would they lie?” Everett asks.

“Why wouldn’t they?” I counter. “They hated us. All of us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they lied just to hurt us.”

“I hate them.” More tears fill her eyes. “I fucking hate them.”

“I’m going to kill them.” Zane storms toward the door. Jumping up, I run after him and pull him back.

“Stop!” I shout in his face. “Sit the fuck down, now! We are not going out and killing anyone. We’ll find out the why and how of everything later. Right now, we need to talk. About everything.”

Zane looks over at Jade, who’s so visibly not okay. I can tell he wants to go over to her, pull her into his arms, and make everything better, but I don’t think that's the right move for any of us right now.

She’s like a scared deer, ready to run at the slightest movement.

“We hired a PI,” Everett starts. “But he told us because you were underage, there wasn’t much he could do for us. We tried what we could ourselves, but you blocked us on all your social media.”

“No, I didn’t,” Jade denies, looking at the three of us frantically. “I swear, I didn’t block you on anything. I didn’t change my number. I didn’t move. All I did was sit and wait. Wait for you to come back for me. And over time, I realized that wasn't going to happen and—” She looks away. “It doesn’t matter now. I lived with those horrible people until I was eighteen, and then I got the fuck out of there.”

“Not being able to investigate an underage person, I could understand. But that doesn’t explain why Mark didn’t find anything once she turned eighteen,” Everett directs toward us.

“Who’s Mark?” Jade asks.

“The PI we hired. The label recommended him.” I look to her.

“You didn’t change your name? Make it hard for anyone to find you if they were looking for you?” Zane asks.

“No.” She shakes her head. “I mean, I’ve been very good at keeping my life private. The night I left, I went straight to an omega center. They’re very big on protecting their clients’ privacy. So, I felt very safe there. And then, I started working at The High Roller, and moved into the apartments they provided. I did well at keeping a low profile.”

“Why would you have wanted that?” I ask her, something telling me the answer isn’t going to be one we like.

“Doesn’t matter.” She gives me a blank look before closing her eyes. “This is a lot to take in.”

“What's there to take in?” Zane asks. “Someone fucked with us, and I’m going to find out who,” Zane growls, running a hand through his hair aggressively, grabbing a fistful and tugging. “It was all one big fuck up. You didn’t ignore us.” He laughs. “You didn’t kick us from your life or give up on us.” He laughs again, and I look at Everett with concern. He’s losing it. Understandably, but still.

“It was all just one big misunderstanding.” He grins.

“You're fucking with me, right?” Jade scowls at him.

“No.” He shakes his head. “Don’t you see, Jade? We can do what we’ve always planned. We can be together, as a family now.”

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