Page 1 of Branches of Betrayal

Chapter 1

Hadina

Time was moving too slowlyfor Hadina as she paced the hallway outside of her office. People always compared time to molasses, but it reminded her of the thick, stickiness of blood as congealed below a dead body.

“Fuck!” she screamed, slamming her hand against the wall. Thinking of dead bodies just made her mind conjure cruel images of hertentadora’s dead, bloodied body and it made her want to set fire to the world while she bathed in the ashes.

Four hours.

Four painstakingly slow hours was how long it had been since Peyton ran away from Hadina and her fucked up family.Give her the time she asked for,her father had advised, but Hadina wasn’t a patient woman and she didn’t like being told what to do.

Since the moment Peyton had stepped foot inside the family home, she had cast a spell over Hadina and captured her every thought. Without her, it felt like someone was pressing on herthroat and Hadina had never much liked being on the receiving end of being choked.

She felt the presence of her father behind her back before he made any noise to alert her. “Hadina.”

Her heart ached at the pain in his voice, but anger burned in her veins and she longed to let it erupt, destroying everything in her wake.

“Please don’t,Papi.I can’t speak to you right now. I can’t even look at you.”

“Mi querida,por favor. It was a complicated situation and I did what I thought was best.”

Hadina spun on her heels and leveled her gaze at the person she had once trusted more than anyone in the world. She could see how apologetic he was, but saying sorry didn’t make everything better. There weren't enough bandaids in the world to cover the wound he had opened back up, knowing it would mean she’d have to watch the woman she loved bleed.

“¡No, basta!I can’t hear this right now,Papi. If you keep talking, keep making excuses, I won’t be able to keep myself from hating you for being the reason she left. And I don’t want to hate you, but if I’ve lost her forever because of secretsyouchose to keep… I just can’t, okay?”

Her voice cracked as she swallowed down her tears. She wouldn’t cry, not yet. Everything was not lost. She would get Peyton back and they would destroy Demi Treyva—together.

“There’s still things you need to—” Her father got cut off as the front door slammed open, a wild-eyed Kaira standing in the doorway.

“Hadina!”

“Kaira? What’s wrong?'“

Kaira stormed forward, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Something’s happened to her.”

A cold chill ran down Hadina’s spine. “Tell me everything.”

Kaira slumped down onto the bottom stair of the grand staircase, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands as she relayed her phone call with Peyton. That had beenhoursago and Kaira… Hadina knew she couldn’t lash out at her best friend, but the urge to hurt her for waiting so long to contact them was overwhelming. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was a sniffling mess, Hadina thought she honestly might have grabbed Kaira by the hair and repeatedly slammed her into the banister.

But she had more important things to worry about.

“I figured she just needed some more time! Or that maybe she had come home. But then an hour passed…and another, and another. Fuck, Hadina, I’m so sorry! I don’t know what to do or where she could be.”

“You said she told you where she was when she called you, right? We’ll go there first. While we look, I’ll have the team pull up CCTV of that area and we’ll find out where she is. They should be able to track her phone.”

Kaira gulped, blowing her nose into a tissue. Mascara was running down her cheeks, leaving dark marks against her skin. Hadina had seen her in tears many times over the course of their friendship, but she’d never seen her look honestly terrified. Not even when Hadina had threatened her—which hurt her ego a little, but that was besides the point.

“Kai, stop,cálmate.No más llanto.It’s not your fault. We’ll find her.”

Nodding, Kaira wiped her tears again and stood, blowing out a slow breath to compose herself. “Let’s go.”

“Give me a minute, okay? Go fill in Piper and Harris while I get some stuff from the office.”

She walked into the office and closed the door behind her, letting out a staggering breath as she collapsed backwards. She wanted to scream or cry or throw something, but instead she just sat there. Staring. Unmoving. Unfeeling. If she let herselfdo anything other than sit in the silence of the room, Hadina knew she would break. And the last thing she had time for was analyzing her own emotions.

“Why did you have to leave me? I could have kept you safe!” Hadina whispered to herself, wishing Peyton could hear her.

It had takena lot of arguing to get Harris to stay behind with Piper. While having her Second with her was always the preferable option, the man had a gunshot wound to his shoulder and Hadina knew rest was essential for the healing process. Besides, he would be able to command their team from her office and if anyone knew what the next steps were without her having to tell them, it was Harris.

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