Page 55 of Stolen Love

“He’s less compassionate than you, Rogue. More angry than you could ever be, Rebel.” She stares at them both with a sharper eye than I think either expects. “Damaged in ways you can’t even begin to understand.”

“Because of our dad?” Rebel asks.

“He did things that no normal person would do.” She shivers. “But I didn’t know that until it was too late. By the time I found out I was on his hook. It took everything I had to get away from him with you two. And even then I was always waiting for him to find me. When I read that he died a couple of years ago, I cried tears of joy. All these years of fear… the weight lifted off my shoulders in an instant.”

I feel a little dizzy. It’s all so much to take in. All this time they had no idea what their mother went through or was hiding from them.

“He’s dead?” Rogue’s expression flickers with indecision.

“Hang on.” Rebel frowns. “You said he died a couple of years ago, but you let me take that movie role seven years ago. You weren’t worried that our dad would notice when we became famous?”

“I…” Betty stares at her hands in her lap.

“Mom.” Rebel shakes her knee. “Tell me.”

“I thought maybe if you were famous you would be untouchable. I thought he might not be able to hurt you if you were surrounded by photographers and reporters and bodyguards. And you were so good… so charismatic… so desperate to make it… that I knew you would. And he didn’t come for you. And he didn’t come for me.” She shrugs. “I thought maybe…”

“We were safe.” Rebel exhales.

“Then I heard about your fight with that boy.”

Rebel and Rogue and I exchange glances. She has to be talking about Alec. What has my brother got to do with this?

“What about Alec?” Rebel asks.

“His last name is Hawthorne,” she says.

“What?” I don’t understand.

Rogue’s brow creases. “Mom, what’s our dad’s name?”

“Robert,” she says. “Your dad’s name is Robert Hawthorne.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Rogue

A lone bird flutters its wings and makes the leaves rustle as it hops from branch to branch above us. A car engine hums close by. Someone laughs across the lawn.

Rebel, and me, and Ivy; oh, we couldn’t be more silent as we glance at each other.

“Did you…” Rebel slips a finger inside his collar and tugs it away from his neck.Did she…

No, she couldn’t have…Because that would be… well, that would mean… “Mom.”

“Did you say Robert Hawthorne?” Ivy beats me to the question.

“Yes.” Mom twists her hands in her lap.

There’s no way.“It’s not true.”

But what if it is?“Oh my God, we need to google.”

Rebel already has his phone in his hands, his thumbs are practically a blur.

Ivy is the color of paper. She opens her mouth and closes it again. Shuts her eyes like she’s struggling with the thought as hard as we are. Whimpers. Opens her eyes again. “He’s not related to a Nicole Hawthorne is he?”

“Fuck me,” Rebel exclaims, stopping what he’s doing to stare at Ivy and then me. His thumbs start to move faster.

---