Page 166 of Pretty Little Lies

“You’re…Roger’s son?”

“And you became his daughter after Emilio murdered your mother.” My lips part, but I hold on to the sob that’s been wanting to rip through my throat.

“Why…didn’t you tell me that before?”

“Because I know you. I know that you’d stick a knife in him on that first Friday night dinner you attended. Roger was in love with your mother. When she died, he took you and his daughter, mysister,out of town and far away from the chaos brewing when Emilio turned in Penn. Roger was gone for over a year until he was able to build up a defense for South Shore to bring you home.”

Fuck not killing Emilio myself. He took away a woman who could’ve treated me a million times better than the one who claimed she was mine.

“When I was fourteen, Roger told me a secret. One that I was said to carry to the grave unless something shifted to where it had to be said. I don’t know if Roger is coming out of this coma or not, Bay. And I don’t know what to do.”

“Dad is going to come out of this,” I convey as confidently as I can. “He’d never leave us like this. We’re still morons.”

Levi’s lips lift a bit. “Speak for yourself, Astor.”

“It’s going to be okay.” I run my thumb over his flesh. “He’s got this.”

“Yeah,” he exhales. “Carry that hope for the both of us. I’m feelin’ a little pessimistic these days.”

“What kind of secret are you holding? You don’t have to do this all alone.”

“The secret…of who you are, what you are, and what you could do. What Judah knew.”

I didn’t want to kill you, Bay…but you’ll either ruin us all or be ruined. I’d rather save you from that.

All the crazy things he spoke about. I didn’t understand what he meant. I chalked it up as bullshit.

“Tell me,” I practically beg. “What am I?”

“You’re the ticking time bomb,” he alleges. “You’re the one person in this whole Titan bullshit who can either make or break either side.”

“You think I won’t choose you.” I stare at him, unwilling to understand why he’d believe that I wouldn’t.

I’d always chose Levi.

“I’m not saying you wouldn’t want to,” he replies. “But I don’t hold you down like that. Like I should have.”

“Like…Matteo?”

Levi quirks a brow. “You think there’s a bone in my body that would treat you like Matteo?”

“Of course not.” I hold his moss eyes, desperate for him to give me what he needs. “Tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. I would give up anything just to keep you in my life.”

“Even them?”

I hate that he asked that question. That my best friend is giving me an ultimatum that I actually have to think about. That Torin and Reeve have gotten so deep under my skin that I’d die a little if I had to hurt them.

“Is that what you’re asking me to do?” I hedge. “Because I need you to be very clear with your next words on what youwant from me. How I play some major role in this game I never wanted to be in.”

Levi continues to stare at me before something cracks in his brain and he pulls back a bit. “No. I’d never force you to be by my side. I want that of your own free will.”

“Then it looks like you’re fucked,” I reply. “Because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

“Careful, Astor,” he warns through a deep octave. “If I didn’t know any better…I’d say you were trying to lock me down.”

I allow my lips to lift for the first time since waltzing in this room. “I did that a long time ago.” Levi snorts out his rebuttal to that, but straightens his spine to rise. “Now tell me who the hell I am.”

“Let’s wait for the old man to tell you himself.”

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