Page 68 of The Devil's Daughter

My brother narrows his eyes when my cheeks heat, and I just know he’s connecting the dots. “Speaking of which, whereareyour brothers?” he asks Toni under his breath. “I might need to have a word.”

Toni grabs his arm, shaking her head as a grin spreads across her face. “Don’t you dare. Can’t you see your sister’s happy? I told you to prepare yourself for this.”

Drake chooses that moment to appear, slipping up beside me and resting his hand on my back.

“Glad you guys could come,” he says to my brother and his girlfriend, reaching out his free hand to shake with Sam.

“We need to get everyone seated,” Drake says close to my ear so I can hear over the music piping through the speakers.

When he tucks a stray strand of hair over my ear, Sam’s look of confusion is all the reward I need. I shouldn’t be amused by it, but when Maddox revealed his relationship with Leo and Celeste to us, it was entertaining watching Sam try to wrap his head around the logistics.

“I’ll make sure everyone’s together,” I say, smiling up at Drake. “See you in a few?”

He beams down at me. “Sounds good.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot one of the twins lurking in the shadows. Elena catches sight too, and utters a soft sound of surprise before veering off toward him.

It’s Ben, looking every bit like a deer caught in headlights as his mother approaches.

“He’s in trouble,” Toni says under her breath.

“That’s what you get for ghosting your mom for a week,” Sam says, then spears me with a look. “So, Elle,” he says in a mockingly casual tone, “when were you going to tell me you were dating Drake fucking Stavros? Or is it one of Toni’s brothers? If so, which one? And please, for the love of god, don’t say all of them—ow!” He shoots Toni a dirty look. “What was that for?”

“For not minding your own business. Elle, we’re happy for you, no matter who you’re dating.” Under her breath, she says, “Even if itisall of them.”

I lean closer and say, “Did Celeste say something to you?”

She gives me an enigmatic smile and offers a small shrug. “It’s possible she gave me a heads up, but only so I could have your back. We’re rooting for you, honey.”

“Seriously?” Sam interjects, looking scandalized. “Are youseriouslytelling me that you’re…” He presses his lips tight, glancing toward our mom, who’s a few yards away, still looking at the helicopter above us. “You’rewithall of them?”

Toni elbows him in the ribs. “It’s none of your business!” she hisses.

I sigh. “Come on, guys. We need to get to our table.”

I turn away, pointedly ignoring Sam’s question as I walk to Mom and hook my arm through hers to lead her back to the tables. I’ll come clean to him eventually, but it is neither the time nor place for it now, and I really don’t want my other brothers finding out all at once. It’s bad enough Maddox probably already knows.

On the way back around the fountain, I catch sight of Ben again, enduring what appears to be an emotional tirade from his mother, though I can’t hear it from here. Baz strides toward him from the other side of the pavilion, hopefully heading in for a rescue. When Elena spies her other son, her volume rises.

Sam chuckles, evidently enjoying watching the pair suffer, but at least he doesn’t have an opening to confront them. Knowing him, he’d dive in fists flying before trying to have a conversation with the twins, and they wouldn’t hold back either.

35

Ben

I’m prettysure Flores brought Mom just to fuck with me and Baz. But I suppose since he already made up with us, we owe her some time. The only problem isnowis definitely not the time.

She’s mid-stream in explanations about what happened when Toni was conceived when Baz shows up and gets caught in the undertow of our mother’s emotional current. Most of this is information I really didn’t need to know thefirsttime she told me, more than a week ago, but she seems to think repeating the story will work the second time around. What Ineedis to get back to my circuit of the pavilion to watch for Miles Sitnik.

“You need to get back to Drake,” I tell Baz, who volunteered to stick with our new boss since I might be a little too emotionally involved at this stage.

“Thomas is on him until I get back. Looked like you needed backup.”

“Backup?” Mom says. “Am I just another security challenge to you two?Ay Dios mio.” She flaps her hands at us and shakes her head.

Baz sighs. “No, Mamá, but right now is not the best time for us to catch up. If we promise to call, will you let us get back to work? We aren’t actually here as guests. Drake and Elle both need protection today. Our job is to make sure they aren’t harmed.”

At the mention of Elle, her features soften and her eyes brighten. “Elle is such a lovely girl.Shedoesn’t disrespect her mother the way you twomocososdo.”

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