Page 117 of Snake

“Timelines?” Ophelia murmurs, shaking her head. “What do you mean? It all makes sense. It fits perfectly.”

Jet drops his head, and while he’s looking down, he turns a little to glance at Vicky behind him. My heart is drumming a frantic tattoo inside my ribcage as I watch Vicky slowly start to pale.

I don’t know if Knox is too caught up in the moment, or if he’s used to his mother losing her composure like this, because he doesn’t stop.

“This!” He snatches the photo I gave him out of his jeans and shows it to them. “This doesn’t make sense. Your story doesn’t make sense. You say Donatella was three months pregnant when this was taken, but I’m older than Nim.” Knox stabs a finger against Vicky’s face in the photo, and she flinches like he physically slapped her. “How do you explain that, Mom? I’d have known if you were a teen mother. Fuck, the scandal!” He stops then, his chest rising and falling. Blinking. Coming back to himself slowly.

“Knox,” I whisper, my eyes going round.

The scandal.

“What?” Knox’s voice is still loud, but it sounds like he’s trying to control himself when he looks at me and says, “What is it?”

I never want to see that confusion, that hurt in his eyes again. Because I feel his pain like it’s my own. The betrayal, the sudden stab of rejection. I don’t even need to look to Jet to confirm it, because somehow I already know.

It’s the only thing that makes sense.

“Knox,” Jet says, and then lets out a long sigh. “Vicky isn’t your birth mother.”

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