Page 129 of Kade

The hope gave way to new determination. I knew, right then and there, that Sam was going to do what she needed to save this sister of hers.

Goddamn.No. No!

Steele didn’t tell her. Axel didn’t either. Beltraine did. And as he did, as we all heard what else his father had done to them and how many more times he’d had them go into that shed, more than I wanted to think about because he hadn’t used the excuse of a lost football game to justify his need to abuse them, Sabrina was shaking by the end of it.

“I didn’t know. I swear.” All the blood was gone from her face. Her lips were trembling. “Steele, I swear. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah,” he bit out. Rough. “But someone did. Who told you to contact him?”

“I didn’t contact him. That’s not how this happened. I was… We were introduced and we went from there.”

“Who did the introductions?”

The answer was there, right on the tip of her tongue, but as she thought about answering, she looked at my wife. Just that, one look, and I could see all the brainwashing return back to her forefront. The raw vulnerability she had when hearing her little brother had been hurt was covered up by the cruel gleefulness of whatever this creature was in front of me.

Park Sebastian did this. He did a masterful job of it. I had to give him that.

He took away someone Sam loved.

“Who do you think? Come on.” She laughed again; the chortling was back. “You want to know everything? I mean, thatiswhy I came here. I knew when Mom and Dad figured it out, then the gig was up. Or most of it is up, but don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything. Iwantto tell you everything. Are you ready?”

Sam stared back at her, but she had masked the earlier love I saw in her gaze as she watched her sister. An expressionless mask was in its place. She deadpanned, “Not in the least.”

Sabrina didn’t care. She began talking.

49

MADDY

Ifound them!

They were in the study, and who knew when Nova’s snake went missing it ended up being a blessing because I knew about a vent that I could overheareverything. It’d been where Nova’s snake was hiding. Natessia’s the one who got it out. Max’s little sister.

I didn’t think I was scared of anything, but that’s not true. I’m terrified of something happening to my family…and snakes. Nat, though. Shereallyisn’t scared of anything. Nolan used her gifts, like a honing beacon, led us to the study, and from there, Nat stuck her hand down, grabbed the snake and hauled that sucker out of there.

It was wrapped all around her arm, but it was awesome.

I didn’t want to miss anything, but I made a detour through the kitchen to grab a snack. Uncle Logan instilled that in me from an early age. If there’s drama, you grab popcorn. It’s proper etiquette now. If someone else is watching, or in this case listening, with you, you share.

Also good etiquette.

I didn’t have time to pop anything, but there was a bag ready to go so I grabbed it, along with a soda and here I was, snuggled up on the other side of the vent. I had snacks. A drink. And a blanket I snatched on the way.

Getting comfortable, I was ready.

Okay. So the way I figure is that this entire showdown had three parts. The first part I missed becauseMax.

The second part, I couldnot believewhat I was hearing.

Brinna was my mom’s sister? Half sister?

I was a little fuzzy on some of the details, but holy shit, Brinna was a bitch. She was the definition of a HBOTC. Also, I wasn’t liking how she was talking to my mom. Like she was taunting her or something.

Then, wham bam, I almost fell over ma’am when I heard about what Traine’s dad was doing to them. I went all growly and had to stuff the blanket over my mouth to keep from alerting them to my spot. I was making a list of people that I could hurt and Traine’s dad was on it. They had not shared that part with me when Max and I made our dramatic entrance or when we were at the hospital. I asked, but everyone was tense and Max kept telling me he’d tell me later.

Sometimes I liked playing that game with him. If he said he’d tell me something later, and if he didn’t, then I’d get inventive in how I’d make him tell me. Because of the idea of that game, I didn’t push on finding out the details.

I regret that now.

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