Page 71 of Believe In Us

Tears and truths come flooding out as she continues to tell me more secrets than I ever thought possible. From what they did to Drake, to the blackmail against Wesley, to the truth about her father and what her mother did to conceive her. She confessed what her and Ace had planned, how they brought Bass and Beckettin on a plan to trick his uncle and get him into confessing where the ledger they needed to expose him was, down to how Alek, her cousin, helped her escape and save Ace. Most were things I already had heard, but hearing them from her own lips, made them all more real.

Though it wasn’t long before what I feared came out of her mouth.

“The night we went to the cabin, the night of the explosion, that’s when I found out about Roman. He led me to an abandoned cabin, I was running from the Horsemen and he scared them away. He confessed to killing Chaz, he confessed to being here, working for Wesley the whole time, and he also admitted to changing alliances and working for Macallan, well Marchesi.”

I feel a sense of relief she didn’t know for as long as I had imagined, at least not about my brother. It’s like a weight has been lifted off of me, the heaviness I felt on my heart slowly diminishing.

“That’s why you pushed me away, it’s why you left?” I ask, recalling how empty she seemed the night we fought before she went to work at The Gallows with Wesley.

She nods as she reaches out to hold my hand, “I knew I couldn’t bear the thought of looking you in the eyes and not being able to tell you that he was back. I promised you I’d help you find him, that I would use Ace, and Wesley to find out where he was, and once I did, I knew I couldn’t lie to you. So I took the easy way out, the coward's way. I used Marchesi’s threat against Ace as a legit excuse to walk away and save myself the heartbreak of facing you.”

She lied, all of that, everything she said to me was just her way of once againprotectingme. She never turned her back on me, she did it all out of fear, out of sacrifice. My sister, like always, was just doing everything in her power to keep me safe. I can’t hold that against her, I can’t blame her for something I know I would have also done if our roles were reversed.

“I’m sorry Jade, I know I should have trusted you, I should have come clean and together we could have figured it out, but...”

“No Scar,” I answer, stopping her mid apology, “I’m the one who should be sorry. I should have known you’d never intentionally lie to me, that you wouldn’t just keep this from me unless there was an explanation, and I decided to use it all as an excuse to run and hide from my feelings, because I apparently have those now.” We both start laughing, teary, snot filled laughs, makeup probably smeared and faces blotchy, but we don’t care. Wrapping my arms around her, I hug my sister, for the first time in months and it feels so good.

However, the feeling of content doesn’t last long, I shake my head in disbelief, urging her to stop. “No wait Scar, it’s me who should apologize for reacting the way I did. Instead of feeling relief for never having to deal with Chaz or your mother once again, for at least knowing Roman wasn’t dead, I judged you. We promised to never judge each other no matter how terrible our mistakes were, and I betrayed that promise.”

“Jade, please,” she begs, but I don’t let her continue.

“I’ve lied to you as well Scarlett. For months I’ve lied to you. Or worse I’ve kept something from you.” I drop to the floor, head between my knees, curling into a fetal position as I gain the courage to mutter the next word.

“I’m pregnant!” she blurts out before I even get the chance to speak.

“What?” I ask, completely taken aback by her own unexpected confession.

“I’m pregnant, and I know you are too.”

Chapter

Thirty-Four

SCARLETT

It feels like this huge weight has been lifted off my chest, as I finally found the courage to come face to face with my sister. We laid out all our secrets and promised to never again keep anything from each other.

And now, after blurting out a truth I've kept to myself, well between Ace and I, for months, there are no more secrets.

I still remember the day I found out I was pregnant. It was shortly after the explosion and fire that burned Servite Manor to the ground, killing all the devils in my life, along with my father Maxwell. A father I will never get to know. My whole life was falling apart completely, I was hurt, scared, and in so much pain thinking I had lost everything, including Ace. I had pushed away my friends, my sister, and was keeping more secrets than should ever be allowed, yet I hadn’t realized in all of this all-consuming chaos, that my period was late.

It wasn’t until a week after the explosion, just over nine days after I had checked myself out of the hospital after suffering aconcussion when Luke Prescott ran Ace and I off the road, that I found out my current situation. The doctor had called me, apparently he’d been trying to get a hold of me for a little over a week but I was so caught up with everything that had happened after Jade found out Roman was back, I hadn’t bothered to answer.

When I finally did, that’s when he told me I was just over ten weeks pregnant. I dropped my phone to the floor and began to shake uncontrollably, Ace right beside me with a look of terror in his eyes as he grabbed the phone. Everything changed in that exact moment. My priorities, my direction in life, everything was now focused on this little life that Ace and I created. Somehow in the middle of the cluster fuck that had us blowing up fucking buildings to survive, there was a silver lining waiting to poke through. Even though we were both in shock at the news, we both knew that this baby would only help us grow closer together. We’d get through it together because even when darker things were thrown in our paths, we stood united and came out of the other side stronger than before.

Jade being pregnant is a complete mindfuck. What are the chances of my sister and I having babies, we weren't even sure we'd ever want, together? It's times like this that divine intervention makes sense because only mystical beings would make this shit happen. Someone must be laughing their ass off up there. I’ve been so damn worried about her and what would happen to our relationship as I got closer and closer to Ace and with the baby coming I couldn't focus on much else. I knew we would get over our fight but I didn't want her to suddenly feel like I abandoned her for a new life that she didn't fit into.

My sister is everything to me but looks like she means a whole lot to my man's best friend too. With Bass I know I don't have to worry about her safety, physically at least, but I worry about her heart. He's a playboy and an asshole on his best days. Jade is convinced he’s different for her, I believe her because look at Ace, but I won’t be able to believe it until I see them together as morethan just fuck buddies. My girl will be okay, no matter what she will have me. Those babies have built-in best friends growing inside us waiting to hand out gray hairs and heart attacks like candy. This is the beginning of a new chapter of our lives and I am so thankful we are on this ride together.

Chapter

Thirty-Five

JADE

It’s been a week since the blowout Bass and I had down at the beach house, when he revealed he knew all about my little secret. A week since I accepted out loud that I was going to have a baby with none other than my broody, gorgeous fucking bastard.

I begged him to keep it a secret, not ready for the rest of the world to find out, though I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that. Yet to no surprise, it didn’t last. The cat is out of the bag now, well at least regarding my close circle of friends, and I’m the one to blame.

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