Page 47 of Fierce Secrets

Before everything we'd built came crashing down around us.

CHAPTER 17

MEREDITH

Sofia found me on the kitchen floor, phone clutched in my trembling hands, tears streaming down my face.

The memories swirled in my mind, and all I could see was Leo and my brother, and my dead father. How they'd become ruthless in protecting me.

How they'd killed for me.

"Mer? What happened?" She dropped to her knees beside me, still in her robe, hair dripping from her shower. "Talk to me." Her hand touched my arm, and I flinched, causing her to frown.

Wordlessly, I showed her the photos, unlocking my screen to where they were still open. Her sharp intake of breath told me she understood exactly what she was seeing.

"Mer… I'm sorry. Those pictures…" Her voice gave it away. She knew more than she was telling me, and my brow furrowed as I looked hard at her.

"You know what these are, don't you?" My voice was so soft, but she still heard me. She sighed, deliberating for a moment before nodding, her face saddened.

"Of course you do. Everyone knows everything all around me," I muttered as the tears pricked my eyes again. But rightnow, I needed to speak to someone, and despite how I knew Sofia had hidden things from me, she was all I had right now.

"I remember," I whispered, my voice raw. "I remember everything."

The memories crashed over me in waves yet again – my father's fists, the crack of bone meeting bone, Leo and Gray's synchronized violence as they saved me. Leo in the backyard, flames reflecting in his eyes as he burned their bloody clothes and looked up at me in the window. An older man examining my injuries with gentle hands, saying he was a doctor. Leo's voice, thick with emotion:"We'll take care of you both. I promise."

"The funeral..." My voice cracked. "It was closed casket. Everyone said what a tragedy it was, the supposed car accident, but I didn't cry. I couldn't cry. Leo's father was there, telling us we could always come to him if we needed anything."

Sofia pulled me close as fresh tears fell, and despite my desire to pull away, I couldn't. Not right now.

"Mer…"

"The nightmares were so bad. I couldn't even go into our kitchen. Gray moved us away – said it was because I was starting college soon, but really..." I swallowed hard, and she squeezed my arm comfortingly. "I must have blocked it all out. When Gray wanted us to move here after I graduated, he said it was because his companies were here, but he'd been making that commute while finishing his own degree..."

"Honey..." Sofia rested her head against mine, her arm tightening around me.

My mind had finally revealed what I'd blocked out for so long, the pieces falling into place like a bloody puzzle.

"They're monsters," I choked out. "Both of them. They're both killers."

"No." Sofia's voice was firm as she pulled back to look at me. "Your father was the monster, Mer. They did what they had todo to save you. They're still the same people – Gray is still your brother who'd die to protect you, and Leo is still the man who's watched over you all these years."

I stared at her through blurry eyes, struggling to make sense of it all as my mind opened up to me.

But as the memories continued to surface, each one sharper than the last, I wondered if I'd ever really known either of them. The brother who tucked me in at night was the same one who'd helped drag my father's body to the garage and cover up his death. The man who'd held me through nightmares was the same one who'd watched the life drain from my father's eyes. He'd stood over him, as indicated in the picture, without a hint of remorse or regret.

And somehow, the most terrifying part wasn't that they were capable of such violence.

It was that a part of me understood why they'd done it.

"They must do bad things now," I whispered, picturing my brother's steady hands on a gun, his eerie calm during the shooting. The way he'd discussed security measures in a new place like they were as normal as choosing wallpaper. "That's why people shot at us. Why someone wants money to keep quiet."

I shook my head, not wanting it to be true, but knowing I'd be kidding myself. Gray and Leo were involved in bad things, things that had come for us all.

Sofia shifted to sit facing me, crossing her legs as she kept one hand on my arm. I moved back, leaning against her kitchen island. The wood was cool through my clothes, grounding me in reality as my world tilted and lurched.

"Who is Leo, Sof? Who is his family?" I murmured, blinking through my tears to look at her. "Please, I need answers and the truth. No more lies and half-truths," I whispered. She sighed heavily as she took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Okay, Mer. No more lies, only the truth," she promised softly, giving me a small reassuring smile.

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