Page 33 of Fatal Temptation

He could tell from the lack of sound that Addie had likely frozen at his words.

“A void?”

He could hear the hesitance in Addie’s voice and squeezed his eyes shut.

“For someone else to continue his work.”

“Oh.” There was a pause and then, “Ooh.”

“I thought you meant inside you or something,” Addie said.

Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case at all. He wasn’t lacking a father figure. He had two pretty great ones.

“If I had told Lucas what I knew years ago, he could have stopped them. He could have saved all the people they’ve taken.”

“Akio,” Addie said, her voice stern and leaving no room for argument. “You can’t change the past. Trust me, if I could, I would have. We both would have, but we can’t. We can’t change who we are because of our past, nor should we want to. We survived and we’re stronger because of it.”

He soaked in her words, knowing they rang true, an echo of what his therapist had told him so many times over the years.

“If… if you had told Lucas back then, you would’ve ended up in witness protection and I wouldn’t have a brother. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have had a family.”

Chris and Diesel had seen the two of them together and knew they needed each other. Desperately. He wasn’t certain he would’ve learned to laugh again if it hadn’t been for Addie and her sarcastic self. If he hadn’t had someone in his life who was more than willing to make dark jokes about the shit they’d both been through.

“Shit happens, Akio. You didn’t make those bastards kidnap and sell anyone. They decided to do it and if it wasn’t your father’s men, it would’ve been someone else. There still would have been a vacuum for other traffickers to fill.”

He knew she was right. He knew it. But knowing it and feeling it were two very different things. He was starting to feel it, though, and he knew that was thanks to her unwavering belief in him.

“I love you.”

“Who wouldn’t? I’m fucking awesome,” Addie said, the amusement in her voice laced with just a hint of doubt.

“Yeah, you are.”

“I love you, too.”

He heard the tapping of Addie’s nails against what was likely her desk at this time of day. He already knew that whatever came out of her mouth next would have him cringing, but she somehow still managed to surprise him.

“Are you seeing Lucas?”

He choked on the breath he was taking, coughing while his sister laughed over the phone.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you screwing?”

His brows snapped together, and he almost wished they were face-timing so she could see the disappointment on his face.

“You’re not even old enough to know what that means.”

Her cackle told him she thought otherwise.

“I’m in high school, honey. Trust me, I know shit. Also, kudos for distracting me instead of answering. Too bad I’m smarter than you, huh?”

He dropped his head back with a groan.

“We’re not…screwing. That’s like a bastardized version of what we are.”

Addie’s squeal had him wishing he’d kept his mouth shut and hung up on her.

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