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"Tell us," Derek chimed in.

"I can't handle this," I shot back, flushed. "There are too damn many of you talking."

The only quiet person, aside from Noah, was my mother, who had come to sit beside me. Placing her hand on mine, she squeezed in reassurance.

"Hold up," Teagan screamed at a higher decimal than I'd ever heard in my whole, entire life. "Everybody just calm the fuck down and stop screaming so I can think this through!"

"Babe, you're the only one screaming here," Noah replied dryly.

"Well it's a screaming kind of situation," Teagan countered, still screaming, cheeks flushed. She looked to Noah for support. "Am I right?"

"You're absolutely right, Thorn," he agreed coaxingly, patting his knee.

Shoulders sagging, she waddled over to her husband and slumped down on his lap. "I'm too pregnant for this shit."

"David did this," Cam sneered, talking over me. "Doesn’t take a fucking genius to put that together."

"Cameron," Mom said with a weary sigh. "Let your sister speak."

"Why?" Cam demanded. "So she can tiptoe around the truth and lie through her goddamn teeth?" He shook his head. "Hell fucking no, Mom. This shit stops. Now."

"It wasn’t David!" I snarled, glaring at the oldest of my brothers, and it wasn’t a total lie. David hadn't taken the blade to my face. "So just back off."

"But hewasinvolved," Cam shot back without a hint of hesitation, blue eyes locked on mine. "Don’t you dare try and deny it."

Exhaling a weary sigh, I just shook my head and said, "It's complicated, guys."

"Goddammit, Hope!" was Colton's unsympathetic response. "We can't help you if you don’t tell us what happened."

"She's protecting someone," Logan stated calmly, grey eyes locked on my face. "That's why she's not talking."

"Is that true?"

"Hope, who did this to you?"

"Are you covering for someone?

"Goddammit, tell us now!"

"Leave her alone," Mom snapped, raising her voice for the first time. "I'm warning you all. Back off, now."

Silence fell around us.

Finally, Colton said, "We're your family, Hope." His tone of voice was pleading. "It's our job to protect you."

"I don’t need to you protect me, Colt." Flustered, I pressed my hand to my forehead and struggled to contain my temper. "I just need–"

"Who hurt Hope?" a small voice asked, distracting us all.

I cringed when my little brothers walked into the kitchen.

Two innocent children caught up in a world of lies and corruption.

"Boys, go back down to the gym and work on those muscles," Noah said coaxingly, giving the boys his attention. "We've got some grown up talking to do up here."

"Someone hurt my sister," Cash shot back, defiance blazing in his blue eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Cash –" Dad began to say, but Cash interrupted him by saying, "I'll kill them, Hope." Jutting out his small chin, Cash looked straight at me and said, "I swear I'll do it."

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