Page 149 of Hidden Echoes

“You suck at this.”

My face heats up. “That’s mean.”

He shrugs. “It’s true.”

Then, without hesitation, he picks up the knife and starts spinning it again. The cut on his foot still drips, leaving small, uneven droplets on the floor, but he doesn’tseem to notice. Or care.

“Don’t apologize,” he says, flipping the blade between his fingers. “Just get it right next time.”

I swallow hard and pick up my knife again. His eyes are locked on me now, sharp and assessing. If I fail again, I know he’ll remember it. I know he’swaiting to see if I’m worth his time.

I tighten my grip. Breathe.

This time, when I throw, the knife spins in the air before thunk—it embeds itself in the wood. Not the target. But close.

I look at him, hopeful. “Did I hit it?”

He frowns at the mark. “You missed. Badly.”

I scowl. “Hey!”

“But at least you got something right.”

He twirls his own knife one last time before tossing it into the air and catching it with ease, his expression unreadable.

“Keep practicing when you get bored,” he says. “It’ll help you.”

I glance down at the blade buried in the ground, and for the first time, I want to be better.

I want to be good.

“Okay.”

In the end, I couldn’t keep up the revenge plan against the Rosses.

It felt like everything was flipping on its head. Maybe I should be plotting a thank-you note instead, because Cory Ross didn’t kill my brother like I always thought, like my father believes.

Hesavedhim.

He gave One a second chance. And that... well, that made something inside of me heal.

It hit me hard, the realization that my brother wasn’t just a casualty in some twisted family war, but that he had been living in a completely different world.

Sometimes, my chest tightens thinking this whole thing might just be some delusion in my head—maybe I’m imagining all of this.

But then I see him again, standing there, really here. And it hits me all over again.

He’s real. My brother.

I intentionally left out some key details, like who we’re children of—or rather, who I am a child of. I didn’t bring up Laura, either, since she’s Cecilia’s sister on her mother’s side.

And then there’s Seth—he never told anyone the truth. Never told them he’s Nico’s son.

Honestly, I’m not even sure why. Maybe he thought they wouldn’t accept it, or maybe he didn’t want to burden anyone with that knowledge.

But as soon as I realized he’d kept that from them, it kind of confirmed the gut feeling I’d had all along: They wouldn't take it well.

It’s like everything would shift, the dynamic would crack under the weight of that truth, and suddenly, they wouldn’t see Seth the same way.

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