Page 6 of Carter's #Undoing

Caden tossed up his hands in frustration. “I feel like I’ve entered the twilight zone. My brother is back from the grave. My sister-in-law just drugged one of her best friends. And that same brother is asking me to turn the other way and let him kidnap my friend and then tell the rest of our family what’s going on after what? After Avery and I show back up to Crayson’s wedding reception minus Serenity? You can’t be serious.”

“I am serious,” I told him before turning back to Avery. “You need to talk to Malakai as you promised your father.”

She nodded. “I will. He’s my husband, so I have to.”

“Hopefully he’s not too hard on you for keeping meeting me a secret.”

“He’ll get over it. I’m pregnant and he’s stuck with me.” She rubbed her belly. “Besides, my father never talks about certain parts of his life, but after he introduced us, I knew you earned his respect some kind of way. He agreed that this was best. I just hope you’re careful and know what you’re doing. Serenity is one of my best friends.”

“I’ll protect her with my life.”

She smiled. “I know you will.”

We both turned to Caden, and truthfully, there was so much more I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t figure out why. I wasn’t the sharing type. Hadn’t been in years. And there was a storm brewing for me. One that they wouldn’t understand.

Doing something I hadn’t planned on doing, I walked over to Caden and placed my arm on his shoulder. One look at him and I knew he was going to let me take her against his better judgement. Caden had always been loyal to a fault, and it brought me some comfort to see that he wanted to be loyal to me after everything I put him through.

“I’m having a hard time understanding all this,” he admitted. “But my gut is telling me to trust you. Damn, I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. And I still don’t get why your enemies would be after Serenity more so than the rest of our family.”

I glanced at Serenity on the couch, her soft snores soothing me like it was my first time hearing my favorite song in years. “They’re after her because even a ghost can’t change his deepest weakness.”

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