Page 206 of Without a Trace
She looked calm.
Like this was exactly where she meant to be.
Like this was always the plan.
The betrayal bloomed slow and acidic. A thousand memories cracked in half all at once. Her laugh at the lake. Her hand on my shoulder during panic attacks. The inside jokes. The secrets.
All of it—poison now.
Rhett’s voice sliced through the stillness. “What the actual fuck.”
Trace didn’t take his eyes off Lena. “Tell me this isn’t happening.”
I stepped forward. “Lena? How are you here?”
She tilted her head. “I wanted to tell you.”
Trace’s snarl cracked across the room. “Tell her what?”
Brielle’s grin widened. “That she’s been feeding me everything since the beginning.”
Zeke’s breath caught sharp. His eyes narrowed, gears turning behind them—dangerous, exact. Then his whole body went still.
“The island,” he said, voice low and lethal. “That’s how she found us. You gave her Scarlett’s location.”
Lena didn’t deny it.
“You fucking let her track the phone,” Zeke growled. “That’s how Brielle got there. That’s how they breached the perimeter. You sold us out before we even left for the villas.”
Kane stepped back like he’d been punched, mouth open.
“Jesus, you’re the rat,” he said, staring at Lena like he didn’t recognize her anymore. “You were with us the whole time. Pretending.”
“No,” I whispered. “You’re lying.”
“I didn’t want it to go this far.”
“Then why?” My voice was steady. Shaky—but still standing.
She looked right at me. “Because it was supposed to be me.”
I stared at her. “What was?”
“The heir,” she said flatly. “It was supposed to be me.”
Zeke’s breath hitched behind me.
“I’m his daughter too,” Lena said. “The one no one ever talked about. The one raised on scraps of legacy and locked doors. While you got the life. The house. The boys. While you thought he was dead, I was training with the Red Veil.”
“You’re my sister?” I breathed.
“Half-sister,” she said quietly. “But I want what Is mine.”
Trace was trembling. Alden had gone stone-cold. Kane muttered something too low to hear. Rhett’s fists clenched at his sides.
Brielle smiled like she was watching a stage play. “Told you she’d take it well.”
“You let me fall apart,” I said. “You let me come undone in your arms—and all the while, you knew.”
