Page 24 of Wicked Games (Fallen Royals 2)

“I’m glad you worked things out,” Ian says behind me. He sets my backpack down. “I grabbed your bag.”

I take it, eyeing him. My mind goes to the catch. There’s always a catch with him.

“Free of charge,” he says under his breath.

I frown. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I pivot back toward my foster parents and offer them a small smile. “Angela didn’t come?”

Robert winces, bracing the door open with his back. Lenora slips out first, and I follow.

“Well, we didn’t tell her.”

My jaw drops.

“We hoped we could find you before it became necessary,” Lenora says. “I know it’s a bit unorthodox. And it could’ve backfired.”

“But the consequences would’ve been worse,” Robert adds. “You’re already labeled as a runaway risk. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”

I exhale. We climb into the car, and I shake my head.

“You didn’t tell her. She doesn’t know.”

Relief. Confusion.

It’s all white noise buzzing in my ears.

They saved me.

After everything.

“What now?” I ask in the car.

Robert pulls the car out onto the road. I shoot one last glance back toward Ian’s house. He wasn’t that bad—better than I expected with nowhere left to go.

“We’re going home,” he says. “And we’ll… we’ll figure this out. But you’re not going anywhere unless you want to. Do you?”

I blink. “Do I what?”

“Want to go to a different family?” He readjusts his grip on the steering wheel.

“No.” I bite my lip. It’s time to stop hiding behind fear and speak what I want into existence. “I want to stay.”

Lenora sniffs. “Good.”

We ride the rest of the way in silence. I’m exhausted from the past two days. There are too many emotions swirling around my head. The sudden switch from liking Caleb to hate—it’s left me cold. And confused.

And his body against mine last night, his fingers invading me.

I shudder.

Back at the Jenkins’s house, I shoulder my bag and make my way to my room. Everything is exactly the same as the way I left it.

I lie down, and Caleb’s scent surrounds me. Another tear slides down my cheek. I could sleep away the whole day. But after a few minutes of breathing deeply, I push myself up. I have to go to school with him tomorrow.

Where he’ll undoubtedly try to act like nothing has changed between us.

I switch into fresh clothes and scrape my hair up into a bun. There’s somewhere I need to go. There’s something I need to remember.

It’s clawing at the wall in my mind, desperately insistent to be acknowledged.

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