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“What the fuck do you want?” Brantley moves me behind his body slightly, ever my crazed monster. “You really need to call before making appearances.” The room is still, the silence almost unbearable. My heart rate quickens and a bead of sweat falls down my temple. I never sweat.
“Mmmm, no, actually, I don’t.” Her almond eyes slowly swing to me. “Saint, I need you to come back to The Coven.”
I freeze.
Brantley takes one step closer to Veronica. “No, she’s not.”
Everything suddenly moves in slow motion. Her eyes swing to Brantley, the corner of her mouth tilting up in a harsh curve, flashing her obscenely straight teeth. Veneers. They have to be. But then Brantley’s is the same—why am I so distracted!
“Actually, yes she is, and you’re going to let her go, Brantley…” Her words are like blades ru
“I will kill you, your entire coven, and anyone else who tries to take her from me, Veronica, and you fucking know it.”
“Mhhm, you’re right, son, I do know it.” The smile has not once left her lips, and as each passing second goes by, I find myself more and more anxious. “Which is why I’m going to disclose to you something you were to never find out.” She tucks her lips between her teeth, as if she’s anticipating to finally say something she’s been holding on to for years.
Bishop growls, “Spit it the fuck out, Veronica. I’m sick of the theatrics.”
She raises her coffin-shaped nail. “Saint is my daughter.” Her eyes go to Brantley. “Your half sister.”
My hand slips out from beneath his hoodie, but Brantley’s grip on me remains. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
Bishop steps forward. “I’ve heard enough. What the fuck are you talking about and you better have some proof to back up these claims. No one comes onto our territory and tries to drop a fucking bomb like that.”
I go to pull away from Brantley again, but his grip on me tightens. I can almost hear him inside my head. Don’t you fucking dare fall for her shit.
“Oh, I do…” She presents a manila folder to Bishop, but Brantley snatches it out of her hands.
I take this moment to step well away from Brantley. My mind is closing in around me and everyone that is here no longer exists.
“Hey!” Madison and Tillie are suddenly on either side of me. “It’s going to be fine.”
“We can do another test, or you can call them, if you like.” Her eyes come to me. “But something tells me you won’t need to.”
Instantly, I feel all eyes on me.
I begin stepping backward, but my knees buckle and I fall to the ground. Tears pour from my cheeks as pain I never thought existed erupts inside my chest. No. No. No. “She’s not lying.”
“What?” Brantley snaps at me. “What the fuck do you mean ‘she’s not lying.’”
“I saw it, Brantley!” I glare up at him. “In my vision. I didn’t tell you this, but I’ve been seeing you almost every night that I close my eyes. Those texts I told you I was receiving? It was from—whoever that is coming to me. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. But I had a vision of her giving birth to a girl. A girl.”
Tillie stands to her full height, her hands balling into fists on her sides. “Nate, a word?”
They both disappear down a long hallway and Madison grabs me under my arm, pulling me back to my feet.
“It’s going to be okay, Saint.”
I place my hand on top of hers, unable to look at Brantley. “She’s right. My visions can’t be manipulated truth, we all know that.”
Brantley says nothing.
Bishop freezes.
I straighten my shoulders. “I will leave with you.”
“What the fuck! Fuck! No!” Bishop yells, but his words are cut off when Brantley launches forward, his hand around Veronica’s throat.
He squeezes. “I’m going to rip your fucking heart out so you know exactly how I feel right now. Whether it’s tomorrow. Two days from now. Months. I hope you remember this exact moment, and I hope it haunts you until I come for you—and make no mistake, Mother, I will come for you.” He shoves her away. My lips tremble as he pushes past me. Not another glance. Not a smidge of acknowledgment. Just pure, undiluted coldness. As if I’m no longer his Dea.
Which I’m not.
Veronica curves her finger at me. I can’t fight the tears anymore as they slide down both cheeks. My heart crumbles. My throat tightens as air struggles to come in. I want to seek out Brantley. I need him. But I can’t. I can’t. Because everything was a lie. The reason why we feel so close and why I am so co-dependent on him is because he is my half brother.
My hand flies up to my mouth to stop the bile that’s crawling up my throat, threatening to spill all over the floor. Dashing down the hallway and into the guest bathroom, I kick open the toilet bowl and watch as everything I have eaten in the last twenty-four hours exits. I hit the lever, turn back around, and close the toilet, resting on top. My fingers shake as I swipe the tears from my eyes.
“Saint…” Madison is at the door. She enters and closes it tightly before kneeling in front of me. “We will figure this out. I promise.” She rests her hand on my thigh, taking my shaking fingers into the palm of her hand. I trust Madison with my life. She’s one of the strongest women I have the pleasure of knowing, but will it still be the same now? I no longer belong here. At that thought, my lip trembles and another wave of pain washes over me.
“He’s my half brother, Madison.”
She winces and all of the life that lived inside of me empties.
“I slept with my half brother.”
She blows out a steady breath of air. “You didn’t know it at the time. You and Brantley are not to blame for this. This is on Veronica and fucking Hector. I swear that man needs to be put to sleep once and for all.”
Even though I hear the words she’s saying, I don’t want to take them in. I can’t see past the fact of what I have done.
“You don’t have to go with her, Saint. If you don’t want to live here, you can move in with Bishop and me. You know he will do anything for you.”
I squeeze her hand with mine. “She won’t stop. She’s done this for a reason, and I need to know what that reason is.”
Madison tilts her head. “You’re going there to find out?”
I tuck my hair behind my ear and tug on the roll of toilet paper to wipe my face. “Yes. And then when I find out why I’m getting visions of her and who this man is I keep seeing—” I pause, closing my mouth. Scorching flames blister over my throat and I can’t find the words to say. My heart is literally broken. I rest my palm over my chest and feel the slowing pitter-patter of beats in my chest. It feels abnormal.
I can’t say the words to her.
“Then you will come with Bishop and me?”
I smile, even though it physically pains me to do so. “Yes, then I will.”
We both stand and make our way back out to the main entrance area of the house. Deep inside my head, I hoped I’d walk out to a bloodbath, but then I would never get the answers I need.
Bishop’s eyes run over me quickly before he turns back to Veronica. “You can’t take her.”
I wipe the tears from my cheeks before looking up at Veronica. “It’s fine, Bishop. I’ll—I’ll be fine.” I pull both Tillie and Madison, and then finally Bailey into a hug. “Where’s Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Bailey says absently, squeezing her eyes closed before opening them. “It’s why I wanted to go out tonight to distract me from the fact I haven’t heard from him.”
Everything she says is white noise to me. Maybe I’m being selfish, or maybe it’s my defense mechanism kicking in, but I can’t hear anything or see anyone past the fact Brantley is my half brother.