13

13

STACEY

Kade looks like he’s going to pass out as he pulls himself off his bike, shaking his head. “You’re all fucking idiots.”

Tobias grabs his son by the helmet and drags him forward, smashing their heads together. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at? You could have killed Stacey.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just needed time with her to explain shit,” he replies, pulling himself away before he scowls at Barry. “You should know better than to get my family involved in this.”

His assistant doesn’t back down. “With all due respect, sir, I was here to protect Miss Rhodes. We should leave. I reckon we only have a few minutes before this place is swarming.”

“Give me the gun,” Tobias says, noticing he’s still gripping it harshly, his finger resting on the trigger.

Kade’s fingers twitch around the gun, but his eyes slide to me, and he gives in. Resting the weapon in Tobias’s palm, Kade lowers his head, not pushing away as his father pulls him by the helmet again and pats his back harshly.

“It’s you and me, son,” Tobias says, low enough that it’s a whisper, but I’m close enough to hear. “You’re not doing this by yourself anymore. I’m here. I’m not letting you do this alone. You and me, you hear me?”

Kade doesn’t reply.

Tobias shakes him. “Do you fucking hear me?”

“All I can hear is you asking for death,” Kade replies. “They’ll kill you.”

His dad chuckles and grips his shoulder. “Maybe, but not before every single one of them pays. Getting revenge, son, is what we are going to be fucking doing. I have a list, and Christopher Fields is at the very top. Help me hurt the motherfucker.”

Kade lifts his head on hearing that name. “You know where he is?”

“We already have guys on their way to his location,” Barry says, glancing at me when I frown. They must’ve got the information before I snuck away. “Can we leave now?”

Tobias looks at me. “You’re a terrible driver. Never get behind a wheel again.”

I roll my eyes.

Aria walks to her son, sniffling. “Are you okay?” she asks him, her chin dimpling as it trembles, looking at the dead girl on the ground. “Oh, my boy, are you okay?”

He doesn’t say anything, just pulls off his helmet, tosses aside his helmet and walks to her.

I never thought that watching Kade hug his mother would make me cry, but here I am.

She’s sobbing, hugging him, begging him to get in the car while Tobias leads them to the door. The older version of Kade huffs and stands by the door, holding it open. He glances over at me just as I wipe mascara from under my eyes.

“You good?” Tobias asks.

I nod back and rub my arm, trying not to look down at the river of blood currently sliding towards me. “I’m okay.”

Barry crouches down to Cassie’s corpse and checks her pulse. “She’s dead.”

Tobias frowns like a child just kicked his shin. “Of course she’s dead. Are your eyes working? Her brain is splattered on the ground, you fucking idiot.”

Barry mutters to himself then looks up at Kade’s dad. “I was just stating a fact.”

“A useless fact,” he counters. “Any others? You want to tell me the sky is blue while you’re at it?”

Aria tells them both to stop arguing, because it’s all they’ve been doing. Anything one says, the other challenges it, then they get into a pissing contest until Barry backs down or Tobias gets bored.

Tobias tells Barry to leave the body for Bernadette to find. He refuses, and they argue some more before, ultimately, Barry agrees to leave her body on the ground so it can be found and reported. Apparently, it’ll put a spotlight on Bernadette, and right now, that’s not what she needs. The public will feel sorry for her, they’ll hunt for the murder suspect, and hopefully, they’ll find some dirty little secrets about her underworld dealings.

I don’t climb into the same car as Kade – I follow Barry to another, and Jason sits in the passenger seat as we follow everyone else. My leg bounces, and I lift my eyes to find Kade’s big brother staring at me.

“That was risky,” he says. “What if he really did kill you?”

I shrug. All I can do is shrug.

I lower my head and lean it against the car window, silence filling the car all the way back to the lodge. When we stop, Jason climbs out, and Barry locks the doors before I can open mine. “Don’t ever do that again, do you understand?”

“I was trying to help him.”

“By risking your life?”

“He said that if he completed the contra—”

“I don’t give a fuck, Stacey. If you ever sneak away from me and risk getting yourself killed, I’ll kill you myself.”

I narrow my eyes. “I’ll tell Lisa you’re threatening me.”

He scoffs and unclips his seat belt.

When I get out of the car, I pause on seeing Kade climb out the one in front. He pauses too, staring at me as he pulls up the fabric to cover his mouth, but I already see the purple line from the corner of his mouth, travelling down. He looks like he wants to speak. Aria says something to him, and he nods, not taking his eyes off me.

Even when he looks completely exhausted and drained of life, he’s handsome. His hair is longer, wavy, and his usual clean-shaven face is covered in stubble.

I like it.

I love him.

I’m still dizzy from the turn of events. We’re only a few footsteps from one another, with everything out in the open. No more secrets. No more lies. Nothing but the looming threat of Bernadette.

Him severing his connection with the bitch to get a few minutes alone with me was a shock, and I’m still processing it. I thought I’d be dead by now.

Wanting to kiss someone, to hold them and beg them to forget the last few years and go back to the way things were has got to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced.

I’m not mad at Kade; I’m… lost. I know none of it was his fault. I could have just yelled from the treetops that I was attacked, that my brother was a lunatic, so I’m not innocent in all of this.

I could have asked for help when I found out Kade was in trouble with Bernadette the night we fucked next to a dead body outside that club. I should have. I went to Tobias because I thought he’d be able to give me advice; I never thought he’d break out and try to deal with him himself.

But he did escape. Is that my fault too?

If I’d just spoken up about my abuse, would we be in this position?

Would my baby girl be here?

Kade shifts on his feet. His fingers are spasming, and he’s blinking a lot. “Do you think you could ever forgive me?” he asks, and I can tell the drugs he’d taken are starting to wear off – he’s fidgety and sweating and his knees are bouncing. “I need you to forgive me. I’ll do anything. Just tell me – I’ll do it.”

I flatten my lips to hold in a sob. “I don’t think this is about forgiveness. I could have said something years ago about my brother, but I didn’t.”

“You were scared.”

“And why didn’t you tell anyone about Bernadette?”

Kade stays silent.

“Because you were scared, like me. This isn’t about forgiving one another, Kade. This is about surviving.”

“But I don’t feel like I’m surviving,” he says quietly, almost feebly.

I hate myself for believing he would actually hurt me, but how could I not? He shot at me and spoke to me like I was nothing but shit on the bottom of his shoe. He was violent in the way he said each word.

In a way, he is violent, because as annoying as Cassie was, I didn’t expect him to shoot her in the head with no emotion.

Tobias puts his arm over Kade’s shoulders, pulling him towards the lodge, and I follow beside Aria, who’s still sniffing and wiping under her eyes.

“I’m going to need a lot of help with this one. He’s on something, I can tell.”

“I’ll help,” I say without hesitation.

“All we need is Luciella home, and we can work on fixing the family. Maybe we can come to an agreement with a judge for Tobias not to get a harsh punishment for escaping. I think… if they knew the reasons why, they’d understand.”

It’s impossible. Tobias is a murderer and not fit to be in public. He’s not safe – a danger to everyone and himself. The second they find out where he is, if they don’t shoot on sight, Tobias will never see a visitation or the light of day again.

“I don’t think he has any intentions of returning,” I say honestly. “He’s not been in public in over twenty years, and I can tell he’s assessing every detail. Going back would be mental suicide for him.”

She turns to me as we stop at the porch. “What else am I to do? He can’t stay on the run forever. He’ll get sick again. He… The version of him we have now is after years of therapy and medication and training. I’ll need to try to sneak his meds, and even then, I’ll eventually be caught too. You didn’t see what he was like before. I was afraid of him.”

I lower my chin in understanding. “It’s a horrible situation to be in. I know you care for him.”

She snorts a little laugh, looking through the window to see Tobias pouring Kade a glass of water and Kade shaking his head, pulling down the fabric hiding his neck and mouth while Barry inspects him – shining a light in his eyes and checking his blood pressure.

Jason stands aside, looking nervous. The last two times he’s been around his little brother, he’s been beaten up. But he looks like he wants to talk to him, and I’m glad he does.

“I love Tobias more than words will ever explain,” Aria says. “But I also know he doesn’t belong out here. It’s just a matter of time before he snaps.”

The man in question glances towards us, giving Aria a soft smile. He mouths, He’ll be okay, and goes back to holding a glass out to Kade.

They remind me of a couple in their twenties. They’re goofy and hot-headed, yet the love between them is unbeatable. It’s a shame for Ewan, even if he is okay with it.

Ewan, Barry and Tobias come outside to talk to the guards, seeking news on whether Chris has been caught. Nothing yet, but they know where he is. They talk about Cassie too, then discuss the drugs in Kade’s system and how we’re going to need to lock him in a room and make him go cold turkey.

I shiver at the thought and head inside. I find Kade standing in the kitchen now, leaning against the counter, watching me. He tilts his head towards the stairs, a silent request to speak to me again in private. He still has the material over his mouth, refusing to remove it.

Such a bad time to find him hot, but I do. Even if his eyes are bloodshot and he can’t stand still for more than a second.

I nod slightly, and when he realises I’m not going to go first, he sets towards the stairs and goes up them. I go to move, but I notice Jason pushing off the wall and following his little brother.

It doesn’t matter though, because as soon as Jason reaches the top, he’s yelling out for help.

When we rush upstairs, Kade is seizing on the floor. Aria tells everyone to give him space, but I reach for his hand, holding it tightly until the seizure stops. I don’t let go of it while Tobias carries him to the bedroom across from mine, or when I sit beside his bed while Ewan and Aria discuss the type of seizures Tobias used to have.

He’s sweaty, pale, and he keeps flinching in his sleep.

“Kade’s only ever had a seizure once,” Aria says, hugging herself. “He was eight, and doctors had no idea what caused it. Said it could’ve been due to his high level of anxiety. We were to monitor him and record the next time it happened.” She glances at her son. “He’ll be okay. He’s gone through a lot, so I think he’s mentally exhausted.”

“Or it’s the drugs,” Barry adds. “Bernadette forced a lot into his system over the years.”

We all stay silent.

Twelve hours I stay sitting beside his bed. He hasn’t once budged or shifted or awoken. Kade’s completely drained – out cold, asleep, resting as he should. It’ll get worse before it gets better, Aria had told everyone.

But we’ll be here for him this time. He doesn’t need to do any of this alone.

I don’t register the cars pulling up outside until Jason walks over to the window. “Shit. They got them.”

I sigh as I stroke my thumb over Kade’s clammy hand.

My stepbrothers are here.