Found (The Scions Book 2)

by Gemma Weir

  Pause.

  “He believes everything. I told you he would.”

  Pause.

  “He thinks I need him to protect me.” She coos, her voice morphing into the broken, lost sound of the girl I met that first night.

  Nausea rises in my throat and I almost throw up. My blood has turned to ice in my veins. I want to deny the truth, to hide from her betrayal, this girl that is everything to me. But I can’t. I throw open the door and it smashes against the wall. She jumps, spinning around, her expression instantly changing from shocked and angry, to pathetic and cajoling. She shoves the cell into her pocket and sashays toward me.

  “You got everything, baby? You ready to go?”

  I just stare at her, my heart shattered into a thousand pieces, her betrayal making me numb.

  “We should go. Lenny’s expecting us.”

  “Expecting us,” I repeat monotone.

  She pushes up onto her toes and moves to kiss me, but I step back at the last minute, so her lips only find air. “Vali, what’s the matter?”

  I laugh. The sound is so bitter and hollow that I barely recognize it as coming from myself. “I heard you. I heard it all.”

  “What are you talking about?” She asks, the slight shake in her voice belaying her attempt to sound surprised. Her voice is soft, but the look in her eyes tells a different story.

  I shake my head, disgusted that I didn’t see through her; disgusted that I believed her, loved her. “You can stop now,” I say. “I heard it all. How we’re going to be picked up with the drugs by someone pretending to be a cop. How you’re going to tell me Lenny paid them off to save us. How we’ll owe him.”

  Bella’s body tenses and she stands up straighter, crossing her arms across her chest.

  “I heard how you’re going to wait until I get my trust then wring me dry.”

  Her lips part in shock, but she doesn’t speak.

  “Millions, baby, millions,” I say, impersonating her voice, mimicking her tone.

  “Vali,” she coaxes, using the voice she’s been using to manipulate me for months; only until now I had no idea. I was fucking blind to it. All because she’s beautiful and fragile and I wanted someone to need me. I needed a purpose; something to anchor me in this life that I was floundering in.

  “All of this, everything you said, everything you did, was to control me, to get to my money?” I ask.

  Like she knows there’s no coming back from this moment, she lets the sweet, defenseless persona fall away and when she smiles at me I don’t even recognize her. “Why else would I want a throwaway like you?”

  * * *

  Present Day.

  The room comes back into focus and it takes me a minute to realize I’m still staring at the door Nova just left through. She’s nothing like Bella, she never was; but that fragility I saw in her, then the way she became a different person at school, it was all too familiar.

  I can’t believe how I just acted. I treated her like shit because I’m scared and I’m pushing her away because I want to be here. I want to stay somewhere for the first time in years, and yet my place in this house is balancing on a knife edge. One more wrong step and I’m out and I wouldn’t even blame them.

  The urge to chase after her, to tell her I’m sorry threatens to overwhelm me, but before I can chase her down, I need to know what my mom wants.

  If she’s looking for a kidney she’s shit out of luck, but if she’s not ill then why else would she want to contact me now, nearly three years since she turned her back on me? Exhaling, I try to calm the shaking in my limbs. I’m not sure if it’s the fear of losing Nova, of what wreckage my mom can cause in this new life that has me trembling, but I need to pull myself together.

  Closing my eyes, I try the technique Nova’s shrink gave her. I slow my breathing, elongating my exhale until I feel calmer. It takes a while, but eventually it works and when I open my eyes and lift my hand into the air it’s steady.

  Pulling my cell from my pocket I quickly type out a text to Nova.

  Me: I’m an asshole and I’m sorry. I need to talk to Sleaze and Brandi, but I’ll come over after that. Let me in. Please.

  She doesn’t reply immediately. I’m not surprised, and honestly, I should probably expect another fist to the face or a knee to the balls when I get there, but I’ll take it. It’s time to come clean about all my shit and hope she can forgive me.

  Pulling in a deep inhale, I push up from my bed and make my way downstairs and into the family room. Brandi is sitting with Sabrina, doing homework or something.

  “Hey, can I speak to you and Sleaze real quick?” I ask.

  Brandi smiles cautiously and nods. She gets up and I follow her into the kitchen where she motions to Sleaze. “Should we maybe sit out on the patio?” she asks.

  I nod, then follow them outside, sitting down at the table opposite them.

  “You okay, kid?” Sleaze asks. “Nova left in a hurry.”

  Letting my gaze fall to the table I close my eyes for a second, then sigh. “I was an asshole. I’m going there to grovel in a minute.”

  Brandi laughs, then her eyes widen, and she slaps her hand over her mouth to cover the sound. “Sorry,” she says, the sound muffled as she fights her amusement.

  “It’s fine, I think we all know I’m gonna spend a lot of time apologizing for when I fuck up with her.”

  “Is that what you want to talk to us about, because I know what flowers she likes if you need something to grovel with,” Brandi says, a half smile still twitching on her lips.

  I try to smile back at her, but from her reaction I think it must end up as more of a grimace. “No. Err, I wanted to talk about why Tricia was here yesterday.”

  Both Brandi and Sleaze’s expressions turn grim. “We don’t want you to go, kid. This is your home for as long as you want it. I told you that last night,” Sleaze says.

  I nod. “Yeah, I know.” I swallow past the lump of emotion that’s lodged in my throat. “I want to stay, if that’s okay.”

  “Of course,” Brandi blurts. “We want you to, we want you here.”

  I nod again. “But actually, I wanted to talk to you about what Tricia said about my—” I open my mouth to say the word, but it won’t form, won’t move past my tongue.

  “Your mom,” Sleaze says gruffly.

  I nod.

  His exhale is loud enough to have my hands shaking again. I know it’s bad. I can hear it just from that one sound.

  Sleaze looks to his wife, then back to me. “Your mom got back in touch with the social worker who orchestrated your original move into state care. We don’t know all the details, but she had some kind of mental breakdown and voluntarily admitted herself to a treatment program. She’s out now and she wants to re-initiate contact with you.”

  “Why?” I ask, the shaking in my limbs moving from my hands and up into my arms.

  “We don’t really know. All we know is that she wants to speak to you and is being pretty persistent about it.”

  A hard scoff bubbles from my lips. “You mean she’s throwing her money around. Let me guess, she got some fancy lawyers involved.”

  Sleaze’s wince tells me everything I need to know. “What do I do?” I ask.

  “What do you want to do?” Brandi asks me softly.

  “I want to forget that she exists and pretend that she’s not trying to fuck with me.”

  “We can inform Tricia that you don’t want to have any contact with her. I can’t guarantee that will be the end of it, but maybe if your mom hears that you don’t want to see her, she might back off.” Brandi says, her tone hopeful, even though her face tells a different story.

  “Yeah, let’s do that. If she wants something bad enough, she won’t give up; but maybe me refusing to speak to her will clue her in on the fact that she’s fucked up my life enough already.”

  “Okay, I’ll go give Tricia a call,” Brandi says, pushing back from the patio table and squeezing my shoulder lightly before heading back
into the house, purpose lacing each of her steps.

  “You okay?” Sleaze asks, turning back to me once Brandi is out of sight.

  “Nope,” I say honestly.

  “You gonna do something stupid?”

  “Not sure, but I don’t think so.” I admit.

  “Want to go to the club and get a beer?”

  I laugh. “No, I gotta go grovel to my girl. I made another run for ‘asshole of the year’ tonight.”

  Sleaze’s chuckle is low and raspy. “Good luck. You might be best trying the window ‘cause if Princess went home pissed, Echo is probably gunning for you.”

  “I thought you guys were friends?”

  “We are, we’re brothers.”

  “So why are you telling me to climb into his only daughter’s window?”

  He shrugs. “Because son trumps brother.”

  My mouth falls open and I gawp at him.

  He takes in my shocked expression, looking thoughtful as he pushes out of his chair until he’s standing next to me, his huge frame dwarfing me. His hand lands on the back of my neck and he squeezes lightly. “Welcome to the family, kid.”

  I watch as he ambles back into the house and for a second I’m too touched and shocked to move. This couple have welcomed me into their home, put up with me ignoring them for weeks, then supported me when anyone else would have kicked my ass to the curb. They’ve so effortlessly accepted my failures and tried to help me right my wrongdoings. They’ve done all of this without thought, without expecting anything in return.

  A pang of something pulses in my chest right behind my ribs. Is this it? Could I call this house home, these people family? Hope surges to life, but I tamp it down, not wanting to allow something to build that could so easily be dashed to pieces.

  But the hope won’t fade and the smile that tried to form on my lips won’t be discouraged. Maybe, just maybe, after years of being a throwaway, this place could be a safe haven, at least for a while.

  I sit at the table for longer than I should, staring out into the darkness of the backyard. When I finally climb out of the chair, my muscles are stiff and the pool of hope in my chest is the biggest it’s been since Bella filled it full of dreams of running away and living happily ever after.

  Everything she said was a lie though, a careful mirage created to draw me in and lull me into a false sense of security. She never wanted me. She was plotting, manipulating, and conspiring from the very first moment she found out my birth family was rich. I shudder as I consider what my life would be like now if I hadn’t overheard her conversation that day.

  No. I banish the depressing thoughts that will only make me angry and bitter. Bella is in the past; a mistake that jaded and shaped me, but that I won’t allow to define me anymore. I made that mistake already when I thought even for a moment that Nova was anything like her.

  This place, this town, these people. They’re my second chance and damn if I don’t want it.

  Walking into the house, I make a beeline to Brandi who is in the kitchen pulling plates and napkins from the cabinet. “Hey, I made pot roast for dinner, it’s gonna be ready in about ten minutes.”

  “Thanks, that sounds great, but I’m actually going to go over to Nova’s. Save me some, if that’s okay and I’ll heat it up when I get back.”

  “Okay, sweetie.”

  She turns to leave and I inhale, then speak quickly. “Do you have like a file on me or whatever?”

  Her face pales slightly. “What?”

  “Err did Tricia or whoever give you a file about me? You know, something with all the details of my fucked up past so you knew what you were getting into?”

  Brandi clears her throat. “Not a file exactly, but yes we were given details on you and your past.”

  “Can I see it?” I ask.

  “Of course,” she says, quickly handing the plates off to Sleaze and hurrying to the small office at the back of the house.

  I follow her and when she enters a code into a safe, I jolt in shock. “You have a safe?”

  “Yeah, we do.”

  “Are you like a mafia boss or something? Who actually has a safe in the house?”

  She chuckles, “We had it installed in case Sleaze brought home any contracts from work. But we use it to store all our important paperwork, the info on you kids, our wedding license and adoption paperwork, that kind of stuff.”

  I watch as she pulls out a stack of paperwork in a brown paper file. “Not a file, huh?” I say lifting my eyebrows up in question.

  She rolls her eyes. “I put it in the file not them. They actually email it all over, but I printed it off so I could read it all.” She offers the file to me and I reach for it, wrapping my fingers around the edge of the paper. I wait for her to release her side, but she doesn’t.

  “I don’t want to stop you from reading any of this, but when you do, just remember that this is only things written about you and your situation. It doesn’t define you or really explain who you are as a person. They are only words on paper, nothing more.”

  I nod and she offers me a sad smile as she releases the folder. Pulling the file toward me, I fight the urge to open the papers and see what’s written; but I don’t want any of this for me, I want it for Nova. There’s so much that she needs to know, things that I can’t find the words to explain. Maybe this file will give her a better idea of why I am the way I am.

  “I’ll bring it back later.”

  “If you want. But if you want to throw it away or burn it or whatever you can. It’s your history, not mine. We don’t need that file anymore. We have you here, the real person. The past is just that, the past, and in this family we remember the past, but we don’t let it shape us. You have a wonderful future just waiting to happen, Valentine.” With that she pulls me in for a quick hug before releasing me and rushing away.

  The file is gripped tightly in my fingers as I walk the few blocks to Nova’s house. Light blares through the windows and I should probably just grow a pair and knock on the front door, but I don’t. Instead, I creep around the side of the house like a thief in the night and climb up through her window.

  She doesn’t seem surprised to see me when I pull my body over the ledge and lower myself into her room. “I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes lift to mine and there’s anger bubbling in her fiery depths. “You should be. Wanting to cuddle for a bit after good sex isn’t a crime, Valentine.” She spits, then visibly inhales. “But I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have gotten so bratty.”

  I’m shocked by her apology. She had behaved like a brat, but for some reason I never really expected her to acknowledge that. “Are we good now?”

  She sighs and the sound makes goose bumps pebble along my arms.

  “I don’t know, Valentine. Is this how it’s always going to be, us fighting then making up, only to fight again and start the cycle over?”

  “It’s going to take me some time, Princess. I’m not used to having anyone else,” I admit. “I- I, err, brought you something to look at.”

  Her eyes fall to the folder still gripped tightly in my hand and her brows pull together as she tries to figure out what it is.

  “This is the file that Brandi and Sleaze got about me. I don’t know what’s in here, but I thought it might help fill in the blanks about me. There’s some stuff I just can’t talk about. I get too angry and I don’t want to put that on you. So, I thought maybe you’d want to read this.” I offer her the file and she reaches out and takes it, pulling it into her lap.

  “Can you tell me what happened yesterday?” she asks cautiously.

  I sigh wearily and lower myself down onto the bed next to her. “Tricia, my social worker, was there when I got home.” I swallow thickly. “My mom wants to see me.”

  I hear Nova’s quick intake of breath, but I don’t turn to look at her. “I don’t want to see her,” I admit quietly.

  Nova’s small hands slide around my neck and I lean into her touch. She crawls into my lap, wrapping herself aro
und me, holding me, and offering me the comfort that I hadn’t realized I’d needed until she’d given it me.

  “Do you know what she wants?” She whispers against my neck.

  “Apparently she’s been through some kind of treatment program and now she wants contact. I don’t know anything more than that.”

  “But if you refuse to see her, there’s nothing more she can do, right?”

  “She’s got more money than she knows what to do with. She’s probably lawyered up and she was raised to believe that money can buy you anything you want. It doesn’t matter what I want. She proved three years ago that she doesn’t care about me.”

  “I’m sorry,” she coos, her lips landing on my neck a second later.

  “Me too.”

  Silence descends over us for a moment, but it doesn’t feel awkward. Nova being in my arms feels right and when I pull her down to the bed she stays in my arms, not speaking, just enjoying the comfort and peace we gift one another.

  “I should probably go,” I say half an hour later.

  Her arms tighten around me and I chuckle. “Read the file, Princess. I’ll try to answer any questions you have tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” she says, reluctantly freeing her hold on me.

  Sitting up, I look from the window to her door and contemplate just walking down the stairs.

  “I didn’t tell anyone I was pissed at you, but my dad will still kill you if you admit you’ve been climbing in through my window,” she says on a giggle.

  Smiling, I pull her to me and kiss her grinning lips. I want to tell her I love her, but I swallow the words down. This isn’t the time. She has a record of my fucked-up past sat next to her on the bed and until she knows everything, it doesn’t feel right to admit my feelings. If she still wants me when she’s read all the gory details, I’ll tell her then.

  Until then, I kiss her, pushing all those declarations of love into the way my lips move against hers, how I hold her to me, how my tongue dances with hers.

  I’m in love with this girl and she’s starting to feel like home.

  Standing at my window, I watch as he turns the corner of the house and disappears from view. What the hell have I got myself into with him? He’s so many things all rolled into one. Hurt, beautiful, sad, angry, fragile, hard. He’s a constant contradiction and the chances of him hurting me again or losing control of his tightly wound emotions and lashing out at me are higher than I should be prepared to accept.