Page 46 of Fighting for Lucy

When she realized she was no longer holding his hand, and that he’d taken a few steps back as though he didn't belong here by her side, Lucy gently extracted herself from her friends’ embraces.

“I'm okay,” she assured them. “I have a whole ton of bruises, a broken arm, probably some cracked ribs, and all I want to do is sleep for about a month. But I'm alive, and it’s all thanks to Zander.”

As though they’d all forgotten he was even there, everyone’s attention suddenly shifted to him, and she could feel his uneasiness even though his stiff posture didn't alter. She knew that the last her friends had heard, she was on a plane with Scarlett’s supposedly dead brother, and they all wondered if maybe he was somehow involved in everything that had gone down with Scarlett, the mole, and the weapons dealer.

“Zander was undercover,” she quickly explained. She had no idea what they knew and what they didn't, and she didn't want anyone looking at him with suspicion. While he would never tell anyone or say it out loud, their accusations would hurt him. Already he blamed himself for the deaths of his team, and having people place more blame on his shoulders when he was already carrying such a heavy burden would be more than he could handle.

“We heard,” Cassie told her.

“Eagle caught us up on the fact that Zander was working to bring down a terrorist cell,” Ella added.

Scarlett said nothing. She was too busy glaring at her twin brother.

Tate Laurier, a SEAL whose team had been called in to help locate Scarlett when she had been kidnapped the first time and was now dating her, stepped up beside her and took her hand.

“Don’t say anything you’ll regret,” Tate said softly to Scarlett, but it was clear from her expression that she wasn’t listening. Scarlett was a sweet woman, one who Lucy had long since admired because she went after what she wanted and didn't get deterred when there were bumps along the way.

But right now, Scarlett wasn’t thinking clearly.

Grief and betrayal were hard to deal with, and when they came from the one person who had always been there for you, who you loved so much, it was even worse. Then add in that she’d been framed as a traitor and almost lost her life because of it, and Lucy worried it was too much for her.

“He didn't have a choice, Scar,” Lucy said, moving so she was between the brother and sister. While maybe her loyalty should be to her friend and team member, she felt too much for Zander to allow him to take more hits than he already had, even if that meant protecting him from her friend’s anger. Anger she understood but knew that once Scarlett heard what had happened to her brother would fade away.

At least, she hoped it did.

Because if it didn't, Lucy wasn’t just going to be fighting against Zander’s guilt driving a wedge between them, but Scarlett’s anger as well.

Ignoring her, Scarlett glared at her twin. “You let me believe you were dead. When I called Mom and Dad to tell them you weren't, they said they already knew. You told them the truth, Zander, yet you lied to me. How could you do that? Didn't you care that you were hurting me? Shutting me out and joining the military to get Mom and Dad to love you was one thing, I didn't understand it, but I didn't want to lose you completely over it.But letting me believe you had died, that’s something I can't get over.”

“Scarlett,” Lucy warned, taking another step closer to Zander so she was by his side. Because she wanted everybody to know where she stood, she reached out and took his hand. Surprised faces looked from her to Zander to their joined hands. Even Zander looked down at them as though he couldn’t quite believe she would be so blatant about their teeny, tiny, little possible fledgling relationship.

But playing games wasn’t her style. She’d told him that and promised to be there for him. Did he not think that meant standing up for him with his sister?

“You need to listen to him,” she told her friend. “Once you hear what happened, you’ll understand why he had to do what he did. I don’t like that he hurt you, I told him that, but I do understand.”

Anger crackled in the air, arcing from Scarlett to her brother. “If you think I'm ever going to understand how my own twin brother could let me suffer thinking that he was dead, then you're crazy.”

With that, Scarlett turned and stalked away, leaving pain flowing in waves off the man standing beside her.

January 25th

2:54 A.M.

He’d lost her.

The only family he’d ever really had.

That thread that had always tied them together as twins snapped as Scarlett walked away from him.

Zander had never intended to tell his sister he was alive, not after how his parents had reacted. Branding him a failure, they had reiterated every single thing he’d been feeling about the ordeal. His guilt, his remorse, and his anger. How could he face the only person whose opinion of him mattered when the people he’d been trying so hard to please had confirmed his worst fears about himself?

That was the moment he’d known he was done trying to earn their love.

Quite simply they didn't have any real meaningful love to give.

Then he’d been approached to go undercover and never expected to come out the other side alive. What was the point in making his twin mourn him twice?

Now, though, he’s lost her.

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