Page 103 of Feed Your Fiends

“She rigged it… Just like her fucking son,” I say rising from my knees with a crack before crawling back into the recliner because suddenly I can’t support my body weight. “She calledyou,Jarett? Neither your name nor number was on the application. We don’t even share the same surname.”

Jarett refused to sign my birth certificate, and although my parents were married, Jaime never pushed the matter because she wanted to keep him happy.

“But despite all of that, she calledyou, not Jaime?”

Jaime flinches at the use of her first name.

“When I won the dance scholarship, you told me I’d won,” I say, looking at her. “But the studio didn’t call you?”

She shakes her head. “Jarett told me the good news. Or what I thought was good news at the time. Elle! That bloody family has been roping you into their shenanigans from the start.”

From the start.

She knew. Madame knew who I was all along. She knew Jarett was my father all along. I feel sick as I sway against the cushions.

“Do you know Silas’s son, Sylo?” I ask. Of course, he doesn’t, but it’s worth a shot.

“Silas,” Jarett mutters. “Brother.”

“Yes, he has a son,Sylo. DidSylotake you to The Watering Hole?”

“Elle,” Jaime says, tugging on my arm. “What the hell is going on? Who is Silas?”

“You saw him the night of the play. You mistook him for Jarett because they’re brothers.”

Her eyes widen before she crumbles onto the coffee table, which squeaks in protest. “That’s his brother? And somehow, Silas knows your old dance teacher? I don’t understand.”

“I don’t have time to explain it,” I say, getting to my feet.

“Where are you going? Not back to that retched boy, I hope?”

“It’s better to lie with the enemy.” I nod to Jarett. “You know that. You’ve done it for decades.”

“Elle—”

“Jarett being damn near comatose doesn’t change anything.” I lean away from him as I pass his recliner and wrinkle my nose. “He stinks.”

“He won’t go in the tub. He keeps calling it a—”

“Tank,” he whispers, and I freeze.

“He’s been through a lot, Elle. I know you’re still angry that he’s here, but look at him. Have a heart.”

“Where was your heart for me when I was a child? Just like he is now? He’s always been your baby, now he’s your literal baby.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Nothing ever is.”

The door bangs shut behind me as I step onto the pavement and into the freezing night. Alone.Again.Except this time, Gant isn’t speeding around the corner to find me because he thinks I’m right where he’s left me. In our bed. But I’m not heading back to our bed yet.

Suddenly, I need a drink because my boyfriend’s been torturing my father for years, and the only reason he’s released him is so he could lure me away from Jaime. He knew Jaime would take the Jarett bait, and he knew I’d fly away, straight back into his manipulative arms.

And I did.

The problem is, it feels good to be caught. Because being hunted, captured, means that someone wants you desperately, and Gant’s not just someone to me any more. He’s consuming me, and I… I want to be consumed by him. But that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t have him and that I shouldn’t want him. What I should want is money and revenge.

Will that make me happy?

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