Page 139 of Redeemed

Lucas:Is Aurora eating enough?

Theo:How the fuck would I know? She’s not a toddler.

I grit my teeth. Sometimes, my stepbrother’s antics make me want to throw him out a window.

Lucas:You can lie to our parents, but you can’t to me. I know you keep tabs on her.

His read receipts indicate that he sees the message immediately, but he doesn’t reply. I count down from sixty, something my high school counselor taught me to help control my anger issues.

It’s never worked.

Lucas:Don’t fucking play with me if you want to live to see another day, bitch.

That “typing” bubble pops up on his side of the screen, but then it disappears. I’m just about ready to shove my phone in my pocket when it shows up again.

Theo:She’s down to two meals a day.

Fuck.She’s testing the limits again. Seeing what she can get away with before anyone notices.

Before I can type out a response, a second message appears on my screen.

Theo:She got cast as the understudy for the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.She’s wanted that role since she was seven. My mom had been gifted two tickets to the Nutcracker, so she’d taken Aurora. It’s what sparked my sister’s interest in ballet, and she taught herself by watching YouTube tutorials until she got a scholarship to a local dance school.

She’s worked hard, and no one deserves that role more than she does. Getting cast as the understudy was probably like a slap to the face. She’s a junior, which means she only has one year left to make the role.

Ballet isn’t my thing, but I’ve lived in close enough proximity to it for long enough. Rora has performed in the Nutcracker for years—at the show her school put on back home, and at Pemberton’s production of it since she enrolled. I know when casting season is, and it was at least a month ago but probably longer.

Which means she’s been hiding this from me.

Fuck.Why wasn’t I paying better attention?

Theo:Damn. I suspected she’d kept it from you, but I wasn’t sure.

Lucas:Why the hell didn’t you tell me?

Theo:You can’t protect her forever.

I’m gonna kill him.

Shoving my phone in my pocket, I start my bike and tear out of the driveway. All I want to do is figure out wherever Theo is right now and give him a piece of my mind, but I can’t. My focus needs to be on Haven.

When Xander left to go talk to Colton, Haven only slipped further into her panic. She could barely breathe, and anything I did to help made her lash out. I have the claw marks down my arms to prove it, hidden beneath my jacket so I wouldn’t freak Rora out.

I’m going double the speed limit, and I run multiple stop signs on my way back to Colton’s. The thrill of it calms me, but that’s not the only reason. Now that Aurora isn’t in front of me, I feel god-awful for taking so long to get back. I should’ve waited to text Theo, I was just so…

My grip on the steering wheel tightens. Growing up, my mom put more of a focus on Aurora, especially after she started excelling in ballet. It’s how I wanted things. Every chance I got, I rerouted Mom’s attention to my little sister. It was too late for me to turn out normal, and I wanted her to be okay.

I still do. But between classes, football, and the Rooks, I have so little time to check in on her. Sometimes I want to bash Theo’s head in, but he’s the one who’s home the most. The fact that he didn’t tell me that Aurora was showing signs of relapsing pisses me off.

When I walk inside Colton’s mansion, the house is quiet. It takes me searching the entire upstairs before I realize the basement door is open.

Shit.

I bolt down the stairs and head directly for Colton’s play room, practically kicking the door down. But what I see is the last thing I expected.

Colton is standing underneath a metal suspension frame. His hands are cuffed to the bar above his head, and his jaw is set. He’s near-naked, in nothing but his black briefs.

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