Page 99 of Cup of Lies

Hot tears streak down my cheeks. I’m tired of swiping them away. I feel as if I failed that kid. He didn’t choose to be with Dad and our family. It wasn’t his fucking choice. But he loved hard and made the best of the situation. Theo has always been impulsive and made the wrong decisions, but his heart is good. I know this.

“He just wanted to redeem himself.” I sniffle and shudder from the cold-ass air-conditioning. “Why is it a damn morgue in here?”

Romy laughs through her tears. “I don’t know. It’s terrible, though. I’m pretty sure my breastmilk is frozen solid.”

I shuffle to lift my arm and draw her under the blanket with me. Though she’s still wet, she warms my fucking soul. I kiss the top of her head.

“When this is all over, I’m going to sleep for a week.”

She shakes her head. “You have a newborn and a six-year-old. That’s not happening, sweetheart.”

This makes me grin despite the pain clawing at my heart. “Not going to lie, I’m looking forward to relaxing with my girls again.”

“Me too. Eva says they’re good. She thinks we should come back to the hotel for a little while. Even just to change before heading back. She’s worried about us.”

I’m not worried about us.

I’m worried about my brother, who was unresponsive and turning gray by the time EMS arrived. He lost so much blood.

Bile creeps up my throat. The candy bar Romy made me eat a few moments ago curdles in my stomach.

“I can’t leave him,” I murmur. “Not until I know…”

I don’t finish that statement.

We both know what it means.

“She gave me an update on LuLu,” she says, a smile in her voice. “Her parents were at work when she went missing again. They immediately called Hadley because they knew something was off. They’re actually at the compound in Tulsa, waiting for her return.”

“Is she okay, though? Physically? Mentally?”

“Eva says she is. A little bruised from the ropes cutting into her, and her chest hurts from the CPR Nees did, but she’s okay. Just wants to see you.”

I warm a bit knowing she’s going to be okay. That girl isn’t my flesh and blood, but she may as well be. She’s the sister I never had and I love her.

We’re interrupted when a man walks over to us. He’s a doctor and wears a grim expression. I’m immediately tense and nauseous.

“We tried everything to save hi—”

His words are drowned out by the agony rushing through me.

“No!” I roar. “No, no, no, no!”

Romy grabs my jaw, forcing me to look at her. “His kidney, Caius. He lost his kidney, but he’s alive.”

I’m stunned and confused. “What?”

“I expect him to make a full recovery,” the doctor says with a chuckle. “He’s a fighter. You can see him soon.”

We spent a week and a half in Canada and are finally home. Well, home for now. There will be a new home for us elsewhere soon.

“Can we swim?” Kaitlyn asks once she’s out of the SUV. “Please, please, please, please. Uncle Theo will go with me.”

Theo winces as he struggles to get out of the vehicle. As soon as he was released from the hospital a few days ago, we started our trek back to Tulsa.

“Not quite there yet, kiddo.” Theo grunts. “Ask Nees.”

It’s not lost on me that Kaitlyn has apparently blocked out that night where me and Nees invaded their home. Romy thinks it’s all inside her head and it’ll need to come out eventually. I just hope it isn’t when she’s a teenager and suddenly hates me.

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