Page 16 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

Brian and Drew clued in on what she was saying and gestured for her to lead the way.

Drew rushed forward to walk next to her. He leaned over and whispered into her ear. “Acar, Rey?”

“I’ll explain at home,” she said sheepishly.

Luckily when they made it back to the car, it was still perfectly intact, the driver still seated inside, not a dent or scratch on the shiny black exterior. Something she couldn’t say about her own appearance. Brian and Drew looked beyond shocked.

“That’s not a car, Reyna,” Brian said. “That’s a very very expensive car. You’re freaking me out.”

When the driver saw them approaching, he hopped out of the front. “Here you are, Miss Carpenter.” He opened the door for her. She smiled at him and avoided the looks her brothers were giving her. This wasn’t going to be fun.

“Reyna, start talking,” Brian demanded once they were inside the car and on the way back to their apartment.

She nodded at the driver. “We’ll talk when we’re alone.”

The short drive was tense.

Drew kept a close hold on her as if she might disappear again, but Brian was seething. He probably realized more than Drew had that something had gone very wrong. And as the patriarch of their family, he was responsible for making sure that didn’t happen. She wanted to reassure him, but the truth was that somethinghadgone very wrong.

Once the driver pulled up in front of their apartment once more, they piled out of the car. When she saw the total cost for her drive, her body froze. No way was there enough money to cover that. Rising fuel prices had made public transportation a necessity, and in most places people walked. She had walked all the way to the Visage hospital, after all.

“Would you like me to wait, Miss Carpenter?”

“Is it going to cost me a small fortune for you to do so?”

He laughed. “I’m afraid so, but I doubt Mr. Anderson would mind.”

She sighed. She couldn’t live off of his charity like that. She would find another way back. “No. I’ll call for another cab.”

“Are you certain? I don’t mind staying.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Shutting the door behind her, she followed her brothers up to the third floor of their building and then into their tiny one bedroom again. When she was in here in a hurry earlier, she hadn’t truly noticed the extent of the difference between her home and Beckham’s penthouse. One day and it already felt too small, cramped.

But at the same time, it felt homey. Lived-in.

Beckham’s place, in comparison, was stale. There was no love there. All the money in the world couldn’t make a house feel like a home.

“We’re here,” Brian said. “Now talk. Where have you been? Why are you dressed like that? How did you get a car like that?”

Drew frowned and looked away from her. It was as if he already knew the answer. Brian didn’t want to believe it. He had to hear it from her before it could be true.

“I went to Visage yesterday.”

“What?” Brian cried. “No.”

“I put in an application weeks ago. My number was called. I went to the hospital, went through testing, and was placed with a Sponsor.”

Her brothers looked horrified. Utterly horrified.

“You didn’t,” Brian said softly.

“I did.”

Seeing his pain made her confidence waver, but she couldn’t go back on it now.

“I was placed with a high-ranking Visage official, Beckham Anderson.”

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