Page 3 of Deadly Little Hearts

“Lucas and my brother share the same father,” I whisper, and for the first time, it really sinks in.Alec and Idon’tshare the same father.So he’s my half-brother.No, fuck that.He’s always been my full brother and always will be.

“Holy shit.”Amirah sits straighter, half her champagne falling into the water.

“Yep.”I sigh, taking my glass from the side of the jacuzzi and finishing it in one gulp.

“That’s messed up.I have so many questions.”

So do I.

“Yeah, well, he’s dead now, so we won’t be getting the answers.”

She gasps.“Who’s dead?”

“Lucas’s father and ...and ...”The words lodge in the back of my throat.

Amirah slides across the seat so she’s closer to me, water sloshing onto the deck.She pulls me into her arms, and I let her take me.Tears well behind my eyes, and my head pounds, feeling like it’s about to explode.

“I killed—” My throat becomes dry, and I whisper, “Nadine.”

Amirah sucks in a breath, but she doesn’t let me go.She holds me close, running her hand up and down my back.A few minutes later, she pulls back, looking into my eyes.The corner of her mouth lifts slightly.

“Never did like that bitch,” she says, and I laugh uncontrollably until the laughter turns into tears once again.

I pull myself out of her arms and fall back against the jets.

The reality of the situation hits me again—I killed someone.And even if she wasn’t a good woman, I still pulled the trigger.What gives me the right to play God?

“Hey,” Amirah says, bumping shoulders with me as she settles back into the spa.“I know you’re beating yourself up about this, but I bet you had a good reason for doing what you did.”

I shrug.Is any reason really good enough?Still ...“She pushed drugs on me and admitted to killing Alec.But I didn’t mean to kill her—she was aiming a gun at me, and I snatched it off her.A shot went off, and before I knew what happened, she was dead.You should have seen the way Lucas looked at me tonight,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut.“He hates me.”

“Lucas couldn’t hate you.He’s in love with you, but he might need time to heal from this.”

“I’m not sure he’ll get over it, and if he doesn’t, I won’t blame him.As much as it kills me, I’ll leave him alone.Until he finds his way back to me—or not.”My words hang in the air, and I don’t know if I believe that I’ll ever really let him go.Yet if the roles were reversed and he killed my brother, I don’t know if I could ever forgive that.

My heart might be broken in two, but if a relationship between us is meant to be, then it’ll happen.I need to hold on to that.

“I have to go back home and sort some things out with Mom, and it’s probably for the best,” I say, though even I can hear the defeat in my tone.“The boys will have their hands full with The Brotherhood, and Lucas needs space.”

Amirah huffs.“You belong over here—you always did.Now you can both come back home.”

I laugh and shake my head.“We never belonged here, not really, and Mom isn’t better.She still thinks I’m lying about Alec and that he’ll come back.”A shiver runs down my spine.That’s not going to be a fun conversation when she finally realizes he’s gone.Will it tip her over the edge?

She can’t drop further than she already has.

“You do what you have to, but don’t just disappear.”Amirah takes another sip of her champagne.“That hood rat will get you back over there and won’t let you leave, but I’ll fight him.”

I frown.“Uh, which one?”

“You know ...the one who’s always following you around with those intense dark-brown eyes.”

“Kai?”I ask, and she nods.

“Yeah, Kai—that’s it.He’s always wearing that leather jacket with the 18hood logo on the back.”

“You’re paying a lot of attention to a guy from the wrong side of the tracks,” I tease, and her cheeks pinken, and I’m sure it’s not just from the heat of the water.

“Shut up.”She splashes me, and I raise my hands in surrender.

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