Page 90 of Exes Don't

My dad fires me.

In front of the whole team.

And in front of Queen Della, who is there via video conference.

By the time I pull into the driveway of The Downer, there’s a trail of teardrops and snot running from my eyes and nose and dripping off my chin. I didn’t think it was possible for one person to produce so many facial secretions, but I’m about to set a world record.

I fumble with my keys at the front door. My fingers are freezing, and the snot on my face turns frozen in the sub-zero temperature. I finally get the door open and tumble inside. It’s pitch black, and I don’t bother with the lights. I drop my bag of stuff and walk aimlessly toward the couch. I flop down, grab a throw pillow that Poppy picked out when she lived here and cling to it as a fresh wave of emotions crashes over me.

The front door bangs open, and I scream.

“Rosie. It’s us.” Poppy’s voice slices through my haze, and when one of them hits the lights, I make out the forms of both my sisters. “We were next door and saw you come in.”

They flank me on the couch. Poppy immediately puts her arms around me and holds me to her in a motherly hug. Noli holds out a tissue, making me cry even harder.

I don’t know how long I go on for, but they sit there with me, holding me, rubbing my back, not asking me what’s going on. I love them so much for it that there’s a deep ache in my chest.

When I finally come up from my tears for air, they stare at me with concerned expressions. Their blue eyes, so similar to mine, search my face for answers to unasked questions.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Poppy asks quietly.

“I really don’t.” My voice is hoarse from the sobbing.

“It might help,” Noli says after a second. “It’s something I’m learning in therapy. Naming my anxieties and issues takes some of the power out of them and puts it back in my hands.”

I let my head rest back on the couch. “I’ve ruined everything.”

“What do you mean?” Poppy asks.

“Everything with Anton,” I begin. “And with my job.”

Noli frowns. “What happened at Mood Reader?”

I shake my head. “Not that job.”

Poppy cocks her head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

I scrub my hands over my face. “I haven’t been honest with you both. When I tell you this, you’re going to hate me too…like everyone else.”

“Not true,” Noli says at the same time Poppy says, “We would never.”

“What if I told you I’ve been in touch with Dad for the past decade?” I blurt.

My sisters go still. The only sound in The Downer is the hum of the furnace.

“You’ve…been in touch with Dad?” Poppy asks slowly. “Our dad?”

I nod once. “Not just in touch with him. I’ve been working for him.”

Noli leans back. “What are you talking about?”

“Dad is the head of a private security and intelligence agency. I’ve been one of his agents since I graduated high school.”

Now that the truth is out there, I plow ahead. I tell them everything. How our father recruited me after I graduated high school. How he trained me in self-defense, intelligence gathering, and undercover work. How I moved up the chain from small, odd jobs to more significant ops.

“Anton was a job back in Mobile. I was tasked with gathering information on his life and patterns of behavior and reporting them back to the palace in Penwick,” I explain. As I spell it all out for them, what I did to him sounds manipulative and sketchy, and I hate myself all over again. He has every right to hate me too.

“I fell for him then, but I shouldn’t have,” I press on. “He was a job, and when the job was done, I was told I needed to remove myself from his life. I broke up with him.” I suck in a breath. “It nearly wrecked me, but I stayed busy. That was when I went overseas. I was assigned to another protection detail there.”

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