Page 68 of Penn

“Here in this building. In my office waiting for you. He wants to talk to you, Mila.”

Penn tenses beside me. His voice is sharp and immediate. “No. Absolutely not. That asshole turned his back on her. Let his parents cut her out of their lives. He doesn’t get to waltz back in now.”

“Penn—” Kynan’s is calm, measured. “Just… hear him out.”

I glance at Penn. He radiates fury, but under it, I see the same worry I feel.

I’m absolutely torn. I have no fond feelings for my brother. In all the time he’s been in prison, he’s not once reached out to me. Why now?

“He knows what Jace is doing,” Kynan says, and Penn and I both turn our attention back to him. “He laid it all out and you should hear it.”

Penn scrubs his hands over his face and sighs before his eyes come back to me. “I don’t like it, and if you don’t want to talk to him, I will. But I want this over and it sounds like he has the answers.”

“Will you stay with me?” I ask, hating that I need external support. It makes me feel weak, but I don’t have it in me to confront Peter alone.

“Of course I will,” Penn assures me, his hand going to the back of my neck where he squeezes. “Always.”

I can’t even relish that his words feel like a promise for a future together. I turn back to Kynan and nod. “Bring him in, then.”

Malik silently heads out the door. It seems like agonizing minutes but is probably a handful of seconds before the door opens again.

And there he is.

Peter.

Thinner than I remember. Paler. Hair buzzed short. A little hollow in the cheeks. But it’s him. My brother.

His eyes land on mine and they look tired and wary. “Hey, Mila,” he says softly.

I don’t reply. I can’t. My throat’s too tight, and my heart’s thudding so hard it’s a wonder no one else hears it.

He walks slowly to the table and sits at the far end—three chairs in between us. He looks to Kynan with an almost childlike plea to help ease this awkward reunion.

Kynan gets the message and starts the conversation. “Apparently, Jace reached out to Peter after he got out of prison and they started corresponding. Peter found out that Jace had a revenge plan from the start. He wanted to join forces to get back at both you and Penn.”

I’m trying to process that, but my brother speaks, low and unsteady. “I know you have no reason to trust me, Mila. But I intended to come straight to you when I got out. And then Malik was there when I got released, explained who he was and brought me here instead.”

So much to process and the only thing I can think to say is, “Weren’t Mom and Dad there to pick you up?”

“They were,” he admits with a half-smile. “And not too happy I got on a plane to Pittsburgh with Malik instead. They didn’t like the fact I wanted to see you.”

“They hate me,” I whisper as my eyes fall to the table, that loss of parental love cutting through me like a sharp knife, even though it’s been gone for over a decade.

“I know, and I’m sorry for that too. But I never did.”

My eyes snap up to meet my brother’s, and I know he can see the disbelief.

“I don’t blame you for not believing that and I’ll admit that when I first went away, I had a lot of bitterness. But… prison changes a man. Sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better.”

“And let me guess,” Penn cuts in so sardonically, I wince at the bite in his words. “You changed for the better. Well, I don’t fucking believe it.”

Penn bristles with anger and now I touch him in comfort, resting a hand on his forearm. I look back to Peter, whose eyes are pinned to where I’m touching Penn. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking… likely wondering what that touch means, but I don’t care about that. “How about you tell me what you know?”

That seems easy enough.

Peter nods, pausing before he responds. “Jace wrote to me after he got out. Said we had unfinished business. Kept going on about ‘justice.’ At first, I thought he was just angry. But then it got darker. He started talking about you and Penn. About hurting you both and he assumed I’d want the same.”

My stomach twists, my fingers clawing into Penn, but he doesn’t flinch.

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