Page 73 of Explode
If only it was that simple.
‘That’s not what happened,’I signed back, shaking my head.
‘How do you know? Maybe he did it to protect you?’she protested,her face twisting in frustration.
‘How is pretending to be dead protecting me?’I replied, angry tearspricking my eyes at how she was defending Kai when I was hurting.
‘I don’t know. But even if his reasons were stupid, you should at leasthear him out, and then if you decide his reasons aren’t good enough, you can dump his sorry ass, but at least get the full facts.’She threw her hands in the air in exasperation and glared back at me.
Again, I raised my hands to reply, only this time I stopped myself. Thetruth was, I didn’t know why Kai had taken six months to tell me he wasn’t dead. I hadn’t stopped to consider the reasons behind his deceit, too wrapped up in my anger. I mean, was thereanyexcusable reason to let your wife think you were dead, and let her experience the heartache Kai had made me feel?
My mind flashed back to the argument we had when he found me atthe Bianchis. He’d said,‘There is so much you don’t know,’but I’d cut him off, refused to give him a chance to explain anything, and I’d been too angry with him since to even consider hearing him out.
But maybe Angel was right. Not that I believed there was a justifiableexplanation, but at least if I heard his side of the story, I would be fully armed with the information before I made any decisions that impacted my future. Sighing, my body slumped as resignation washed through me.
‘When did you get so wise?’I signed to Angel.
The little brat smirked at me.‘What can I say? You got the stubborngene, and I got the smart one.’
I rolled my eyes and pulled her in for a cuddle, decision made tofinallyhave a conversation with Kai. But not now, now was my time with Angel, and I was going to make the most of every second I had with her.
It’s funny, there were moments in my life when time passed painfullyslow, yet now there was a time limit on how long I could spend with my sister, time sped up. Before I knew it, the day was over.
If I’d had it my way, we would have stayed awake all night to enjoy asmuch time together as possible, but as night fell, Angel couldn’t stop the yawns from falling from her mouth. Deciding enough was enough, I ordered her to bed, intending to sleep next to her.
After she showered and started getting ready for bed, I took my turnto shower, but when I came out of her ensuite, she was nowhere to be seen. Throwing on my clothes, I headed downstairs on the hunt for the little brat. Honestly, she said I had the stubborn gene but I think it was one we’d both inherited.
The house was quiet as I made my way through, that was until Iheard a deep laugh rumble from inside the lounge. A laugh I’d know anywhere.
Kai.
I hadn’t seen him since he left after we first arrived, he hadn’t evenmade an appearance at dinner, and quite honestly, I was grateful for the break.
After my conversation with Angel earlier, I’d had time to think abouteverything, something that had been hard to do over the past few days with Kai stifling me. But now, having had time to get my thoughts in order, I was determined more than ever to find out his reasons why he thought it was a good idea to pretend to be dead.
As soon as we were on the plane home, I was going to get someanswers.
Kai laughing was such a rarity that curiosity got the better of me, andcreeping to the door that was ajar, I bit my lip to stop the gasp from escaping at the sight before me.
Angel was sitting on the sofa with Kai, and they were talking. Nottalking by writing things down or her lip reading.
They were talking in sign language.
Kai was signing.
Kai Wolfe, the man who liked to murder and torture people wassigning to a deaf girl.
My mouth fell open as I watched his hands move. It was by no meansperfect, but he’d learned enough to have a conversation with Angel, and my little sister was lapping it up. She beamed at him as she corrected some of his signs, calling him a doofus when he got it wrong, earning another belly laugh from Kai.
If it had been anyone else calling him a doofus, they would havefound themselves staring down the barrel of his gun, but no, like most people, Angel had him wrapped around her little finger.
I watched her smile at him fondly as she corrected another sign, andhe repeated the movement with his own heartfelt smile on his handsome face, and in an instant, all the anger and hurt I’d been harboring vanished. It was like the fog I had been wading through cleared, and finally,finally,I could see again.
This was my family.
My world.
Kai and Angel.
