Page 81 of Reflections of Peonies
“No,” Kayla replied. “I only heard that Declan had a major meltdown after Bianca disappeared. There’s no way he’d have let his daughter go without putting up a fight. He doesn’t seem like he’d be behind it.”
I frowned. “I asked Bryce, but he won’t say anything. It’s hard to talk to him about it; he’s been in a rage. But Gregory was obviously involved. Who took Bianca, and where did they go? And how does Bailey come into this?”
“Regardless of their reasons, I’m certain we can trust the fae,” Hanah said. “I doubt they expected this to happen. Nothing they were trying to prevent could be worse.”
“In any case, Declan knows about Bianca now,” I said, stroking my chin. “Bryce and Brayden went to him right away.”
“Did he say anything to you about it yet?” Kayla lifted a brow. “I’m surprised he hasn’t shown up.”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Bryce won’t tell me, and he hasn’t contacted any of us. Bryce said he’sthinking.”
A foreboding air settled over us, and the two girls shivered.
“Hanah?” Bianca’s voice cut through our conversation, and I saw her standing near the entrance, Bryce behind her. She held her hands in front of her as she began to fidget. “Is that really you?”
Bianca POV
“Hanah?” I asked, studying one of the girls speaking to Julian. She looked different—the last time I’d seen her, her hair was longer, and she’d worn dresses and makeup. Now, she’d chopped off her hair in a style that suited her much more and had on torn jeans.
“Is that really you?” I asked.
Julian had said they knew my sister, but it was still surprising to see her here, talking so casually with him.
It’d been years since we’d last spoken. She and our mother had been fighting, and Hanah had been upset, and she stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
Hanah grew even more pale, and her shoulders slumped as she ran her hands through her pixie cut. “Hello, Bianca.”
“Hi,” I said again, twisting my hands. I held my breath as I shifted my weight between my feet. What was I supposed to say now?
“Well, this is awkward,” Bryce said, stepping beside me. “I wonder how we could diffuse the tension? If only we had a source of comedic relief.”
The pretty, dark-skinned woman narrowed her eyes at Bryce. She opened her mouth but then closed it slowly. “I can’t,” she said. “It’s too easy.”
Her voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it off the top of my head. “Do I know you?”
Julian stiffened, and she blinked, looking at him first. But then her attention returned to me.
“Youmayhave seen me before,” she said cautiously, shiftingon her feet. “We went to the same high school, but I’m a little bit older than you.”
“Bianca, this is Kayla Taylor.” Julian gestured to the woman before he pulled me to his side. “She’s my cousin—and my Jiangjun.”
“Jiangjun…” I glanced at him. “Like Matheus, Brayden, and…” Hanah was shifting nervously, and I recalled an earlier fleeting statement about my sister. She was Miles’s Jiangjun. “Hanah?”
Hanah bit her lip and averted her gaze.
“Did you know who I was?” I asked.
“We knew who you were from the beginning,” she said. “However, there’s more to be said, which is a discussion for you and me to have alone.” She gestured around the shop.
She ended with her hand outstretched toward mine. “Your phone?” she asked. “Let me give you my number, and we’ll talk when you’re ready. I’ll tell you everything. They’ll love that.”
“Are you being vindictive?” Bryce asked. “That’s unlike you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, holding my gaze as I slowly gave her my phone.
“You talk more now,” Kayla noted, tilting her head. “You always used to hide behind Finn.”
Julian’s arm went rigid, but I ignored him. We all knew about his loathing of Finn.
