Page 45 of Together We Burn
I thought she loved me, loved our family. But she’s just as closed off and cold-hearted as you appear to be. Don’t become her, Stevie. You are an intelligent girl. Use your brain.
The only person you can truly trust is yourself.
People like us don’t get accepted into heaven. I look forward to being reunited at the gates of Hell.
Until then, stay safe.
Dad
Chapter seventeen
Stevie
“Planttwoofhismost loyal soldiers in enemy territory… Mackenzie and Alexander.”
I stared at the letter, my grip on the edges tightening, causing the paper to crumple. This had to be bullshit. He had to be lying, saying anything to twist the proverbial knife he’d left in my heart from childhood as he rotted deep in the ground somewhere.
This isn’t happening.My bullshit filter has to be broken, following being blindsided by Jake, right? I know these boys; they are my family. Then why does something about what my dad wrote justfit? They seamlessly fell into my life, and I never questioned it.
No, it couldn’t be true.But hardly anyone knew Mac’s full name, a name he hated and had sworn me to secrecy when I found out.
“Have you ever stopped to think why those boys took interest in a little girl with no mother? A girl who wasn’t particularly very special?”
The last words my dad whispered in my ear before Will’s gun silenced him, echoed in my head.
He was a hateful man, but was he trying to warn me? Trying to tell me things weren’t as they seemed and was killed by the very person who would have wanted that to remain a secret. God forbid his precious commodity found out that everything about her whole existence was nothing but a lifelong assignment to the Jones brothers. A way to find out information about a mother who never wanted anything to do with her in the first place, a toy to use when said woman reared her head out from the shadows.
Tears stung the backs of my eyes, and my throat thickened, making it hard to breathe as I refused to let them fall. Biting the inside of my lower lip until I tasted blood, I sunk to the floor, reading and rereading that fucking letter until every word was etched in my brain.
“Plant two of his most loyal soldiers in enemy territory.”
I needed to get out of here.
Darting to my wardrobe, I pushed back the clothes and dug around the back for a backpack, something I’d packed years ago in case I needed to make a getaway. Today would be that fucking day.
Grabbing my gun from the nightstand, I tucked it into the back of my shorts and then thundered down the stairs, taking them two at a time until I reached the hall. I snatched up Rocky’s lead and quickly went to the kitchen to grab some food for him, shoving it in the bag’s front pocket.
I wasn’t coming back here. This whole place was tainted, a beautiful prison in the guise of a home. Living with my “best friend” so he could feed back information to his brothers and probably have a right laugh at my expense.
Poor little Stevie just wanted friends, wanted somewhere to belong and to be loved.
The first tear fell down my face, and I swatted it away in anger just as Alex’s head popped up from where he’d been lounging back on the sofa.
“Stevie?”
Shit. In my state, I didn’t even think about running into him.
“Fuck you,” I snarled through gritted teeth. Pain thundered in my head as I fought the ball lodged in my throat that wanted to be released in a crying scream at his betrayal.
Alex’s eyes darted around my body before blinking rapidly, his brows knitting in confusion. He launched himself over the back of the sofa and stood in front of me in a flash.
“Stevie, what happened?” he asked, reaching out to rub his hands down my arms.
Flinching, I jerked away as a sob wracked my chest, a blistering agony I never thought Alex would be capable of.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I cried, my voice breaking as I spoke. “I trusted you, Alex.”
“Trusted? Stevie? What are you talking about?”
