The Revenge by Tijan

“What?”

Those dazed eyes blinked, looked at me, and I had a feeling she wasn’t seeing me.

I nodded toward the stand, where Payton still was sitting, but the prosecution lawyers had surrounded her. “Cyclone. Her revelation. Did you know?”

“I—” Her mouth opened. Her lips did a goldfish impersonation, and she closed them. “I didn’t know. I had no idea. I—she was never going to turn on us. I could see it now. I’d been worried. I had…”

I frowned. What was my mom talking about?

“Mom?” I edged closer to her.

I cocked an eyebrow. She was saying that like it was a revelation to her.

“I thought…” She didn’t finish.

Fitz came up behind her, herding her forcibly, and me with them, to the side door and out. Some of the court guards had fallen in line to help, since we’d only been allowed a certain number of men in the court. We were led out, down a hallway, and we swept through a side exit. There was a handicap ramp, which we hurried down, and then we climbed into the waiting vehicles. Two SUVs today. Once inside, Fitz got into the front seat but turned around to us.

“I got the call moments ago.”

I nodded. “About Payton?”

He frowned. “From Kash.”

Matt jerked forward. “What?”

I was experiencing déjà vu from all the bombs being dropped, but my whole body grew warm. It was also riddled with tension because there were too many factors happening right now. I couldn’t keep up.

Chrissy, though, had jerked out of her glazed-over state. “Chase is with his brother?” she asked calmly.

Fitz paused, growing eerily still, as he took in my mom and what she had just said. His eyelids dipped low, matching his tone. “Yeah. They’re talking to the FBI.”

“Good.” Chrissy nodded, sitting back. She turned to the window, folded her arms over herself, and nodded again. “Good. It’s done then.” Her words were soft, as if something monumental had happened and we all escaped unscathed. A smattering of tears fell to her chest, but she didn’t wipe them away. She let them fall, and I was experiencing, yet again, one more weird, alternate-reality feeling.

It’s done? What was done?

“What are you talking about?” My voice broke. What was going on here?

“Kash brought his brother back to the FBI, where he’s agreed to actively cooperate and assist in their search for Calhoun now. In exchange, no charges will be brought against Kash, and your father has also been released from custody,” Fitz explained.

“I was supposed to turn on my child.”

I reeled. What?

Chrissy’s head was turned toward the window, and she sounded like she was speaking from far away. “They underestimated a mother’s love. Payton. Me.” She looked at me, her eyes flashing, and they were hard. She grasped my hand and squeezed. “You think I don’t remember what they did to me. I do. I did. I remembered every second of that hell, until Chase got to me.”

She stopped, her bottom lip trembling before she smoothed it out.

“They were trying to brainwash me. I was supposed to come back, testify to back up everything Payton was supposed to say. Her word. My word. Quinn would’ve gotten off, and I have no idea what they would’ve tried to do to you, but it’s all over. Chase got to me, he helped me.

“After we were found, I had to get to Payton. Every time I cornered her, someone would come into the room or she’d leave. The few times I did get a word with her, she never gave me any indication what she was planning on doing. I was so worried today, but if she had said what she was supposed to say, I would’ve had the district attorney call me as a witness. I would’ve testified that everything she said was a lie, that I was kidnapped, that they tried to brainwash me. I would’ve testified that they should’ve never fucked with a mother.”

She stopped, turning back to the window, and her next words were so soft. “And if anyone had come for my baby, I would’ve killed them.”

Chills went down my spine.

She meant every word.





FIFTY-SIX

Kash


It was four thirty in the morning when the feds finally let me go.

I was now walking inside the Chesapeake, feeling as if it’d been a full month since I was here last, when it had only been a day. I’d gone a few steps before Peter came from the kitchen, his morning coffee already in one hand and the morning paper in the other.

He wasn’t dressed for the office, but he wasn’t dressed for bed.

Peter sipped his coffee. “Want some?”

I shook my head. “I want to try and crash with Bailey for a bit.”

“Then let’s get to it.”

“No.”

He frowned. “No?”

“No. I know what happened in court yesterday and I’m done. Family meeting. Everyone can know then, except Cyclone and Seraphina, but they should know some of it. No more secrets, Peter.”

His lips thinned.

I doubled down. “No more secrets, not about this.”

He sighed. “Fine.”

I did grin. “I hear congratulations are in order. You have a new baby mama.”

He snorted, but I could see a small flush appearing.

He rolled his eyes. “I have my faults, and one of those was women. I am making amends this year, but I won’t apologize for keeping Cyclone’s mother a secret. She was in and out of hospitals almost every other month, and she was bad. She got so bad, Kash. So low. She tried to kill herself eight times. Eight. Times.” He let out a long sigh. “We didn’t keep it a secret to be malicious. We thought we were doing the right thing.”