I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t stop listening. I couldn’t do anything as he stripped my world right in front of me.

He knew everything.

How did he—Brooke. Brooke must’ve told him.

He tossed back the rest of his drink. “That was the day you decided to leave, not because he killed your mother, and not because you knew you’d be next, but because they told you the real truth.” His eyes flashed at me, an unnamed emotion there. “Your mother was still alive.”

I couldn’t even swallow.

“How—” I managed to say. “How do you know this?”

“I’m not done, little girl.” A glint of cruelty gleamed at me from his eyes. “Your father did beat your mother,” he sneered. “He did believe he’d killed her. He did order her body to be disposed of, but it was a 411 agent he sent to do it. He believes your mother was thrown to the bottom of a cliff and her body swept out to sea, when instead, she was hidden by the 411 Network. And when they asked you to join them that day in the mall, you said yes so fast you never stopped to think what would happen to anyone you left behind.”

My gut twisted.

A flame flickered to life.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

He yawned—he goddamn yawned—and went over to the cupboard to pour himself a second glass of bourbon.

He spoke with his back turned to me. “You haven’t checked in with your father recently, have you?”

I narrowed my eyes. What was he talking about? Blade would’ve—

“Your friend Blade never told you…”

A knife plunged into my chest, hearing him say Blade’s name.

Kai turned back around, holding his glass in front of him. He leaned back against the wall, his eyes locked on mine. “…because he didn’t want you to leave your location, and he knew you would.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your mother had family.”

My aunt. My cousin. I had an uncle too.

I shook my head. “But they—”

They hated my father. They blamed him for her death. I knew they did.

“You had a cousin. Do you remember her? She’s your age, Brooke’s age.”

Tawnia. I didn’t know her that well. My mother had kept us away from her family, more for their safety than ours.

“No. What are you saying? My aunt hated my father.”

“She did. But she didn’t convey that adequately to your cousin.”

Was he…no. No.

I didn’t want to think about what Kai might be inferring. There was no way.

“My aunt would never allow that,” I hissed.

“Your aunt is dead.”

He said that in the same tone he’d used when he told me to leave Brooke alone.

“She’s fine.” “Your aunt is dead.” Both statements meant nothing to him.

“Fuck you.”

He shrugged. “Maybe later.” He drank from his glass. “I brought you here for two reasons. One, a trade. You tell me where my sister is, and I’ll help with your cousin.”

Fuck. Seriously. Fuck. He was serious.

“What exactly are you saying about my father and my cousin?” I eyed him warily.

He finished his drink and set the glass beside him on the counter. “Your cousin didn’t believe your father murdered his wife. She believes your father lost his wife because she ran from him. She believes his daughter was so distraught at being abandoned that you got drunk and caused the car accident that supposedly burned your body to oblivion minus the few traces of DNA left behind. She believes your father is someone to feel pity for, and that he is loving, and kind, and softhearted, and rich. Your father preyed on your cousin, and I’m sure he enjoys the close resemblance she bears to his daughter and wife.”

My father was a monster, but so was the man standing in front of me. He was just as much a monster as Bruce Bello.

“You’re sick. You and him both.”

He stared at me, not moving an inch. An uneasy feeling traced up my spine, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I felt as if I had baited a cobra.

But Kai just nodded toward the door.

“Enough. We’ll continue our talk tomorrow.”

No one else was in the room. I hadn’t noticed the absence of guards until now. But as he spoke, the door opened and Tanner walked in.

“Take her to her room,” Kai told him. “She’s to stay there until I come for her.”

My lips parted.

The way he said that, I felt a bolt of fear slice through me, but then Tanner was next to me. He took my arm, leading me out as I stumbled over my feet, feeling numb.

I hadn’t felt this emotion for a long time, not since my father.

“Wait.” I had to know. Just as Tanner was about to walk me out of Kai’s apartment, I turned back. “How?”

How is he going to help with my cousin?

A glimmer of a smile taunted me. “I’ll have him killed.”

CHAPTER NINE

They knew.

They knew it all.

They knew Blade, the Network. My father. My mother. They knew she was alive. Of course I’d known the Bennetts found me, but I hadn’t thought about it. I hadn’t wanted to.