“Do what?” I snap. “I’m not doing anything, Sierra. I’m just trying to process the fact that one of my best friends and business partners is a murderer.”
“He’s not a murderer!” Her eyes blaze as she jabs a finger into my chest. “And you don’t get to judge him when you have no idea what he’s been through.”
“Oh yeah?” I laugh harshly. “I had shitty parents too. I didn’t kill them.”
“Oh, how righteous of you.” Her voice sharpens, cutting clean. “I’m sorry—did your parents ever tie you up, hang you upside down, and beat you with a horsewhip? Did they choke you out when you tried to stop them, only letting go when you were seconds from passing out? Did they tell you every single day how easy it would be to get rid of you?” Her eyes burn, bright and furious. “There are shitty parents, Luke, and then there are true monsters. The kind that make every single day a fight to survive. The kind that make you wonder if you’ll even live to see tomorrow.”
That stops me.
Completely.
I exhale slowly, the images she’s throwing at me too brutal to even fully picture. “He went through that?”
“And worse,” she says.
“Oh.” The word feels small. Useless. Shame edges in at the corners of my thoughts.
She sighs, some of the heat leaving her expression. “I’m not blaming you for reacting the way you did. It’s a lot to take in. I get that. But you can’t just run when things get hard. Reid’s your friend. You can’t abandon him right now.” Her voice softens, but it doesn’t lose its strength. “We’re a family, and I love you. I love Reid, and I love Talon. Face it… the only way this works is if we stay together.”
I blink.
Everything else—fear, anger, confusion—just… disappears.
“I’m sorry,” I say slowly. “Did you just say you love us?”
Her mouth opens. Closes.
Yeah. She didn’t mean to say that out loud.
But she did.
And it wasn’t fake. It wasn’t for me. It wasn’t to calm me down.
It was real.
A slow grin spreads across my face before I can stop it.
Hell. Sierra loves us.
I mean, I suspected. I’m not blind. But hearing her actually say it?
That hits different.
Everything else just… fades out.
“I didn’t…” she starts, flustered now. “That’s not what I was trying to say.”
“So, it’s a lie?”
She bites her lip, shaking her head. “No. It’s not a lie.”
My chest feels like it might burst.
“I love you too,” I tell her, pulling her in by the waist and kissing her before she can overthink it.
CHAPTER 37
Sierra