Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 110273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Chrissy’s mouth had been open, but it shut with an audible snap. “Oh.” Her face tightened, stretched. Her mouth pressed down before it returned to a flat line. She angled her head to the side, speaking in Payton’s direction. “I couldn’t tell what side you were on.”
Payton sat up in her seat. “I didn’t know, either. I knew they had you, and I knew what they were capable of.”
Cyclone was looking between the two mothers, leaning against one of Payton’s legs. “So you both didn’t know and you couldn’t tell, so both of you didn’t say a word? That makes no sense.”
Seraphina started giggling.
“Where’s your brother now?”
Kash glanced to Cyclone. “He’s at the apartment Bailey and I lived in.”
“What’s he going to do there?”
“He’s going to stay there, and he and I will work with the FBI to help find our grandfather. You know when they took your dad into custody?”
Cyclone nodded, his eyes still glued to Kash.
“That was the deal. We help them, and they release your dad.”
Another nod from my little brother. Then, “Can we have pizza tonight?”
Cyclone just solidified my theory.
That was the gist of our family meeting. It was pizza for the rest of the night, and bowling.
It felt almost normal.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Bailey
Three months later
Life didn’t go back to normal after that day, but there was a sense of weird peace that settled over everyone. The household, too. Maybe it was because so much had been unearthed, we all needed time to digest. Or maybe it was because we were all just exhausted.
I knew I was.
I knew Kash was. Seriously. Kash was really tired. That night, he crawled into bed and held me. By the time I rolled over, slid a leg in between his, and worked my arm around to hold him back, he was already asleep.
He didn’t wake for a whole twelve hours.
Peter spent the next month being with his family. I think he did work, but it was mostly in the morning. Kash told me that he had his “debrief” meetings with Peter in the morning, at an ungodly time of the day, but once we all met for breakfast, Peter’s phone was never brought out. He was with the family.
We’d all taken to eating breakfast together before Cyclone and Seraphina headed to school. It was something they needed, but I think we all needed it. At first, Seraphina and Cyclone were both clingy with all of us. They weren’t super choosy about whose side they were sticking to. They’d go from one to the other as if they were scared one of us would disappear.
After the first month, that got better.
They returned to skipping into the room, eating at their own table, and then giving each adult a kiss on the cheek and a hug before being taken to school.
Matt moved back into his penthouse.
I returned to school. Not that I had really stopped going to school, but there’d been a definite couple weeks in there that I skipped. And I was in graduate school, so skipping was a stupid thing to do. I made up the time. The professors weren’t happy, but they understood. I was to start my paid internship with Phoenix Tech the next week.
As for the rest, Payton decided to move permanently to Chicago, but she was moving into her own apartment. It was in one of Kash’s buildings, and I knew he offered her the free housing more because he wanted to watch her than for any other reason.
It was still a kind gesture, just with invisible strings.
Quinn was found guilty and sentenced to prison for twenty-five years.
After the second month, Peter returned to his job again, and soon the family was hosting banquets and events at the house again. It reminded me of the summer when Quinn hosted them, but I realized this was normal life for everyone who was not a Hayes. Chrissy helped with the banquets, but they were mostly Peter’s deal.
Chrissy returned to working part time at a private clinic not far from the estate, and stayed living at the Chesapeake.
She was happy.
Matt returned to his evenings at Naveah, with Tony, Chester, Guy, and the girls. I went, but not often. If I went, it was for one drink with my brother and then I would head up to spend time with Kash. If he was working or needed to remain working, I would do my schoolwork on his couch or curl up and take a nap. It was our new normal.
The other thing that went back to normal was Kash’s notoriety.
He returned to having his picture taken by local gossip sites.
Word hadn’t leaked about Chase, but we all knew that was coming one day. I, for one, wasn’t excited for it to happen. The world would find out there was two of them, and the world would go nuts. There’d be a frenzy.