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“It looks so normal,” I whispered, and he laughed at me in an empty, hollow sound that I very much did not enjoy hearing coming from him. It made me even sadder.

What the fuck were we doing here? It was making us both feel like shit, but here we were all the same.

“Of course it looks normal. We’ve got to blend in as best as we can. It’s the safest way for us to live without hiding ourselves away like criminals or someone with something to be ashamed of.”

Hiding in plain sight and pretending to be normal. It made perfect sense to me. It was what we all tried to do, except maybe the Council. They always looked like serious creepers. Or perhaps they did try and they just sucked at it.

“I always knew we’d be living in the house I grew up in with my father. Covens try to stick together and live in the same place. It’s much easier to defend one home than it is three or four. Or even two, for that matter. Why do you think Quinton always wants all of you together in one place? I never once rebelled against it. I was always happy to do whatever was best for my family.”

Usually when he spoke about his past, he was able to keep his feelings out of his voice. Now he was breaking my heart all over again.

The stupid organ was always breaking on me. Sometimes I wished I could just rip the damn thing right out of my chest and flush it down the toilet. It was basically useless half of the week. The rest of the time it sort of worked okay.

“I know why Quinton does what he does. You don’t need to explain yourself to me, Dad.”

He cleared his throat, and his voice finally returned to the dead, gritty thing I was more used to. “Making your new, sweet wife live with your father and your sister came easily to me, but it was going to be an adjustment for your mother, and I knew that going into it. I knew she didn’t want it to always be a family thing. Sometimes she wanted to cook dinner for just the two of us, and she wanted to be able to do it in what she considered her own kitchen without Vivian looking over her shoulder or breathing down the back of her neck. I had never known anything else, but all I wanted was to make her happy. I knew your mother wouldn’t want something big that she’d spend half the time having to clean while we were there. Honestly, I didn’t want something like that either.

“I found this house for sale while I was out on a job with my father and came back the next week by myself to check it out. I walked around inside, and something just settled in my chest. It was perfect and everything I was looking for.”

I looked around the yard and at the house with new eyes. Had my father made my mother happy here? Did she make him a special meal in her very own kitchen for their anniversary that made him love her even more? And, most importantly, had I ever been here before today with the two of them, or had it simply been their own personal little love nest?

I wanted to ask all of this, but every time I went to open my mouth I choked on the words. I was lucky no gurgling sounds were coming out.

“I gave it to her as a wedding present, and we spent our honeymoon holed up here, which was ridiculous because there hadn’t been any furniture at the time. She didn’t give a shit, she loved it.” He blew out a heavy breath. “Let’s go inside and get this over with.”

It took effort, but I got out of the Rover after my father and followed him up to the house. I did it knowing that after I walked inside, my life would likely never be the same again.

I was never more terrified in all of my life.

10

For a house no one lived in, and hadn’t for a very long time, it sure was spotless inside. Not a speck of dust in sight.

Rain didn’t dawdle or linger in front of the house. He practically ran and dragged me along behind him. I didn’t mind the rush.

There were picture frames everywhere full of pictures of the happy family I’d once been a part of but didn’t remember. It was like torture walking through this perfectly beautiful house that smelled like fresh roses even though there wasn’t a flower in sight.

Was it her perfume? Had she smelled of roses?

Why wasn’t Rain saying anything? Why bring me here to this place on today of all days? I thought he was going to try and make everything better. This was doing the opposite of that.

Rain opened a door at the end of the hallway and ushered me inside. I wanted to throw up the moment my feet crossed the threshold, but that would be an insult to the pristine white carpeted floor.

If I had thought I was being tortured before, I really had no idea of the meaning of the word torture, because clearly there were several different levels to it. I must have been in the waiting room before, because walking into this room was like walking straight into the bowels of hell.

“What the fuck isthis?” I choked on my words. “Why would you bring me here? A little heads-up would have been nice.” I felt like I’d just been punched straight in the gut.

“Wait here,” he muttered. “I’ll be right back.” And then the asshole just walked out and left me in this horrible fucking room all by myself.

I was going to kill him after I had a nervous breakdown or something close to it.

I wandered over to the twin-sized bed, and even though I didn’t want to touch anything in this stupid tomb, I sat down on the edge of the bed. I wanted to cry as I looked at the plain yellow comforter and matching pillows. Apparently I’d been a big fan of the color even before I could remember.

There was no doubt in my mind that this little girl’s room had belonged to me once upon a time. It certainly answered some of my unspoken questions.

Their little love nest for two had changed when their daughter had come along, and clearly they hadn’t minded bringing me with them.

There were picture frames on the walls in here too, and these ones I didn’t shy away from like they’d take a chunk out of me—even though I knew that was exactly what they were going to do to me.