Page 5 of All The Darkest Truths (Second Sons Duet #2)
Zaire explodes from his chair, pacing like a fuse lit too close to the flame. Every step is sharp, volatile energy radiating off him in waves as his fists clench at his sides.
“It makes a sick kind of sense,” Talon comments. “If Vesper was valuable to them for her eggs, Luca would be valuable for the same genetic material.”
I force myself to think clearly despite the disgust churning in my gut. “This could be our way in. If the clinic is processing these...samples...then they have to have some record of where they're coming from.”
“There’s only one problem. We left the good doctor and his ass frozen to the exam table. That clinic is burned, figuratively. He’ll have moved his operation.”
“And you have no idea where it is?”
“Correct.”
“Until we locate it, finding Luca isn’t going to be easy.”
A soft sound from the hallway freezes us all.
We turn as one to see Vesper standing in the doorway of her bedroom, barefoot and hollow-eyed, wearing one of Z’s t-shirts that hangs to her mid-thigh.
Her hair is tangled around her face, and her face is pale, making her appear even more fragile than she already is.
But it's the way she holds herself that stops me dead in my tracks.
“They're harvesting from my brother?” Her voice is soft but steady, devoid of the hysteria I expected. Something about her calm is more terrifying than if she'd been screaming.
Zaire moves toward her immediately. “Vesper, you should be resting?—”
“Don't.” She holds up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. "How long have you known?"
“We just found out,” I say, rising from the couch.
She looks at each of us in turn. The broken woman from hours ago is gone, replaced by something harder, sharper. “So, the clinic is still operational.”
“Different location, definitely different doctor,” Alex confirms, his tone cautious. “But yes.”
Vesper nods once, processing. “Then that's where we start.”
Talon shifts uncomfortably. “Vesper, we don't know where?—”
“We'll find it.” She leaves no room for argument. She walks further into the room, her bare feet silent on the hardwood. “The doctor may be gone, but his clients aren't. Someone knows where he's set up shop. We just need to figure out who and get them to talk.”
The four of us exchange glances. This isn't the fragile, traumatized woman who cried herself to sleep in Z's arms. She’s stronger now. More confident, even. I don’t dare to admit it aloud but it’s as if taking a life has snapped her out of her victim spiral.
“Did you find anything else?”
“Yeah,” Alex starts before Z’s head snaps in his direction.
“No,” Zaire's voice cuts through the room like a blade. "Absolutely not. We don't need to go there. Not now.”
“She has a right to know,” Alex argues.
“Know what?” Vesper interjects between Z and Alex’s standoff.
“Mario had photos of you on his computer.”
Vesper's head snaps toward him, her green eyes narrowing. “What photos? What is he talking about?”
The tension in the room thickens as Alex hesitates, his fingers tapping nervously against his thigh.
“Tell me,” Vesper demands.
Alex exhales slowly. “When I was going through Mario's computer, I found a folder with your name on it. It contained photos of you...from your time in captivity. Intimate photos.”
The color drains from Vesper's face, but her expression remains resolute. “I want to see them.”
“Fuck that,” Zaire interjects, stepping between her and Alex. “There's no reason for you to subject yourself to that.”
She steps toward my brother, not backing down a single inch. “Those photos are of me, my body, my trauma. I have every right to see them.”
“I know what happened to me, Z. Nothing in those photos can hurt me more than I've already been hurt. If there's anything in them that could help us find Luca, I need to see them.”
I watch my brother's face contort with conflict—his need to protect her warring with his respect for her autonomy.
“Vesper,” I say, stepping forward. “What if we look through them first? If there's anything we think could lead us to Luca, we'll show you those specific images.”
“Would you trust us to do that for you, Oscar? If it were your body, your pain being passed around like trading cards, would you sit back?”
The question strikes me silent. She's right, and we all know it.
Talon clears his throat. "I think we need to trust Vesper to know her own limits."
"Thank you," she says, a flicker of warmth breaking through her guarded features as she looks at him before turning back to Zaire. “I survived it once. I can survive it again.”
“Bullshit,” Zaire snaps, the veins in his neck prominent as he struggles to contain his emotion. “I'm not letting you?—”
“You're not allowing me to do anything,” Vesper interrupts.
“This isn't about you, Z. Or any of you,” she adds, shifting her attention slowly across the room, each look deliberate.
“This is about me reclaiming something that was taken from me. I need to do this my way.” She turns to Alex. “Show them to me.”
Without objection, Alex gestures for her to follow him into his room, and the two of them vanish through the doorway. I can only hope she emerges from his room the same way she went in.