Page 37

HE ALREADY KNOWS

MILA

Ursa Lancaster puts Patience’s perfect posture to shame. She’s poised at the edge of the couch cushion with her ankles crossed and her back stiff as a board. On one knee, she balances her drink while her fingers toy with the stem of her glass.

“Patience.” Ursa nods at her daughter, not nearly as warm as she was toward Alex when we came here to drop off the books.

There’s no reaction or greeting from Patience. She takes the seat directly across from her mother and sits with her back so stiff that I can sense the defenses fortifying around her. I claim the cushion beside her. Tension thick in the air.

Ursa taps her nail against the stem of the glass. The steady click is as unnerving as her gaze.

“I see you managed to make time for us after all.” Ursa’s stare drifts to me. “And you brought a friend.”

“Alex brought a friend,” Patience corrects her, and I sense she’s doing it just to piss her mother off.

Ursa hums, not acknowledging that or me .

“You said you needed me here this weekend because you were worried about him,” Patience continues. “He seems fine.”

“Fine?” Ursa scoffs like it’s the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard. “Your brother is still refusing to speak, much less come home. He’s far from fine .”

“He’s here right now.” Patience shrugs. “Meeting with Dad to plan another Sigma Sin apocalypse even.”

“They’re simply catching up.” Ursa brushes Patience off.

“Alone? Away from everyone else?”

“Your father probably has a book for him in the office.”

“Aren’t there enough books in here?” I mutter, realizing how unwanted my input is when Ursa frowns at me. “Just saying.”

Thankfully, Patience skirts around my comment and draws her mother’s attention back to her. “I’m not a kid anymore, Mom. I know what’s in the books Dad gives him. I know what Dad has Alex doing.”

“Your brother does as he wishes.” Ursa waves her hand, dismissing Patience as she takes a drink.

“Because only Alex is allowed to do what he wants, right? Only his indiscretions are forgivable. Only he can make mistakes. While I can’t even leave Bristal for the summer without you and Dad making my life a nightmare?”

“Stop being so dramatic, Patience.” Ursa’s gaze cools. “We’ve funded you chasing your dreams as you call them. Getting your silly degree when you don’t need it. This summer was utterly unnecessary. You can’t possibly expect us to support it.”

“Why wouldn’t she need a degree?” The words are out before I can stop myself .

“Why would she need it?” Ursa directs the question at me without an ounce of friendliness in her tone. “What’s she going to use that for?”

“Getting a job after college?” Is this a trick question?

“A job. How ridiculous.” Ursa scoffs. “And this is the girl Alex has decided to take an interest in? I shouldn’t be surprised.”

My shoulders stiffen, but Patience is the one who responds.

“Why is that, Mother?” Patience’s voice is eerily calm. “Because God forbid Alex appreciates a woman who wants to be something more than a puppet?”

“Patience.” Ursa grips the cross around her neck. “Watch how you use our Lord’s name.”

“Or what?” All warmth has left the room. “You’ll have me recite the rosary?”

The quiet that overwhelms the room is almost unbearable. Every crackle of the fire sets me further on edge. On an especially loud snap of an ember, I jump. At least that movement is enough to shatter the standoff.

“Enjoy your summer, Patience.” Ursa taps her glass with her long red nail. “We’ll have more to talk about when it’s over.”

Nothing about her comment feels like well wishes. It’s a threat if anything.

Once again, they fall into their staring contest that has me feeling more unwelcome than I thought possible.

“Is there a bathroom I can use?” I stand up, brushing my hands down my white summer dress.

It’s the best excuse I can think of, and I need to get out of here until Alex comes back. If I thought their father was terrible, I’m getting the impression their mother is twenty times worse. I can’t figure out why Alex left me alone with the two of them after saying he’d be at my side all night.

“There’s a bathroom outside the library, three doors to the left.” Ursa’s cold gaze meets mine. “I can call someone to guide you.”

“I’m sure I can find it.” I force a smile.

She must think I’m completely incompetent if I can’t find a bathroom a few doors down.

What century is this anyway? If a house is so large you can’t find a bathroom, is it even considered a home at that point?

Patience doesn’t meet my gaze or say anything as I walk away, but she’s no longer looking at her mother either.

Her focus is on a large cross that hangs over the fireplace.

Besides the simple cross necklace Patience sometimes wears, I’ve never thought of her as very religious.

One visit inside the Lancaster residence, and I’m getting hints as to why.

The large door creaks as I step out of the library and into the massive hallway. It’s wide enough to be a room all on its own, with tables and vases lining the path.

Since I don’t actually have to go to the bathroom, I walk slowly, taking in the paintings that frame the walls. Real paint is bubbled and lifted on the canvas. They must have cost a fortune.

I shouldn’t be surprised. Everything here is real. Not a print or brushed gold, but solid and not the least bit fake. Unlike the people.

Stopping in front of a tall painting of the family, I crane my neck to take in the full picture. Alex and Patience are just under two years apart in age, and they look like they couldn’t be any older than eight and ten in the image.

Alex’s hair was blonder then.

Brighter .

His eyes shine, and I wonder if the artist took liberties or if there really was a time he didn’t carry around the darkness he does now.

A muffled voice raises down the hallway, pulling my attention, and I find myself stepping toward it. I really should turn back to the library, but I can’t help that my feet move me to the sound of Gideon Lancaster’s voice when his tone becomes more heated.

“Did you think I wouldn’t recognize her, Alex?” Gideon’s voice is stripped of any of the false pleasantries it held when he pulled Alex away.

I stop outside the office and shuffle closer, barely able to see through a crack in the door.

Gideon is standing at his desk, with his fingertips resting on it, while Alex sits in a chair across from him, looking bored.

He doesn’t bother responding to his father as his gaze drifts around the room, uninterested.

“We haven’t come this far to dig up old graves, and that’s exactly what she can do.

Are you ready to ruin everything we worked for over carnival trash?

Have you already forgotten what I’ve sacrificed to protect this family—to protect you?

” Gideon circles the desk to get closer, sitting on the edge of it and looking down at his son with a softer gaze.

“Not to mention what could happen if you can’t control…

this.” He waves a hand like that explains what he’s talking about. “Are you willing to risk hurting her?”

Alex’s gaze snaps to his father, anger flaring.

“Don’t look at me like it’s my fault,” his father continues.

“You’re slipping, Alex. Let me help you.

Things have changed since you went to Montgomery.

Declan threw the game into chaos. We need to trust each other now more than ever, son.

You can’t risk everything for some girl who makes you reckless.

Does she even know what you’ve done? Who you are?

Have you even told her the truth about Oregon? ”

Oregon.

My nails bite into my palms as I clench my fists, fighting the smell of smoke in my memories. Of the Sigma Sin insignia on the ring on the man’s hand. The clues that led me to Bristal to find out who attacked Remi.

Who killed her.

It couldn’t be Alex.

It couldn’t.

I take a step back and accidentally back into the corner of a table, which causes a vase to topple. The crash echoes through the hallway, shattering my resolve as a tear slips down my cheek.

Alex turns at the sound, and his eyes meet mine through the crack in the door.

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

He wrote that on the mirror at the psychiatric ward. I thought he was saying that because of Oxy or Marco. But he wasn’t.

He meant here . Bristal.

To this town. To this school.

To Sigma Sin.

Alex was in Oregon the night Remi died. He’s the reason all this started. It’s why he’s never asked me about it. Never questioned the knife on my thigh or the nightmares.

He doesn’t need to. He’s the one who put them there.