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“Oh, I thought I was dead,” Ada cried. “I told him to kill me.”

“Why would you tell them that?” Devyn questioned.

“Because.” She looked up at the ceiling, releasing all the anxiety from her body through deep sighs. “I knew Lo wouldn’t come for me, so I told them to kill me.”

“Sweetheart, Lo came for you. He’s right here,” Dax informed her.

Ada looked to her right, locking eye contact with Lo in complete disbelief.

Her slightly swollen lips parted while she gawked at him.

Lo stared at her, wondering what went through her mind.

He wasn’t stunned that she thought he wouldn’t save her, Lo couldn’t blame Ada when he had been giving her his back for the last twenty years.

“Oh, my God.” She bawled, covering her mouth with her hand.

Lo didn’t know he possessed any empathy until now. He hadn’t gotten a first-hand view of how wounded Ada truly had been. He heard about it but never saw how agonizing his absence had torn her apart. Even when she confronted Maddy at her house, he saw rage not pain.

“I didn’t think you would come,” she wept. “I just knew I would be left there to die but you came. I can’t believe it.”

Devyn consoled her as she continued sobbing. Lo had to turn away because her pain had affected him. Guilt seized him, making his eyes mist but he blinked away the access water, hoping her sobs wouldn’t continue to penetrate him.

Meco leaned over toward Lo and whispered, “Bro, it’s time for y’all to talk.”

He looked at Meco who gave him a reassuring nod. They made it sound like it was easy, but Lo knew better. This talk could’ve potentially broken him, crushed him into tiny pieces that would’ve made it impossible for him to be put back together.

“Aye, Dev, let me holla at you in the hallway.”

Devyn rubbed Ada’s arm and followed Meco to the hallway.

When the door closed, silence engulfed the room.

Lo’s anxiety had kicked up a notch, causing his thoughts to race.

How would he start the conversation off?

What would be the first word? He didn’t know how to take the first step toward healing.

Lo had been avoiding that road for years.

“Kylo?”

The tone of Dax’s voice always commanded everyone’s attention. Lo looked at his father, relieved that he had broken the ice.

“There’s so much that needs to be said. So much hurt and pain that we’ve all been living with. I think it’s time to put it on the table.”

Ada sniffled and extended her hand toward Lo. Reluctantly, he slid his palm into hers. The feeling was so foreign that he wanted to pull back. However, he ignored it, allowing her to squeeze his hand.

“I know we let you down, Lo. I’ve had to sit with that for years, knowing I wasn’t there to protect you. We did everything in our power to always protect yo—”

“Bullshit!” Lo snapped, snatching his hand from Ada’s “Y’all ain't do shit to protect me. Just sent me to that fucking camp to be molested.”

“Lo, that’s not true,” Ada stated weakly.

“Yes, the fuck it is!” Lo’s voice had raised as his rage hurried to center stage. “How many times I told y’all I didn’t wanna go and you sent me anyway? Did y’all know that was a pedophile ring?”

“Hell no. Do you think I would’ve sent you there knowing that fucking place was set up to molest children? What kind of father do you think I am?”

Lo snorted, rolling his eyes at Dax. His speech didn’t move him because he was the man who insisted that he go to the camp.

“Y’all sending me there ain't have shit to do with me. Just admit it.”

“It was all about you,” Ada insisted.

He cut his eyes at her. “No, it wasn’t. It was for y’all. A fucking ego stroke so you could brag about how your son was smart and borderline genius.”

“I thought it would be good for you, Kylo,” Dax explained.

“Yeah and look what happened. I had to fight for my fucking manhood while I was there. Do you know that nigga kissed me? Made me touch him then attacked me. He was pulling my fucking pants down. Do you know how scared I was? The nigga tried to rape me…” Lo paused for a second, trying to keep his emotions intact.

“Do you know what that shit did to me? It fucked me up for life. I battled with thoughts of me being gay because he made me touch him. I automatically thought I had been marked because of that. You know what that shit did to me, mentally? I was a kid who couldn’t process what happened, so I walked around on the defense ‘cause I thought people could see that I had been molested.”

Dax held his head down while Ada covered her eyes. Lo didn’t mean to get graphic but he needed to paint a clear picture so they could understand his trauma. Nothing about it was pretty so he refused to doll it up for them.

“When Maddy told me you knew, I didn’t trust y’all anymore. So, no, I didn’t want to be around because in my head, y’all were the enemy. Getting violated messed me up, mentally. Y’all wasn’t there in the trenches while I was trying to figure shit out on my own.”

“We tried,” Ada lamented. “You wouldn’t allow us to help you.”

“That’s because you never fucking apologized for what y’all did!

” he exploded, raising out the chair. “All I heard was come home, and we’ll talk about it.

Not once did you say, ‘I’m sorry we dropped the ball or I’m sorry we weren’t there to protect you.

’ All y’all did was focus on making Maddy’s life hell. ”

“‘Cause she lied, Kylo,” Dax countered. “She lied about everything to get you to come stay with her. I understand what you're saying. We should’ve apologized and we had every intention on doing that, but Maddy tried taking you from us. Our main priority was getting you back in our care.”

“She did everything to keep you away. The only reason we didn’t take her to court was because she tried to set your father up with the feds.”

Lo’s pinched brows displayed how confused he was. “What?”

“Yeah, she went to the feds and told them everything about my mob business. She tried her best to destroy us and used you as collateral damage.”

“Why would she do that?”

Ada exhaled sharply. “Haven't you been listening all these years? The bitch was jealous of me. She wanted my life and because she didn’t have it, she used you to destroy me.”

Lo shook his head, finding that possibility to be unrealistic.

Maddy protected him when his parents dropped the ball.

She nurtured him and treated Lo like her own.

There was no malice in her heart. She had been his mother figure for the last twenty years.

What they were professing couldn’t have been.

“Nah, I don't believe that.”

“It’s true,” Dax stated. “I have the paperwork to prove everything that I’m saying. She did everything in her power to ruin our family, and she succeeded.”

“When I met Dax, Maddy met her child’s father.

My situation with your dad worked out, but hers didn’t because he was a married man.

When he wouldn’t leave his wife for her, she got salty.

She started coveting my marriage with your father.

Eventually, she got pregnant, and things went downhill from there.

Everything was going well for us, and she had become a single mother with no help.

I understood my sister’s frustration and was there for her, but her jealousy wouldn’t allow her to accept my help.

When I couldn’t take her bullshit anymore, I distanced myself and she couldn’t take it.

That’s when she devised a plan to take you from us.

Lo, I wouldn’t tell a lie. You praised a woman who plotted against our family and that hurt me so bad. ”

Lo felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

He took a seat, mulling over everything Ada said.

His mother had a way of speaking with such conviction.

She wasn’t a liar, but he hadn’t known Maddy to be one either.

Who was he to believe? The woman he had come from or the woman who had taken him in? Lo was a muddled mess.

Dax cleared his throat. “We did everything to fight back. I even handled that mothafucka who violated you. That summer camp ended the same year you attended. I’d do anything for you, Lo.

I wanted you back. I missed you terribly.

Your mama cried every night for a year straight because you had left such a big void in our lives.

These last twenty years haven’t been easy.

It’s been like living a slow death while waiting for someone to pull the plug.

I’d rather die than to live another second without you. I need you to please forgive us.”

“We’re sorry for not protecting you.” Ada sniffled.

“We dropped the ball by not doing our due diligence about that summer camp. Please forgive me for being all about myself. I never realized how selfish I was until I had to deal with how I treated Meco. I’m not the best mother at all but I love you all with every breath in my body.

I was willing to die in that room because I didn’t want you to have to make another sacrifice. I was okay with dying to protect you.”

A tear dropped from Lo’s eyes, and he quickly swiped it away. The pressure that had been squeezing him for the last twenty-one years, finally released, making it possible for him to breathe again.

“Please forgive us, Kylo,” Ada pleaded, extending her hand toward him. “We can start new, or we can stay right here. It’s up to you but we don't want to miss another minute of your life. Allow us inside. It’s been too much time without each other.”

Lo was so conflicted. His heart wanted his parents, but the grudge still hadn’t left his mind.

It psyched him to believe that they were faking it.

They only wanted to sweep the issues under the rug and move on.

However, Lo knew they were being sincere.

Their weeping eyes and heartfelt words were indications that they were deeply sorry for not protecting him.

Without giving it too much thought, Lo grabbed her hand, prompting Ada to cry silently.

“I just want to move on. I’m tired of carrying these problems around. They almost ruined my marriage, and I love Bria too much to keep bleeding on her. Besides, we got a baby on the way, and I need to get right for them.”

Dax nodded as a smile tugged at his lips. “Fatherhood, huh? I love to hear that.”

Lo bobbed his head. “Yeah.”

The room had gotten quiet again. Lo was drained, physically and emotionally. He needed Bria at the moment. Her scent would calm him, and her touch would settle his nerves. So, he stood.

“I’ll be back later. I gotta go see my girl.”

Ada squeezed his hand, pulling him toward her. Lo kneeled down, gazing at her face and awaiting what she would say.

“I love you. I never stopped loving you, okay?”

He tipped his head. “I love you, too.”

Lo exhaled and made his exit from the room. Devyn and Meco stood and met him.

“Y’all good?” Meco asked.

“Yeah.”

“You sure? No more beef? Everything straight?” Devyn questioned, wearing narrowed eyes.

“We good, nigga. I’m gone. I gotta get to Bria.”

The brothers shared a hug before Lo made his exit.

One of their soldiers was near the door and offered to take him back to Devyn’s.

Lo obliged, following him to the car. On the ride, he rested while counting down the time until he saw his beauty’s face.

He had been so concerned about Ada’s wellbeing that he didn’t update Bria. Knowing her, she had been worried.

The drive was a silent, long one. Lo thought about the revelation of Maddy being a rat.

He never fucked with those. Family or not.

He had some decisions to make regarding his aunt.

They pulled up to Devyn’s estate, and Lo got out the car.

A blanket of darkness covered the sky. Pain shot through his bones and muscles as he hiked the stairs.

The beating they’d given him would be felt for weeks to come.

Lo slowly entered inside, wincing from the pain.

Footsteps resounded through the foyer as Tori descended the staircase.

“How’s my girl?” she asked.

“Straight.”

Her brows hiked. “Really? She’s okay?”

“Yeah, but she’s beat up right now.”

Tori exhaled as she laid her hand over her chest. “I’ve been so worried but don't tell her evil ass I was. She’ll never let me live it down.”

Lo chuckled. “I got you. Where is Bria?”

“She fell asleep in the living room. Poor thing has been worried all night.”

He nodded and strolled to the living room.

He stopped and leaned against the frame of the entrance.

Bria was balled up on the couch with her phone right next to her head.

Her mouth was slightly parted with her arm hanging off the couch.

She looked as if she had spent her night trading in sleep for worry.

Lo stepped over to her and kneeled down. He caressed her face, stirring her awake. When she realized it was him, she quickly sat up and wrapped her arms around him.

“Ow, shit, Bri.” He winced.

She jumped back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you okay?”

“No, they fucked me up pretty good.”

Bria held his face and kissed his lips, repeatedly. “I was so scared you wouldn’t make it back to me.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

Lo thought his time on earth had come to an end. He was thankful he had another chance to get things right, especially with Bria.

“Is everything over? How is your mama?”

“She got fucked up but she’s alive. And… we had a talk, my pops included.”

Bria’s eyes widened. “Really? About everything?”

“Yeah, we talked about it all. I don't wanna go into detail but there’s an understanding there.”

Bria pressed her palms together. “Oh my, God. I’ve been praying for this. You all needed healing, and I’m just relieved that you broke the ice. Hopefully, you guys can start bonding, right?”

“For the time being.” He smirked.

“Well, I’m praying that it happens. I’m so glad this is over so we can move on with our lives. I’m sick of the drama.”

The Mob business always created new enemies. Lo wasn’t foolish enough to believe drama wouldn’t knock on The Crown Family’s door anymore.

“Can we go home? I just wanna be in my own bed with you next to me.”

“Yeah, come on but you gotta drive. A nigga too fucked up right now.”

“I got you.”

“Forever?”

She grinned. “Always, baby. Come on, so I can nurse you back to good health.”