Page 25 of Fractured Loyalties

Twenty-Five

ROMAN

“I need to know how it happened.” I turn to Nico, my little sister by only eleven months, meeting the eyes that so mirror mine. “You’ve been hacking shit since we were kids. Tell me how it happened.”

Nico’s voice is flat and deadpan as she flips her black hair over her shoulder. She’s unamused.

“Don’t see what good it’ll do. You were fucking our stepsister and someone was recording it. There’s really no point in worrying about how it leaked.”

“It’s got to be someone in the house,” I say, ignoring her jab. “Edward? Maybe. But he’d never risk that. Irena—she’s cold, but not stupid…”

“You’re forgetting Robert.”

I turn from the glass. “No. I’m not. I just don’t get the point of his ruining his only legacy. He threw us both under the bus.”

Nico takes a long pull from the glass of wine that she’s not old enough to drink. “Hmm.”

I shake my head, ignoring the twitch under my left eye. “I don’t know. I have to fix this… I just… don’t know how.” The exasperation makes my stomach knot up.

She laughs, a wet, hacking sound that says she’s already done with my bullshit. “You’re giving up? The great Roman Woods?”

I glare at her. “I’m not giving up. I’m regrouping.”

She narrows her eyes. “Is that what this is? Because it looks a lot like a breakdown.”

I could snap her neck. I could . But … she’s my sister. The one we were all supposed to forget about and exile into the abyss.

Just like I am now.

“Fuck,” I mumble, plopping down on the couch beside her. “ Fuck .”

Nico sets her glass on the table. “You know what I think? I think you want to blame everyone else and avoid what I’ve tried to tell you. Because if you disregard the truth, then maybe you’re actually as fucked up as everyone says.”

I look up. Her eyes are dark, but there’s a lot of pain buried there. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a narcissist,” she says, voice like a knife. “You think every bad thing that happens is a move in your personal chess game. But maybe the world just hates you, Roman. Maybe it’s not a conspiracy you can control.”

The words dig, but I don’t flinch. I’ve heard worse, from better.

“Why are you here, then?” I snap back at her. “If I’m so fucking cruel?”

She shrugs, frowning. “You’re my blood. You're always welcome to show up, eat my food, and sleep on my floor. If I left you to the wolves, it’d just prove I’m as bad as he is.”

Fucking hell. She’s right.

A car alarm blares down on the street, the sound bouncing off the water-stained walls. I stand up and go to the window again, but there’s nothing out there. Just the city, soaked in rain and sickness.

“I need to get back to Ivy,” I say, turning back to her. “I have to…” I don’t even know what comes next. Save her? Warn her? Burn her to the ground so she’ll never belong to anyone but me?

Nico’s voice is softer now. “She’s just a kid, Roman. Let it go. She’ll be out of there before you know it, or maybe he’ll turn her into his third wife.”

I slam my fist into the wall, my knuckles splitting open, and for a second, I feel alive. “She’s not a kid. She’s mine .” The words hang there, sick and heavy.

Nico gets up from the couch as I shake out my now-bleeding knuckles. She grabs a towel and approaches me without fear. She takes my bleeding hand and presses it between her palms, firm and unflinching.

“She’s not going anywhere. Robert’s not letting anyone near the house for a while. You need to focus. If you want to fuck… be with Ivy, as weird as that is, then you need to prove to her it wasn’t you that posted the video.” Nico cleans my hand up carefully.

I try to take steady breaths, but my heart is pounding in the side of my head. I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline or a lack of sleep or the withdrawal from whatever the fuck normal people use to keep themselves functional.

“He took everything,” I say, voice wrecked. “He always does.”

Nico rubs the towel over the cut on my knuckle, soaking up the blood. “He destroyed all of us, you know. Not just you.”

I look at her, noticing just how aged my little sister looks. Sure, she’s got the Woods’ good looks, but she’s not had it easy. She was kicked out when she was only fifteen, and sent off to live with our older brother, who overdosed sometime last year.

“What happened to you?” I ask, my voice softening. “We spent so much time together growing up, and then you just…pulled away. No one even told me why you had to leave.”

She shakes her head, then pauses, her entire body stilling. “I tried to kill myself during my sophomore year. You were abroad that year. Nobody told you.”

For a second, the room goes weightless, as if the air is about to cave in.

“Why?” I whisper.

Nico’s lips twist strangely as she peers up at me, moisture glistening in her eyes.

“Why do you think? He was grooming me. Not in the way people say it about you, but in the way that made my skin crawl every time he looked at me. He’d come into my room and tell me stories about what he did to Mom before she left.

I thought if I died, at least he couldn’t touch me. ”

I want to say something, anything, but my tongue is a lump of sand.

She lets go of my hand and stands up, wiping her palms on her jeans. “You think you’re the only one with scars. You’re not. Robert made sure of that.”

I get to my feet, energy fizzing under my skin. “I’m going to kill him.”

She snorts, but there’s no humor in it. “Good luck. He’s a cockroach. He’ll outlive us all. Even with his head cut off. He’s got Irena, too. She does more than she lets on, even if she started as a victim.”

I pace the room again, faster this time. “Okay, so maybe it’s Irena, then. She’s the only one who benefits from blowing up the family like this. If she cuts me out, Ivy can take all the inheritance that’s coming.”

“Call her,” Nico says, sounding bored. “Confront her. You’re good at that.”

I stop, mulling over the idea. It seems… too easy. But also, what’s there to lose?

I pull out my phone, my thumb hovering over the contacts. I hesitate, then hit dial. The phone rings twice, then clicks over.

“Roman?” Irena’s voice is crisp. She sounds surprised.

I put her on speaker. Nico drifts over to stand behind me, her arms folded, listening.

“Irena. Cut the bullshit. Did you leak the video?” My voice is steady, even. The mask is back on. I like myself.

Irena is quiet. I can hear the echo of the airport behind her, distant and sterile. “What tape? Roman, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. The tape of Ivy and me. It’s everywhere. You sent it to Robert. Or maybe straight to the board at the Foundation. I don’t care which.”

There’s a beat of silence. Then, “Roman, I swear to God, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Where’s Ivy? Is she safe? Are you with her?” There’s a catch in her voice that penetrates my armor.

That catches me. “What do you mean, is she safe?”

“Roman,” she almost sounds as if she’s panicking, “Tell me where my daughter is.”

A cold spike of dread slices through me. “She’s… she’s at the house. ”

Nico’s eyes flick to mine, sharp and worried.

“Where are you? Please tell me you’re there, too.”

Okay, now she’s scaring me.

“Roman,” Irena’s voice breaks. “Your father… there’s a… he’s…” Her voice trails off as her breathing moves into a strange hyperventilating sound. “He has a lot of…tapes.”

“Tell me what the fuck is going on,” I growl into the phone. “Now.”

Irena sighs, ragged and heavy. “Robert is a bad, bad man. There is a reason I left my daughter behind.” Her voice shakes.

“I had no choice but to leave her. It was for her safety. I knew what happened behind those closed doors, but it was too late for me. Why do you think I walked the halls at night, Roman? What do you think all those investors were paying for? What was your father paying for?” Her voice is in pure panic now.

“I need to keep my daughter safe from him. Please . I never wanted her here.”

What the fuck. How did I not know?

“Roman,” Irena says, voice dropping to a whisper, “You need to find her. Please. Robert made me think I was stepping into a kingdom to be a queen, don’t let him do that to Ivy.”

I want to hang up. I want to launch the phone through the fucking window. But my hand is steady.

“I’ll find her,” I say. “But if you’re lying to me, I’ll burn you down with him.”

“I believe you,” Irena says. “Just… please . Protect my daughter.”

I end the call and drop the phone on the table.

For a second, there’s nothing. Just the sound of my own pulse, loud as thunder. I can barely breathe, self-loathing pulsing through my veins at the fact that I didn’t force Ivy to go with me.

I’m about to fucking lose it.

Nico moves then, grabbing the collar of my shirt. She pulls me close, giving me the shake that I need. “Do not fuck this up, Roman. We have to go in prepared. You can’t go to prison.”

I nod, trying to think clearly. “I know.”

Nico takes a step back and then heads for the hall closet, where she rummages around for a minute. I take a breath and then another. It’s like swallowing glass, but I do it anyway.

“I’m going to the house,” I call after her. “I have to go now.”

He’s not going to touch what’s mine.