Page 42 of Loving Trent (Love in the Bootheel #5)

Betty doesn’t move back, but I didn’t think she would. “How do you know my brother? Is everything okay?” Even though she tries to hide her emotions, I see worry flickering in her eyes.

I don’t even argue with myself about giving her the truth. “I’m Trent’s boyfriend, and as for everything being okay. We’re not so sure. We’re hoping you can help us answer that question.”

“Since my fiancé is being very rude, I will introduce myself. My name’s April.

” April slides her hand into mine. “Come on in.” April places her hand on Betty’s shoulder and spins her around.

Dad and I follow them down a little hallway into a small but charming kitchen. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thank you,” I reply.

“Please have a seat,” April points at the small dining table shoved into the corner of the room.

“You said you weren’t sure if everything?—”

I cut Betty off because her worry has shattered her restraint, and I hate seeing it in her eyes. “Trent is alive and, by all standards, doing amazing.”

Betty lets out a huge sigh and cradles her face. April pulls Betty into her embrace and starts soothing her. “That’s a relief. Betty has spent the last five years trying to find him but has never been able to.”

Dad leans his forearms on the table and gets straight to asking questions. “Can you start from the beginning, please?”

“The people who gave birth to me told me that Trent was sent to a boarding school when he was thirteen. I was only eleven at the time and believed them, but as I got older, I started to question things. He never came home on the holidays, nor did we go see him. I wrote letters to him all the time, but he never wrote back. Trent and I weren’t close, but he would never ignore me like that,” Betty says into April’s shoulder.

“It’s okay,” April says after pressing a kiss to Betty’s hair.

“Then, one night, I overheard Josiah on the phone. All I could gather was that Trent was hurt badly, but Josiah said that we wouldn’t be going to the hospital.

Eve didn’t even try to argue with him. She just agreed.

” Betty pulls away from April and looks at us.

Tears streak down her face, and without thinking, I grab her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“But you didn’t agree, did you?” I ask, knowing the story.

“No, I called my Uncle Joey and told him everything I knew. Which wasn’t much, just the number on the caller ID.

The next day, Josiah gave an order that none of us was allowed to contact Uncle Joey again.

The thing about his orders… You either complied, or he would make your life difficult.

” Betty wipes her eyes and sits up straighter.

“When I met April, I told her everything. She convinced me to tell her parents. They tried to contact my uncle, but he had changed his number. We came up with the plan of me getting emancipated. I’m ashamed to admit that I stopped looking for him until five years ago. ”

“What changed?” Dad asks.

“Eve called me one day out of the blue and asked if I would come over to the house the next day. I agreed for some reason. It was the first time in years that I had spoken to either of them. She promised Josiah wouldn’t be there and said she had something important to tell me.

Something about Trent.” Betty’s eyes go glassy as if she is retreating into her memories.

“When I showed up, a police officer was standing outside. Beside him was Josiah as if he were waiting for me. When I exited the car, he didn’t even allow me to step onto the property.

He met me by the car, told me Eve had killed herself, and that I wasn’t welcome there.

I didn’t even have time to process what he had said before the police officer was threatening me if I didn’t leave. ”

I quickly look over at Dad, who looks just as surprised as I feel. “Are you sure?” I ask, hoping I’m not offending her.

Betty leans forward, narrowing her eyes. “What do you mean, am I sure?”

Dad pulls the folder out from under his jacket and places it on the table but places his hand on it. “We’ve been looking into your pa?—”

“Josiah and Eve,” I interrupt Dad before he says parents.

“Why?” April asks instead of Betty.

“Because Trent was never sent to a boarding school,” I say, squeezing Betty’s hand. Please forgive me, Trent. “He was sent to a conversion camp for being gay.”

April gasps, and her complexion takes on a green hue. Betty’s eyes turn dark and dangerous. She looks right at me, and her gaze clearly says, ‘Don’t lie to me.’ “He was hurt, wasn’t he? They did something to him, and that’s the phone call Josiah got and what Eve was going to tell me.”

“It’s his story to tell you fully, but…” I close my eyes and once again pray that Trent will forgive me for what I’m doing. “Yes, and there’s more.”

“There is no proof that Eve is dead, but there is proof that Josiah might be behind not just the camp Trent was sent to but others we have found,” Dad says, sliding the folder across the table.

Betty doesn’t move to open the folder. She looks straight at Dad and demands, “I want to see my brother, and then I want in on whatever the hell you are doing.”