Page 39

Dylan

A short time later, I stood in the center of my living room, my pulse still thrummed from tackling Enimton Gravestone, his bruised temple a testament to Jennifer’s poker swing.

My brothers had arrived. All of them. Jesse, Thane, Scott, Zachary, and Mark—my chosen family, storming in after one text: Trouble at my house. Get here ASAP.

They’d come without partners, no questions asked, trusting that if I called, it mattered.

They didn’t stand as twin pairs, but as families do, grouped by shared bonds.

Jesse and Thane, raised together, stood shoulder-to-shoulder, their competitive childhood etched in their easy stance.

Mark and Scott gravitated naturally to each other.

Zachary stood apart, intense, but when his gaze met mine, we shared a silent nod—two men who’d wrestled anger to the ground and won, realizing it hurt us more than the pain we’d shielded against.

“Thank you all for coming,” I said, my voice thick.

Jesse shrugged. “You call, we come. Simple.”

“Brothers, right?” Mark’s easy smile warmed the room.

“Brotherhood forged in fire,” Zachary echoed, quieter, his eyes steady.

Jennifer moved to Enimton, who sat awkwardly on the couch, nursing his jaw with a bag of ice she’d given him.

I asked her to hold off on talking to him until everyone arrived and she had.

It was clear that she felt for him, but she’d almost lost me due to his actions.

I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had slipped a little poison in the drink she’d given him earlier.

We were all trying to put aside our first gut reaction to Enimton in an effort to unravel his motivation.

She handed him a turkey sandwich without a word. He blinked, startled, then murmured, “Thanks,” and took a bite. Her compassion hit me hard. My goal going forward was to be more like her.

Steven stood by the door, Bethany at his side, alert but calm. Thane had questioned their involvement, but I’d been clear that they were as much a part of this as we were.

“You sure about her, Dylan?” Thane asked.

I nodded. “Bethany stuck her neck out at the hospital. She’s proven herself. Unless she wants out.” I looked at her, seriously. “Your choice.”

Bethany’s lips quirked. “I’m in.”

Steven tugged her close, pride flashing in his eyes. “We both are,” he said, voice rough.

“Good, because my father’s not joking about adopting you, Steven. Soon I’ll be driving myself, and you’ll be stuck with fancy parents.”

Steven blinked, emotion cracking his tough-guy act. “Then I gotta keep you alive, because I can’t handle them without you.”

I smiled at that, but laughter wasn’t something any of us was ready for yet. Jennifer came over and slid beneath my arm and hugged me. That act of support was all I needed to regain control. This—this was a today problem. Jennifer—she was my forever happiness.

Alive.

Unhurt.

Strong.

Guilt nipped at me because I should have prepared her better. I thought I was protecting her, but now I saw that we were stronger together.

Also, Steven might have been right about us needing better security.

“Alright,” I sighed, facing Enimton. “This is your chance. Tell us your side of what you did and why; if we believe you, you might just walk out of here.”

Enimton set the sandwich down, hands clasped, eyes shadowed with pain. “I was trying to protect my family.”

“You nearly killed Dylan,” Zachary snapped, his voice icy. “Interesting protection plan.”

Enimton flinched, his young face vulnerable. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far. All I wanted to do was scare him. I miscalculated and he went off the road.”

Thane leaned forward; his eyes narrowed. “How would scaring us protect your family?”

Enimton swallowed hard. “Simmons in general was a pretty nasty man. And well-connected. He had something on my family and was blackmailing them.”

I jumped in. “What did he have on them?”

Enimton shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You wouldn’t tell us even if you did,” Zachary asserted.

Offering no response to that, Enimton merely looked away.

Okay, I get that. I wouldn’t spill on my family either, especially if it was something that could be leveraged for blackmail.

“So, your family gave Simmons money.”

“Yes.” Enimton nodded. “They had no choice. When he died, they thought it was over. But when you started to find each other, they began to worry. They’re scared someone might think they endorsed Simmons’ atrocities.”

“So you took the journals,” I stated.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Because I was afraid if someone else had them, my family would once again be blackmailed... or worse, convicted of crimes they had nothing to do with.”

Scott frowned, thoughtful. “Why not destroy the journals?”

“I planned to,” Enimton said, his voice shaky. “But I read them. Saw what Simmons did—the lives he ruined. Destroying the list and his work would have made it impossible for the remaining twins to find each other. I didn’t want to be part of that. So I brought them back.”

The room fell silent. Jesse shifted, uncomfortable. “We looked into the Gravestones,” he said. “Wealthy, influential—no mention of you anywhere.”

Enimton’s shoulders stiffened. “That’s why I was the perfect one to do this. My parents sent me away to a private school.” His words cracked, a kid chasing a father’s approval he’d never earned. “I’ve struggled with my mental health and my parents have made sure to protect me from public scrutiny.”

Thane’s expression softened with understanding. “You thought fixing this would win their respect.”

Enimton nodded, his embarrassment obvious. “Maybe.”

Zachary scoffed. “You could’ve made better choices.”

“I know,” Enimton responded like so many young people would. “But I had to do something.”

His words hit me like a mirror. I’d made my share of mistakes as well, clutched anger until it choked me. “You’re lucky you’re not in jail or dead,” I said, calm but firm. “That’s not my opinion—that’s reality. No one here is looking to blackmail anyone. Your family is safe.”

Enimton looked at me, eyes wide with skepticism. “Why’re you being nice?”

Jennifer leaned into me, whispering, “Because that’s who we are.” Her empathy sparked warmth in my chest, tying his pain to ours.

“There’s not a person here who hasn’t screwed up,” I said. “But you did almost kill me.”

He grimaced, touching his bruise. “Still sorry about that.”

Thane shook his head as if trying to process a faulty code. “You’ve got a lot of growing up to do, but lucky for you, we also want to keep this quiet.”

“That’s why I knew I could return the list,” Enimton said, his gaze flitting to Zachary. “You have as much to lose as I do. Some of you even more.”

Zachary straightened to his full height, and his hands fisted at his sides. “Choose your next words carefully or they may be your last.”

He wasn’t joking.

And when none of us stepped in to intervene, Enimton understood how precarious his safety with us actually was. On the surface we were calm, but in that moment, he understood he was surrounded by men who would stop at nothing to defend the people they loved.

If his story was true, we could respect that he’d acted on behalf of his family—but that wouldn’t gain mercy from us if he came for us again. We’d come to a tenuous truce.

Mark nodded. “That FBI agent, Sara Linde, is still a problem.”

Jennifer met my gaze. “Who’s that?”

“Mark and I met her once. She asked us if we knew Simmons or the Gravestones, so she’s pieced some of this together.” As I spoke, I looked around to assess how my words landed. “She’s rogue, though. If she finds nothing, she’ll move on.”

There was a general and silent agreement.

“We stay low-key,” Jesse added. “No headlines, no scrutiny.”

In concession, Zachary said, “No seeking out twins from the list. Not until the dust settles.”

Thane’s expression filled with sympathy. “We pause for now, not forever.”

Mark came to stand beside me. “Keeping our families safe is our top priority.”

I nodded in agreement.

Jennifer tugged at my shirt and I tipped my head so I could hear her better.

She whispered, “Seeing you with Mark, it’s hard to believe I didn’t know it wasn’t you in Haverwick, but I don’t care because we were both stubborn, stuck. So, in case you’re wondering, I’m not upset about it. How could I be? It brought us back together.”

“I don’t remember the details, but I should have talked it out with you sooner.” I kissed her forehead. “No more secrets going forward and we talk out whatever is bothering us. Deal?”

“Deal.”

We kissed briefly and for just a moment, nothing else mattered.

A short time later, Enimton’s sandwich was half-eaten, and color was returning to his face “So, you’re going to let me leave, right?” he asked, eyes darting between us.

I shared a look with Jennifer and then those around the room. “If you leave us alone, we’ll return the favor. We don’t need more enemies.”

Jennifer joked softly, “I’m glad I didn’t kill him.”

Mark piped up, “Dylan, you’d better be good to her.”

I tossed back, “I have to be, now that I know she could kick my ass.”

In his usual calm manner, Thane said, “Just to be clear, had you killed him, no one would have ever found his body.”

“I can hear you,” Enimton said.

Steven, his arm around Bethany, interjected, “I believe that’s the point.”

Going with the flow, Bethany said, “For future reference, if something like this happens again, call me, I could probably figure out how to make it look like a heart attack.”

Scott exchanged a look with Mark. “Are they kidding?”

“I’m not sure,” Mark said with a pained face.

Steven hugged Bethany closer. “That’s my girl.”

I looked at Enimton. “Yeah, you can go. We’re done here.”

Enimton rose to his feet, like he didn’t fully expect us to let him leave. “Okay. Well, good luck to all of you.”

I stepped away from Jennifer to face him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we don’t want to ever see you again. Getting to know you has been a pain.”

He winced, touched his temple, almost smiling. “You could say that again.”

Jennifer came to stand beside me, her voice light. “Not that I endorse violence, but don’t let me find you in our home again.”

I leaned in and in a deadly serious tone, added, “Here’s the deal, Enimton. No more trouble from you, and your family will never know what you did.” I held his gaze.

Mark clapped Enimton’s shoulder. “That’s a deal I’d take and run.”

Scott added, “Seriously, you might want to leave now.”

Enimton exhaled and backed away, “Thank you.”

After he left, a general silence prevailed that lasted until it became uncomfortable. Jennifer walked over, picked up a pen and paper, wrote something, then folded it and stuck it in the wishing frog.

“What did you write?” I asked.

She didn’t say, but her gaze flew to the door Enimton had left through.

I hugged her. For a long time, I’d been so out of touch with everything that mattered that I had become blind to the true beauty of her.

It wasn’t her perfect features or her rocking little body; it was her soul and the goodness that ebbed from it and into mine.

I would bet one of my resorts that her wish was for something good to happen for Enimton.

The old me wouldn’t have seen any merit in that wish, but I wasn’t that man anymore.

Enimton had hurt me, and I might have been justified in staying angry with him, but the only person that anger would hurt in the end was me—her—us.

And I would never choose anything over her again.

This woman isn’t just my heart.

She’s my forever.

And I have her back, thanks to a dare, one misguided young man, and a wish.

Now that’s a story we’ll tell our children one day... a long, long time from now.

When they’re old enough to believe in forgiveness and frogs.