Page 68 of Twisted Truths

Betrayal slices through me, cutting so deep I feel like I’m about to bleed out. My gaze lands on Hadley, her hand fisting her locket as she watches me from the doorway with sorrow in her green eyes. She’s known the whole time, and she didn’t say anything.

“Where is he?” I croak out, already knowing the answer.

“That’s the other reason we couldn’t go far,” Gabriel says. “We’re going to get him out of there.”

The cult.

They have him.

My nephew.

Zara’s son.

Ziggy had a baby.

“Nash—” Hadley’s voice cuts through the cacophony of thoughts running through my head.

“You didn’t tell me,” I say, staring at her like I don’t know who she is.

Because I don’t.

How could she keep this from me? She’s had so many chances, but she kept it to herself, protecting their secrets rather than telling me my sister had a baby.

I have a nephew.

Her face pales.

“I tried. At the church, and last night. I wanted to—” her voice cuts off with a sob when I narrow my eyes.

I rise to my feet, swaying slightly. She takes a step towards me, but I lift my hands and shake my head slowly. “Don’t.”

She freezes, a tear slipping down her cheek. Then she twists the knife even further when she looks to Gabriel.

They left my nephew in the clutches of the cult and came to hide out in my family’s home. She came to my bedroom last night and slept in my arms. Still, she kept this secret from me and looks tohimfor guidance. They can have each other.

Without a word to either of them, I push past her, making my way outside to the old barn that Paul and I converted into a home gym when I was fourteen. Donning a pair of boxing gloves, I take my grief and anger out on the bag, trying to process this new revelation.

Ever since I’ve come home, it’s been one gut punch after another, and I don’t know who I can fucking trust anymore.

The only thing I know for certain … I’m getting my nephew back.

Chapter Twenty-Five

HADLEY

What have I done?

My body trembles as tears run unchecked down my cheeks. I should have tried harder to tell him last night. The betrayal in his eyes when he realised I knew—I can’t unsee it. He’ll never forgive me.

A sob escapes my lips, and I sink to my knees, burying my head in my hands. My breath comes in shallow bursts, and the ache in my chest twists until I feel like my heart might burst.

Nash has a nephew. A living, breathing piece of Zara, and I kept it from him.

Gabriel crouches in front of me, but he doesn’t offer any comforting words. He knows we fucked up by not telling Nash straight away. Now it looks like we kept it from him on purpose.

“We had a plan,” Gabriel says softly. “We needed to tread carefully in order to not tip them off. If Nash found out, he’d go storming in there with no thought for himself or Franklin, and I wouldn’t put it past my mother to hide him away. We need to be smart about this.”

“He hates me,” I whisper, my voice cracking.