Page 30 of Twisted Truths (The Sunburnt Hearts #4)

Chapter Twenty-Four

NASH

I wake up to the warmth of a body pressed up against mine, and the sweet scents of lavender and mint permeating my senses. Slowly opening my eyes, I look down at the woman nestled in my arms. During the night, we’ve somehow become entangled in one another, and I’m in no hurry to let her go.

As my eyes wash over her effortlessly beautiful face, I marvel at how at peace she seems in her sleep. When she’s awake, she has a small crinkle in the middle of her brow, as if she’s constantly worrying about something.

Careful not to jostle her, I gently lean in and press my lips to that space now, free of lines, free of worry. There’s a fierce need deep inside me to protect this woman at all costs, and I don’t know when she went from being the enemy to something … more.

My heart clenches at the memories she shared with me of her family. She’s just as broken, just as lonely as I am. I hate that she’s been through this pain I am now going through. Hadley lost her parents at a young age, but she still had her sister, until she was taken away from her, too .

Anger surges through me. The Circle may not have taken her parents, but they took Madeline in the same way they took Tom.

By preying on their innocence and emotional trauma.

The only thing I can’t figure out is how they got to Zara.

What happened to my sister that she couldn’t tell me?

How did she get caught up with them when she knew how dangerous they were?

She saw what happened to Tom, yet she still chose to trust Gabriel.

I saw the photos Grimshaw sent through of the two of them, the way she looked at him. She trusted him to take care of her, and he failed. But who was the hidden figure in the background? Who was watching them?

I need answers.

With one last glance down at Hadley, still fast asleep in my arms, I carefully extricate myself from her, unable to resist another quick brush of my lips over her smooth brow. She stirs, but doesn’t wake, burying herself deeper into my pillow with a soft sigh.

She’s so fucking beautiful, it hurts.

I quickly change out of my shirt and suit pants, slipping on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, then slip out of my bedroom.

My eyes lock on Zara’s closed door as I pass, but I’m still not ready for whatever I’ll find in there.

Heading straight for the sitting room to confront Gabriel and ask him to tell me everything he fucking knows about my sister, I stop short when I hear noises coming from the living room. The sounds of something being dragged, then a soft grunt.

I freeze.

What the hell?

I haven’t been in there since I came here with Levi. When I came back to collect the paperwork from Paul’s office for Grimshaw, I avoided all areas of the house steeped in blood and memories. I didn’t need to relive them again.

My stomach clenches as I push open the door.

Gabriel’s on his knees in the middle of the living room, his sleeves rolled up as he pulls back a section of the carpet.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I snap, my voice sharp and loud.

He jerks upright, his face pale as he puts his splayed hands up in front of him. “Nash?—”

I step into the room with my fists clenched by my side. “Trying to cover your parents’ tracks? Or is it your own? Is this why you’re really here?”

“Nash, please?—”

“What was your plan? Distract me with Hadley while you get rid of any evidence the police might have missed?”

“No.” Gabriel scrambles to his feet, panicked and breathless. “Fuck, no. I’m not tampering with anything. The police closed the case. I came here because we had nowhere else to go. My priority was getting Hadley somewhere safe, and this was the only place close I could think of.”

I glare at him, my body vibrating with anger. “How am I supposed to believe you when you’re in here pulling the place apart? What are you looking for?”

“I’m not looking for anything,” he insists. “I didn’t want Hadley to see it. Fuck, I didn’t want you to have to see it. I thought…” He clears his throat. “I thought if I cleaned it up, it wouldn’t be so brutal.”

My eyes lock on the dark stain soaked into the underlay and my stomach swoops.

“You think I can’t handle the sight of my own mother’s blood?” I hiss, trying to hide how much it’s affecting me. I’m not fooling either of us.

“You’ve had to handle way too much these last couple of weeks.

” Gabriel’s voice is low, careful, like he knows every word could be a landmine.

“I’m not here to hide anything. I want to help find out who really killed Zara.

If my parents had anything to do with it, I’ll help you burn them to the ground. ”

Silence settles around us.

All I can hear is the dull thump of my heart and the buzz in my ears.

I want to hate him. I’m fighting my need to grab him by the collar and kick him the fuck out of my family’s house. But there’s something in his eyes, in the tenor of his voice. It’s raw. Honest.

It screws with every preconceived notion I have of him.

“Why?”

His brow furrows. “Why what?”

“Why are you helping me?”

Gabriel hangs his head. “I feel like I owe you.”

“You owe me?”

“For not keeping Zara safe,” he says.

His words knock the fire out of me. I move over to the couch and sink onto it, burying my head in my hands. “I don’t get it. Why did she come to you? What happened that she felt she couldn’t go to Mum or Paul or Levi?”

Hell, why didn’t she call me?

When Gabriel doesn’t say anything, I lift my head to look at him, only to find him rubbing the back of his neck and looking uncomfortable.

“What?” I demand. “What don’t I know?”

“Zara was pregnant when she came to me.”

The room spins. “She was what?”

“She was pregnant and terrified.”

My ears are ringing and I’m finding it hard to concentrate on what he’s saying. Why didn’t she tell me?

“Who’s the father? ”

Gabriel shrugs. “I don’t know. She refused to tell me, but she said he didn’t know, and she was never going to tell him.”

My stomach drops. “You said she was pregnant. What happened to the baby?”

He opens his mouth, but the answer comes from a soft voice behind me. “You have a nephew.”

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 to him for 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.