Chapter 29
I hate this.
I think it’d be more fun to set myself on fire and yeet myself off the balcony than to be up here in this penthouse.
Kai, Damon, Callie, Wren, Levi, Derek, and I are all sitting around the huge marble kitchen island, waiting for Elijah to return from wherever he went. Most eyes are on Derek as he lazily slouches back in his seat, looking anywhere but at them as he peers around the place, probably remembering all the time he spent here before he and his cousins disowned each other four years ago.
Minutes pass by painfully slow. Damon won’t stop glaring at my brother. Levi keeps glancing between him and Derek as if he thinks Damon’s about to attack him any second now. Wren and Callie are having a whispered argument over by the coffee machine. And Kai’s watching me out of the corner of his eye, his hand in mine on my lap where it’s hidden beneath the counter.
After Wren and Callie get done fighting over a can of whipped cream, Callie walks over to me and Kai with two drinks in her hands and sets them down in front of us. “Iced caramel lattes.”
I look up at her in surprise, and she grins proudly, knowing it’s my favorite—and now Kai’s too.
“There’s not enough caramel in them,” Wren grumbles, tipping his head back to squirt some whipped cream into his mouth.
“There’s enough.” Callie nods at me before she climbs up onto Damon’s lap.
My brows pinch as I stare at the caramel sauce dripping over the sides of my glass.
Did they…?
“That”s why they stopped at the store on the way home. They bought all the stuff they needed to make them,” Kai says quietly, answering my unspoken question. “For you.”
“They did not.”
He grins at me. “They did.”
I narrow my eyes at him, unamused.
He laughs. “Relax, Hails. It’s just coffee.”
“It’s not just—” I huff, swallowing when my brother cuts his eyes to mine.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Don’t.”
“You let him call you Hails?” he asks, shaking his head with an angry, disgusted laugh. “Jesus Christ. Does he know about the daisies too?”
Furious, I grit my teeth at him. “Say another word, Derek. I dare you.”
He doesn’t. He drops back into his seat and silently fumes. When I risk a glance at Kai, he looks fucking thrilled, because of course he does. Ignoring him, I pick up my iced coffee and take a sip. There’s too much caramel in it, but I still drink it with a secret smile on my face.
Wren takes a seat between Levi and Derek, giving me a secret smile of his own as he takes a sip of his coffee. Derek glances between me and the rest of them, his jaw ticking as he settles his eyes on the gold wedding ring on Wren’s left hand.
“You got married,” he says, screwing the cap off the water Wren puts in front of him.
“Yeah.”
“To a guy.”
Wren nods. “Yeah.”
Nervous, I flick my eyes between the two of them.
“I never would have guessed you were gay.”
“I’m not. It’s only him,” Wren says, leaning back into Levi and threading his fingers through his, cocking his head at Derek as if he’s daring him to say something about it. “You got a problem with that?”
“No. I know what you mean,” he says nicely enough, but I know he’s trying to start shit when he smirks, cocks his own head, and drags his eyes over Levi’s form. “I’m not gay either, but I’d pretend for himif he ever gets tired of y?—”
Levi closes his eyes briefly, not even bothering to try to stop Wren when he jumps out of his seat and shoves Derek so hard that both he and the chair go tumbling to the ground.
“Ow. What the fuck?” he groans, clutching his head which must be killing him. “It was a joke.”
Wren laughs at that, crouching down next to him with his elbows on his knees. “No, the joke was you fucking my girlfriend. Look at my husband like that again and I’ll cut your eyes out of your face.”
Derek scoffs and looks up at me, lifting his brows with a look that says, See what the fuck I’m talking about?
“You asked for that, Der,” I mutter, taking another sip of my iced latte.
Just then, Elijah walks in with James behind him, their gazes moving over each of us in turn before they land on Derek spread out on the floor.
“What did I tell you?” Elijah asks angrily. “You’ve been here for ten goddamn minutes, Derek.”
“I didn’t do shit,” he snaps, wincing when Wren grabs a handful of his hair. “Fuck, you motherfu?—”
“Wren, sit down,” Elijah barks.
Wren throws Derek’s head away and sits back down next to Levi.
“Where are they?” Kai asks, referring to the guys who attacked Derek tonight, I’m guessing.
“Not here,” Elijah says, stopping Kai with a single look when he starts to say more. “I’m not telling you where they are, Kai. Drop it.”
Kai doesn’t look happy about it, but he does as he’s told, glaring at his dad as Elijah holds out a hand and helps Derek up to his feet. When he touches Derek’s temple to try to inspect his stitches, Derek jerks his head away, picking his chair up off the floor before he flops down into it. He won’t look at anyone, but everyone is looking at him, waiting for him to start talking, and I know he feels it when he anxiously picks at the label on his water bottle. He clears his throat. “Anyone got any vodk?—”
Damon bangs his palm against the counter, making Derek jump.
“Tell us what the fuck happened,” Damon demands, his arm banded tightly around Callie’s waist as he fights to control his temper. “Now.”
“I walked into the apartment and got hit from the side. Knocked me out. Next thing I know I’m gagged and tied up on the couch.” He shrugs.
“Who are they?”
Derek peeks at me, surprising me when he tells them the truth. “They work for my dad.”
Damon’s face doesn’t change, and when I look at Kai, he doesn’t look all that surprised either.
“Why are they after you?” Damon asks.
“Maverick’s been trying to find me since the day I left the hospital.” Derek admits. “He…”
“He what?” Kai asks. “What did he do?”
Derek swallows, his eyes never leaving mine as he says, “He killed our mother.”
A heavy silence fills the room, and I drag a hand through my hair.
Eventually, Damon says, “He killed Leila, your biological mother, but you’re not talking about her, are you? You’re talking about her sister. Valerie.”
Derek nods once, his eyes as glassy as mine are.
“Why?” Wren asks.
Derek clears his throat again. “Hailey was born?—”
“Der,” I say, but he doesn’t stop.
“—a Kingston. Up until she was one year old, Maverick thought she was his daughter. When he found out she wasn’t, he killed Leila and Hailey’s real dad and made up some bullshit story to cover his ass. He said he walked in on Dante, Hailey’s dad, attacking Leila because she refused to let him claim Hailey as his own. He told the police that Dante killed Leila, and that he killed Dante when he tried to attack him. He said it was self defense.”
Kai looks up at his dad with his brows drawn in. “You believed this?”
“No.” Elijah shakes his head. “Maverick called me after he killed them. When I got to the house, he was unpacking their suitcases. Leila and Dante were going to run with Derek and Hailey.”
“But Maverick stopped them,” Wren adds.
Elijah nods.
“Why didn’t you do something?” Kai asks.
“I couldn’t bring them back, Kai. The only thing I could do was…” He pauses and looks at me, then back at his son. “Your mother and I convinced him to let us take Hailey, and in return, I let him walk.”
“You were going to raise her?” Kai asks. “Here? With us?”
Elijah nods. “Yes, but Valerie…” He lets out a quiet laugh. “She was only nineteen, but she fought like hell for her. She wasn’t leaving without her niece.”
“So you gave her away,” Kai says.
“Yes,” Elijah says. “I bought them their apartment and helped change Hailey’s name. I gave Val whatever I could convince her to take, assigned three guards to watch them day and night, and protected them from my brother as well as I could.”
“And you took Derek to see them every weekend.”
Elijah nods. “Just Valerie at first. And then Hailey, when Derek wanted to meet her.”
“Maverick didn’t go looking for them? For Hailey?”
Elijah shakes his head. “Not until recently.”
“Why now?”
“Why do you think?” Derek grits out, sneering at Kai.
Kai frowns, but then his eyes widen as it hits him. “Because of me.”
“Because you can’t take no for an answer and leave her the fuck alone,” Derek says.
“Hailey,” Kai says. “Look at me.”
Pulling in a long breath, I turn my head to look him in the eye. He looks terrified.
It would be so easy to blame him, but…
“It’s not your fault, Kai.”
Derek curses under his breath, dropping his head into his hands.
“Valerie’s death is on Maverick. No one else.”
“What happened?”
“A few days before she died, Valerie was acting even more paranoid than usual,” I say, doing my best to keep my voice from cracking. “She was convinced Maverick was coming for us. She closed the shop early one day and told me to stay inside with the door locked while she went out. When she came back, I…I watched her get hit by a car through the window. The car didn’t stop. It kept going. I can’t prove it was him, but…it was him. I know it was him.”
Kai swallows. “Did you…?”
I nod. “I ran out. She died right in front of me.”
“Fuck, Hailey,” he whispers, his hand on the back of my neck as he draws me closer, resting his head against mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I lower my brows. “What would you have done?”
“I would have fucking buried him.”
Closing my eyes, I wipe my face with my sleeves and lay my head on his shoulder.
“Keep going,” Damon says to Derek.
Derek shakes his head.
“Say it,” Damon orders. “I wanna know what happened next.”
Derek curses again before he does as he’s told. “Hailey called me, hysterical, and I…” He glances up at Callie, who tenses on Damon’s lap. That’s the first time he’s dared to look her in the eye. “I lost my fucking mind,” Derek continues. “I got high, called Katherine, and…did what I did to Callie.” He flinches back at the look on Damon’s face. “My dad came to see me while I was in the hospital.”
Damon looks like it’s taking everything in him not to launch across the island and beat him half to death all over again. “What did he want?”
“Hailey,” he says. “He wanted me to bring Hailey to him.”
I stare at him, bouncing my eyes between his. I think there’s something he’s not saying.
“I told him that was never going to happen, so he beat the shit out of me.”
“And you made Hailey think it was us,” Wren says.
Derek nods. “Yeah. She snuck me out of the hospital, and I’ve been hiding from Maverick—and you—ever since.”
“At Hailey’s apartment most of the time.” Kai glares at him. “Putting her in danger.”
“She’s in danger anyway,” Derek argues. “I was there to protect her.”
“Bullshit.”
Derek ignores that. “Besides, he doesn”t know where she lives.”
“He does now,” Damon says, and we all fall silent.
I stir my drink with the straw, and then my head snaps up. “How did he know?”
Derek says nothing.
“Damn it, Derek. How did he know?”
He lowers his head into his hands again, scrubbing them over his face.
“Fucking unbelievable,” I say under my breath, shaking my head at him in fury and betrayal. “You brought her to my apartment?”
“Who?” Kai asks.
“Freya,” Wren guesses, letting out a humorless laugh when he realizes he’s right. “Jesus.”
“I’m sorry,” Derek says to me. “I was a mess and she was…”
“What?”
“She makes me forget.”
“She makes you stupid,” I bite out, and he nods, knocking his head down against the counter.
Wren laughs again, though it’s clear he doesn’t think any of this is funny. He looks as angry and unhinged as I’ve ever seen him as he stands up and shoves his hand into Derek’s pocket, stealing his phone. Derek doesn’t even bother trying to stop him. Wren slides the phone across to Kai, who stops it with his palm, his eyes on Wren’s as they seem to be planning something without saying a word to each other. After a few beats, he tucks the phone into the pocket of his hoodie and looks at Derek.
“Family reunion’s over, asshole. You can sleep in Callie’s old room,” he says to Derek, looking between the others sitting opposite us. “We can lock him in there.”
Derek shakes his head, lifting his eyes to look at Kai head on. “I’m not staying here, and neither is my sister. I’m taking her with me.”
My eyes close briefly when I realize that’s why he decided to tell them the truth. He doesn’t want them to try to stop us from running away.
When Kai stands up beside me, I stop him with a hand on his wrist, pulling him back down.
“We’re not going anywhere, Der,” I say to my brother. “I’m not leaving Westbrook.”
Kai lets out a relieved breath, and Derek glares at me. “You don’t have a choice.”
“The fuck she doesn’t,” Kai says.
When Derek gets up and walks toward me as if he’s about to grab me, Kai jumps from his seat and gets between me and Derek, pushing him back one step, then two, crowding his space.
“Try it, motherfucker,” Kai dares him. “Put your hands on her.”
Derek backs off, his teeth grinding together as he looks at me over Kai’s shoulder.
“You can sleep in Callie’s old room,” Kai repeats.
“Where is Hailey going to sleep?” Derek asks, his anger rising when Kai smirks and tilts his head.
“Where do you think?”
“I swear to God, you little bitch.”
“The only little bitch I see here is you,” Kai says, taunting him further. “If you could protect her like you were supposed to, she wouldn’t be stuck here with me, now would she?”
“I’ll kill you.”
Kai grins like a serial killer. “I’d just love to see you try.”
“That’s enough,” Elijah says. “Kai.”
Kai doesn’t move for a few beats, clearly enjoying himself as he and Derek stare at each other. After a few beats, he takes a step back, lifting his hands up in mock surrender. “Relax. I’m just fucking with you.”
Derek narrows his eyes at him.
“She’s not stuck here with me,” Kai explains, his grin returning as he traps his tongue between his teeth. “She likes it when I sleep next to her.”
When Derek moves to grab him, I step between them and shove my brother back, turning around to look up at Kai. “Stop,” I say.
He stops, fighting a smile as he kisses my forehead. I pull away and glance at Elijah behind him, who’s looking at me with a brow raised.
“Derek, you can take my room and I’ll sleep in my office. Hailey can have Callie’s old room. Okay?”
Derek shakes his head, looking at me like I betrayed him as he snatches his duffel off the kitchen floor. “I’ll get a room downstairs.”
“No,” Elijah says, that one word stopping him in his tracks. “It’s either my room or the couch.”
Working his jaw, Derek not so subtly glances at the mini bar in the living room, then walks over to the couch, dropping his bag down next to it. Elijah tips his chin at James, and James grabs a trash bag from the kitchen. He collects all the bottles of liquor from the kitchen cabinets, then empties the bar. “Sorry, kid,” he says to Derek.
“Go fuck yourself.”
After James disappears down one of the wide hallways with the trash bag slung over his shoulder, Elijah checks his phone and glances between me and his children. “Go to bed. Stay together at school tomorrow and do not try to ditch your guards. Let them follow you wherever you go.”
“What if Wren and Levi want to fuck under the bleachers again?” Kai asks. “They do that a lot.”
Elijah pinches the bridge of nose. “Go.”
Damon, Callie, Wren, and Levi walk toward the stairs. I hesitate a moment before following them with Kai at my side, looking at Derek over my shoulder as I walk up. He watches me go before side-eyeing Elijah, who looks like he has more to say to my brother. A lot more. I almost feel sorry for Derek, but I shake that off and keep walking. I can’t get through to him and convince him to get his shit together, but maybe Elijah can.