Chapter 4
FOUR
Istare at the note, my fingers tightening around the edge of the paper.
Curiosity gnaws at me, outweighing the caution screaming in my mind.
Sin’s handwriting is messy, rushed, but unmistakable. I can almost hear his voice in the words, low and firm, filled with something dangerous and urgent.
I know I shouldn’t do this. I know better.
But against my better judgment, I reach for my phone, my pulse hammering beneath my skin as I add in his number I memorized.
My fingers hover over the keyboard for only a moment before I type out a single text message, knowing I shouldn’t.
Magnolia: Why did you send him?
The response comes almost instantly.
Sin: Not safe on the phone. Meet me at the park. Bring Axle.
Not safe.
Something about those two words makes my chest feel tight, constricted. Like a warning curling around my ribs.
I shouldn’t go. I should ignore this.
I should rip the note apart, erase the message, pretend like I never saw it.
But curiosity has always been my weakness.
I need to know how to keep my family safe. If Sin is planning something, I need to know.
And so, I find myself sneaking out with Axle in the dead of night, walking towards my past.
The park is quiet at this hour, bathed in moonlight. Shadows stretch across the pavement, the leaves rustling with the soft breeze.
Axle tugs at his leash, his tail wagging with excitement, oblivious to the storm brewing inside me.
I see him before he sees me.
Sin stands near the fountain, hands in his pockets, his stance deceptively relaxed. The orange light of the sunset casts a glow over his sharp features, softening them in a way that almost makes me forget everything.
Almost.
My grip tightens on the leash. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t want to see him, shouldn’t let the ache in my chest take root.
But then Axle lets out an excited bark and bolts forward, nearly yanking the leash from my grasp.
Sin looks up at the sound, and for a fleeting moment, something flickers across his face.
Relief.
He kneels just as Axle reaches him, bracing as the dog crashes into his strong chest. A rare, fleeting smile tugs at his lips as he buries his fingers into Axle’s fur.
“I missed you too, boy,” he murmurs, his voice lower than I remember, rougher, like gravel and smoke.
The sight of him, so unguarded, so real, makes something twist painfully inside me.
I steel myself. “You said it wasn’t safe to talk on the phone.”
Sin straightens, his dark eyes locking onto mine. The softness from seconds ago vanishes, replaced with something harder, unreadable.
“It’s not.”
A shiver runs down my spine, but I lift my chin, refusing to let him see it. “Then talk.”
He exhales slowly, choosing his words carefully. “I knew you would be brought back to them eventually. I knew it was only a matter of time before they realized who you were. But I needed you to stay in my world long enough for you to want it. For you to want me.”
My heart twists painfully.
I swallow against the lump in my throat. “You were taunting them.”
“Can you blame me?” He raises his tone, “They killed my mom!”
“And your family killed my dad!” I shout into the nothingness. The park so quiet and abandoned you could hear a pin drop.
Axle lies down between us, tucking his head on top of his crossed paws.
A long stretch of silence passes between us, “The magnolia’s, Sin. The arch of flowers wasn’t an apology from you it was a giant neon sign proclaiming you had me.”
“I never should have used you as a pawn.” He admits, but I stop him with the raise of my finger.
“The car.” I choke, “you bought me the car your family killed my father in.”
This is such a mess, a Romeo and Juliet love story that was more tragic than their end from our beginning.
“I know it’s fucked, Mags. I know. It was to make them suffer, not you.”
“Because I didn’t know! So, what? You kept me in the dark to control me? Well now I know Sin, you are the one making me suffer.”
“No.” His voice is firm, almost desperate. “I kept you in the dark because I knew the moment you found out, they’d take you from me.”
The air between us is thick with unspoken words, the weight of everything pressing down on my chest. “I belong with them!”
He laughs low. “So, you’re one of them now? You want me dead? My sister?”
I shake my head, forcing myself to stay steady. “Why send Axle?” I whisper. “Why now?”
His expression softens, just barely.
“Because I knew you’d feel alone. And because I needed to know you were safe. I’ve called you at least a hundred fucking times, Mags. I knew they threw out your phone, but I couldn’t help myself.”
My breath catches.
I hate that his words make my heart ache. Hate that part of me wants to believe him.
The moon is high, stars twinkling faintly in the dark sky. The world feels smaller here, just the two of us standing in the quiet, fragile space between past and present.
Axle whines at my feet, sensing the tension in the air.
Sin takes a step closer, his voice quieter this time. “You don’t have to trust me right now. But please, Magnolia, be careful. Things aren’t what they seem.”
A warning.
I search his face for answers, but all I find are more questions.
“Then tell me what they are.”
He hesitates, his jaw tightening. Then, finally, he shakes his head.
“Not yet.”
Frustration flares in my chest. “Then why call me here? Just to tell me to be careful?”
His gaze darkens, inked fingers twitching at his sides.
He lifts a hand as if to touch me, then drops it just as quickly.
“Because I needed to see you.”
My breath catches, but I force myself to stay steady.
“And now that you have?” I ask, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and desperation.
His jaw locks, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “Now…” he looks around. “I don’t know. For the first time in my thirty fucking years on this planet Magnolia, I do not know.”
Something inside me fractures, the pain radiating through my chest like a thousand shards of glass. I don’t realize I’m shaking until I clench my fists, trying to hold myself together. “If you hate them, and they hate you… what can be done?” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
“We can’t be.” He doesn’t move. And neither do I. The stars gleam above us, silent witnesses to a war neither of us knows how to win.
“After everything you did to me, I am here. I didn’t know if I should have even come, but Sin I know you. I know you’re more than what you seem.”
The silence stretches between us, heavy and suffocating. I can feel the weight of his gaze on me, the unspoken words hanging in the air like a noose. My heart aches with a longing I can’t quite put into words, a desperate need for something I know I can never have.
“Why?” I choke out, my voice breaking. “Why did you have to come back into my life, just to leave me again?”
His eyes soften, a flicker of pain crossing his features. “Because I couldn’t stay away,” he admits, his voice raw with emotion. “But I can’t stay either. It’s too dangerous.”
Tears blur my vision, and I blink them away furiously. “You don’t get to make that choice for me,” I say, my voice rising. “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me.” I don’t care that I’m begging for him, for us. I know he betrayed me, but my heart cannot betray him.
He takes a step closer, his hand reaching out as if to touch me, but he stops himself. “I’m trying to protect you, Magnolia. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
I laugh bitterly, the sound hollow and empty. “Safe from what? From you? From the truth?”
“From everything,” he whispers, his voice barely audible. “From the world that wants to tear us apart.”
I shake my head, the tears finally spilling over. “I don’t care about the world. I care about you. I care about us.”
His eyes glisten with unshed tears, and for a moment, I see the vulnerability he tries so hard to hide. “I care about you too,” he says, his voice breaking. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“Then stay,” I plead, my voice cracking. “Stay with me. Fight for us.”
He closes his eyes, a single tear slipping down his cheek. “I can’t,” he whispers. “I’m not strong enough to lose you.”
The words hit me like a physical blow, and I stagger back, the pain overwhelming. “Then you’re a coward,” I say, my voice shaking with anger and heartbreak. “You’re a coward for not fighting for what we have.”
“I know.” He runs an inked hand down his face in exasperation. It’s such a familiar site that has me longing for the good and bad days with him.
I force out a question that’s been brewing in my chest. “Did Bria know?”
His body stiffens.
“What?”
“Did she know who I was the whole time?” I demand, my voice unsteady. “Did she look me in the eye, act like my friend, while knowing…”
“No.” His answer is immediate, firm. “She didn’t know.”
I stare at him, searching for the lie, but there isn’t one. Sin never lies to me.
I swallow hard, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “And now?”
Something flickers in his expression, something uncertain. “Now she does.”
A lump forms in my throat. “And?”
Sin hesitates.
For the first time since I walked in, he looks away. His fingers flex at his sides, like he’s fighting something inside him. When he finally speaks, his voice is quieter. “She’s scared you hate her.”
I blink. The words don’t make sense at first. “What?”
His gaze finds mine again, raw and unguarded. “She didn’t betray you, Magnolia. But she thinks you’ll never forgive her anyway.” He exhales sharply. “She’s afraid she lost you.”
Bria, who pulled me into her world, who made me laugh when I had nothing, who swore we were family, thinks I hate her.
I press my fingers to my temple, trying to breathe. “She… she’s the only person I had left.” My voice cracks. “And she thinks I hate her?”
Sin nods once. “She does.”
My chest tightens. I should be angry. I should tell him that Bria had no right to keep anything from me. But all I can think about is the way she used to look at me, like I belonged. Like she’d fight the world for me.