Chapter nineteen
Nadia
“Clean up time!” Kendra claps her hands, helping baby Rhys pick up his alphabet blocks and put them away.
Rhys is a little over a year old now and is the most adorable baby ever. He’s got the most chubby cheeks, and he’s unsteady as he walks on his two little legs. He’s got just his two front teeth, and his onesie is stained with marker and chocolate.
And he looks nothing like Rainer or me. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, maybe because I knew how obsessed Anton was with Sena and couldn’t imagine him cheating on her, but Rainer and I could very easily pass for siblings.
He’s Anton’s spitting image with his brown hair and eyes, but from what I’ve seen he’s got his mother’s nose and smile.
Me? I have the same eyes as Sena’s, with her black hair and complexion. I can barely remember what she looks like, since I’ve never seen a picture and only have vague recollections of her. But I do remember her having a mole on her neck, the very same place I have mine.
Rhys looks nothing like us. He has his mother Josslyn’s creamy blonde hair and everything else about her. But the eyes never lie. He’s Anton’s kid. After all, the gods of Olympus have many roles to fulfill and
one of those is to bear as many children as possible with whoever the big three tell you to.
“Okay, give big sister a goodnight kiss and let’s go to bed.” Kendra points to me.
I kneel down just in time to receive Rhys’s tight hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Holding him close to my chest, I fix his ruffled hair and look into his eyes. God, even thinking about Olympus having their hands on him, what he must’ve seen during his brief time there, burns me.
When I made the trade, Rhys for myself, there was a good week when I was Rhys’s sole caretaker.
He became incredibly attached to me, with me saving him from them and being the only loving, maternal figure he’s ever known.
He took some time to warm up to Kendra, but he loves her now.
I’m his big sister, the one who comes and goes as she pleases, but she is, in every sense of the word, his mother.
“Sweet dreams.” I press a kiss to his forehead and release him.
“We’ll talk when I get back.” Kendra lifts him and pats my shoulder.
Kendra Cavanaugh was someone I trusted inexplicably, and she barely had to do anything to gain that trust. It was ridiculous, but when I went to Briarwood and first met her, there was this thing inside me that just wanted to protect her.
It’s the stupid savior complex in me, wanting to fix what's broken.
Maybe it was also the way she loved Rainer. The way I, and everyone around them, saw it before they did. The devotion she had towards him no matter how hard he pushed her away or the devotion he had towards her no matter how hard he fought it.
And despite how shitty things ended between them and her fleeing Briarwood, I knew she was a good person and an even greater ally. In part because she was one of the best hackers in the world.
“Okay, I’m back. Do you want something to drink before we begin? Cause I’m gonna need lots.” She asks, pouring herself a hefty amount of wine.
“I’m good, but thanks. I really just need some answers.”
“That’s understandable.” She plops down on the couch, dragging her laptop closer.
“Run me through everything one more time.”
“I was at the Phantoms clubhouse. Staying there with Riven because things with Pop were shit. No one apart from Shane and Skylar knew, and that’s only because they lived there too.
I was alone in the house, the three of them on a job in Las Vegas.
There was a knock on the door, but when I answered, there was no one there except a package left on the mat. ” I sigh.
“Inside was a phone with some messages on it. Telling me about Rhys, what they wanted from me, and what would happen if I didn’t comply.”
“And what did you do?” Kendra asks.
“I texted back, saying ‘screw you’.” I pause.
“And then?” She prompts.
“And then when Riven came back home, there was a bullet in his stomach. Flesh wound that he evidently recovered from, but the message was clear.”
“That wasn’t a message, Nadia.” I look at her.
“It was a warning.” I huff.
“Yeah, well that night I packed up and drove away. I didn’t know where to go or who to contact. But the phone kept going off with messages. Ordered me to go to Miami and meet with this guy, Rodrigo. He was my handler, I guess you could call it.”
“I traded myself for Rhys, got him to you, and then went back to Miami. Whatever Rodrigo told me to do, I did.” I explain.
“And when you didn’t?” She adjusts herself on the couch so she’s facing me.
“The phone would go off. Pictures of you and Rhys, of Pop and Abby, of Isla and Deck. Of Riven .” I link my fingers together.
“Other times I was punished directly. Torture, isolation, drugs. Whatever punishment fit the crime. I was made to suffer, made to obey.”
“Until?”
“Until after two years of hell, Rodrigo died. Heart attack. I waited, and waited and waited, until there was nothing but silence. The phone never went off again. I was finally free.”
“So you ran. Only this time, you ran home to the people you loved most.” Kendra finishes the story she’s heard countless times before.
“But I’m not foolish. I know the threat is still out there, that Olympus will never be truly done with me.
I am, after all, the daughter of Ares, and if I don’t deal with this now, they’ll just take Rainer or Rhys or Riven, or someone else I care about.
” I stand, pacing the length of the living room.
“I’d sooner be in a grave before that happens, Kendra. So, that’s why I’m here. Why I’m giving you this,” I pull out the nondescript phone from my back pocket and place it on the coffee table next to her laptop.
“… why we’re doing this now. I need to find the bastard who did this, who knew about Riven and me when they shouldn’t have, who started this bullshit in the first place. This ends now .”