“The police have failed her again and again. They did nothing when Marcus killed Luna. They didn’t protect her from Marcus when she had to run, and they didn’t protect her mom when their house burned to the fucking ground,” I snap at Jade.
Jade winces, and I immediately regret yelling. I sigh. “Sorry. I know you’re just trying to help, but I’m not calling the police. Besides, they aren’t all in our back pocket. I can’t risk having one of the few that play Vic’s games sniffing around to find out what we know or don’t know.”
“Jesse, look at you. You literally let Ty bash you in. When was the last time you had a hangover or lost control? This isn’t you. She wouldn’t want you fighting this alone. She wouldn’t.” At this point Jade is pleading with me. And I hear her—but in a different way than she expects.
“Don’t tell me what she would want,” I yell as I stand up. I reach my dresser and grip the edges so hard that I’m sure I’ll have a permanent mark. I hang my head as I mutter, “Besides, I’m not handling this alone anymore.”
I knew telling them would be hard, but damn. This is worse than what I’d imagined. I turn to face them, propping my back on the dresser.
Jade stands taller, and Cason sits up straight. He looks nervous as he says, “Woah, what? What do you mean?”
I run my hands up my face into my hair and back down before answering. “I made a deal. With the devil.”
“Please tell me you didn’t go to that fucker.” Cason asks through a combination of anger and fear. “You can’t trust him! He is a manipulative son of a bitch.”
“Go to who? What are you talking about?” Jade asks, confused.
“He’s setting up a meeting with Victor. We’re going to make a trade.”
“A trade? What kind of trade? Who are we talking about?” Jade asks. She looks back and forth between me and Cason hoping for answers.
Even though I’m responding to Jade, I look straight at Cason when I say, “With our father.”
“And the trade?” Cason asks through gritted teeth. He knows the answer already but needs me to confirm it.
“The Depot,” I say. I’m so tense I can feel the muscles in my clenched jaw starting to spasm. I know how they will feel about this. But it’s not their decision. It’s mine—and it’s been made.
“No!” Both Jade and Cason say in unison.
“You can’t hand the Depot over,” Jade says, sounding on the verge of tears.
“No fucking way, dude. You can’t hand the Depot over. You know what that property is worth! They’ll shut it down and tear it up.”
“It’s done. The meeting’s been called for tonight.” I look away because the disappointment in their faces is too much for me in this moment.
“So what does Dad get?” Jade quietly asks. I consider her question.
I meet her eyes. “What are you asking?”
“Dad wouldn’t do this for free. I love him, but we both know what kind of man he is. What does he get out of this?”
I look away again before letting out a long sigh. I can’t help but think Cason and I haven’t done as good a job keeping her in the dark as we’d thought we had. “Me,” I say, then look back at her. “He gets me.”
“What does that mean? You?” Cason asks.
“It means that Jesse is going to take his rightful place on the throne as prince.” She turns to me with what looks like pity in her eyes. “He’ll own you, you know. She’ll hate it,” Jade says. “She’ll hate every minute of it.”
“But she’ll be safe,” I say as I swallow the lump down hard. “Right now, that’s all I care about.”
“And if you don’t follow through?” she asks, “What happens then?”
“I’ll follow through,” I say. I don’t want to think about what our father will do if I renege on my part of our deal. I know what he’s capable of.
“He’s not going to let you be with her,” she says. “What about school? You have a full scholarship to State. You and Fallon were getting out. What about all of that? Your future together?”
“This isn’t a solution, Jesse. It’s literally a fucking sacrifice. There has to be another way besides giving up everything,” Cason says. He’s pissed at me. I can hear it in his tone.
I push off the dresser quickly and clench my fist until I feel my nails dig into the palms of my hands. “Do you have any other ideas? Because this is the only way I can assure that she will be safe. This is the only way I know I’ll be able to get her home and out of that fucking psycho’s hands.”
“To what home? One without you? She won’t accept that!” Jade yells furiously. “Haven’t you figured out that you are her home, you moron? You’re bringing her home for what? A new kind of hell to deal with. Hasn’t she been through enough?”
“She will have to accept it. She won’t have a choice,” I roar back. In this moment, it feels like the exhaustion of the last few months has finally caught up with me. I drag a rough palm down my face. “I’m sorry, Jade,” I say softly. “I’ve made my decision.”
Cason stands up. He stalks to the door, but just before he crosses the threshold, he turns back to me. I can see the anger, confusion in his eyes when he grits out, “I thought you said she was family. What kind of life are you giving her without her family?”
He walks out. I look at Jade as she shakes her head and glares at me before turning to follow him, leaving me alone in my room to face the silence. But the silence in the room isn’t enough to offset the voice in my head telling me everything they’ve just
