“Because I made a deal with my brother. Richard found me. He stopped me from going through with it. He promised to help me to get out and to be safe, and in return, I would never speak about what I knew.”
“Robert has a parole hearing tomorrow, and Henry is scared that he will walk.” I blurted out what Henry had wanted to keep a secret to his aunt. But this was not the time to keep secrets, not when Ava had made it clear that they were family.
“So that’s it then.” Nodding, Ava stood up and looked at me. She looked like she just decided she was going to take over the world. “I made a deal with Richard, but now it‘s the time to cut those ties.”
“Ava…”
“Do you want to help Henry?”
“Of course, I do. I love him!” What kind of question is that? I would do anything for Henry. Anything to keep him safe and happy. “What are you going to do?”
“Something I should have done years ago.”
Chapter 23
Henry
I knew that something was wrong when Caden and Auntie came back from the garden. Ava's eyes were puffy and red, and they both looked tense. Dropping the blocks on the table, I got up and rushed over to them.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Looking over at Caden, I frowned. “What did you do? Why is Ava crying?”
“I didn’t do anything, Cupcake. We were just talking.”
“Talking?” Worried, I looked back at my aunt. She smiled at me and gently stroked my cheek. “What’s wrong? What were you talking about?”
“Let’s sit down, Henry.”
“Why? No, I don’t want to sit down. I want to know what’s going on.” They’d just went onto the roof to get some herbs for supper. Then they reappeared with no herbs and my aunt was crying. Now that Ava was so close, I could see the distress on her face. “Auntie?”
“We need to talk about Robert.”
“What?” Turning towards Caden, I blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over. “Why did you tell her? I told you that I don’t want to tell her. Why did you—” My outburst was interrupted when Ava gently grabbed my head and turned me towards her.
“He was right to tell me, Henry. I needed to know it, because…”
To my horror, tears ran down her cheeks. I’d never seen Ava cry before. Not even when she suddenly appeared in the hospital all those years ago. She’d always been the strongest person I knew, my solid rock. “We need to end this, once and for all. You need to start living without fear of Robert coming for you. You need to start to look forward and not back anymore. I should have done this a long time ago, but I thought…I guess I thought that Richard’s promise would keep us both safe.”
“What…what do you mean? What promise?”
This time Caden turned me around. He gently grabbed my shoulder. “Come on, let’s sit down.”
Nodding, I let Caden lead me to the sofa. Instead of making me sit down, he pulled me onto his lap. I couldn’t see him like this, but I instantly felt safe when he wrapped his arms around me. Looking over to Ava, I couldn’t stop the smile. She wasn’t sitting on Miles's lap, but she leaned into his side. Miles had his arm protectively wrapped around her shoulders. Miles kissed her forehead, and I could see him whisper, “I’m here, love. Just lean into me and trust me that I’ll hold you.”
Caden must have heard what he’d said because his arms tightened around me before he raised his hands to sign. “Neither one of you are alone with this. We’re going to deal with this together. As a family.”
“Family.”
My hands shook as I repeated the sign for family. Caden was right; we were a family. Ava and Miles, and Caden, too. But instead of reveling in this feeling, I was still terrified of my real family.
“Auntie?”
With a sad smile, my aunt looked at me. Tears were still running down her cheeks, but her hands were steady as she raised them to sign.
“Before you were born, I made a deal with your father. He would help me to get away and would make sure that no one would ever come looking for me.”
“What…did you promise him in return?”
“That I would never tell anyone what I knew about the family business or their secrets.”
The family business. Frowning, I tried to remember what I knew about it. I knew that my father and other men from the compound left for days on business trips. As I wracked my brain to remember, I realized that I never had any idea of what they were doing. Once you got your tattoo, you were involved in the business. But I left long before I was old enough to get dragged into that part. It made sense that there would be loads of secrets.
“What about the family business? And what secrets?”
“Henry, there are things you don’t need to know. Since you came to New York, all I wanted was to protect you, and I’m not going to stop now. You need to trust me.”
“But…”
“No.” Caden's hands appeared in my view. “I agree with Ava. You don’t need to know everything. You’re hurting enough with what you already know.”
“All you need to know is that I’m going to talk to the FBI and tell them everything. After that, you will never have to worry about Robert or your father.”
“I know just the person you need to talk to,” Caden signed before I could even really progress what Ava had said.
“Good. Can you arrange an introduction?”
“Give me a minute.” Caden gently pushed me off his lap. He got up and walked to his phone. For a moment, I watched him, but he turned his back towards us. Damn. Looking back at Ava, I tried my luck with her again.
“Ava,
