Tethered (A BirthRight Novel) (24 page)

You have no idea. “I was. But I can’t even think about that right now, or I’ll start crying again.”

“Okay, dear. You can tell me about it when you’re ready.” She hugs me. “Everything
will
be okay. I promise. You just get a good night’s sleep.”

“Thanks, Gram. I love you.”

“I love you, too, dear. Good night.”

“Good night.”

I lay in my bed, watching the hands go by on my clock, hoping Gram will have everyone filled in on last night’s painful drama before I make it downstairs. I just don’t know if I have it in me to go through the whole thing all over again.

There’s no avoiding the questions, so I take a shower, slap on a little make-up, and throw on sweats, a tank, and my favorite baseball hat. Good enough.

As I walk downstairs, I hear the sound of raised voices a few rooms away. I hope they’re not upset with me, but my gut tells me it’s because of Hunter. I’d be pissed, too, if I were them.

I head in the kitchen just as Gram says, “It’s the right thing to do.”

I wonder what
that’s
about? “Sounds like I picked the wrong time to come down,” I say with a nervous giggle.

“Actually, Chloe, you picked the
perfect
time. We need your opinion on something.” Gram gets up from her stool to stand in front of me.

They need
my
opinion? “Oh...okay. Well, what is it?”

Gram turns towards the glum faces in the group. “I told everyone about your vision from last night, But Morgan thinks we should tell the Russo’s about the fire. Unfortunately, your brother and sister, as well as the boys,
don’t
think we should be so considerate.”

Seriously? “Why on earth
wouldn’t
you want them to know they’re in danger?” I look around the room at my shocking family members.

“I’m a firm believer in karma,” Aidan replies. “It’s because of Mr. Russo that we never knew our father.”

“Exactly. And it’s because of Mr. Russo that our mother had a broken heart for twenty-one years, so he deserves whatever comes his way,” Ash throws in, very matter of fact.

I can’t believe their reaction. It’s
so
out of character for them. “Is that
really
how you feel, or are you just trying to be a tough-ass? I realize what he’s done, but no matter what, he
is
still your grandfather.”

Everyone looks at me with a stunned, blank expression. “Who is this crazy girl standing before us, and what have you done with our Chloe?” Pap says.

“Seriously, Chloe. Where is
that
coming from?” Ash asks with a touch of attitude in his voice.

“Well, perhaps it’s because I understand how he feels. I’m not sure how much Gram told you, but this vision was different. I was seeing and
feeling
everything through Mr. Russo, instead of through myself. The man was in so much pain. He came over here that night to apologize for what he’d done. And he wanted to meet you two.

“But when he showed up at the
worst
possible time and saw the unbelievable things he did, he was scared out of his mind. He about had a heart attack. He fears what he saw...because he doesn’t know any better. So maybe we
should
tell him what he’s about to do. Maybe we need to make him realize we’re not evil and we do ‘good’ with our magic.” My words surprise even me, but deep down, I know it’s right.

The four non-believers look at each other. Dru and Dhelia shrug, nodding like they understand where I’m coming from. I’m not so sure about the boys, though.

No one breathes a word. I hate it when that happens.

Ash and Aidan look at each other as if they’re having a conversation in their minds; a secret language no one else is privy to.

After a few minutes of silence, Aidan says, “Look, we know you all think it’s the right thing to do, but we don’t have to agree with you. You can do what you want, but we’d rather not be a part of it. Considering everything that man has done to our mother, and to our father, we consider this ‘karmic retribution’. Whatever happens to him is of his
own
making. Not ours.”

This unexpected negative attitude baffles me. Normally, they possess more compassion and objectivity than anyone I’ve ever known. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll sway them this time.

Aunt Morgan stands up, walking towards her boys. As she lays her hands on their shoulders, she says, “You don’t have to do
anything
you don’t want to. No one is forcing you. Just try to understand I need to warn Michael. Chloe’s vision wasn’t clear on the fire, so we don’t have any idea who else might be there, or where it will be for that matter. If there’s even the possibility someone could get hurt by this—when we could have done something to prevent it—I would never forgive myself. It’s just not who
we
are. It’s not who
you
are either, no matter how just you might feel right now.”

Both Ash and Aidan hang their heads as she rubs their backs.

Dru gets up from his chair. “So, Chloe. Should I say ‘I told you so’, now, or later?”

Taken off guard by his comment, I can’t help but reply, “Huh?”

He struts around the room until he’s by my side. “Did I, or did I
not
tell you Hunter was hiding something?”

The second our eyes meet, I know he’s not upset. Something in his demeanor almost seems relieved, if that’s even possible. The smirk on his face seems like he even finds humor in the whole thing. Though I can’t imagine why.

I shake my head. “I guess I should have known you’d find a way to point out how right you were.” The sting from this truth goes right through my heart.

“Oh, Sis, come on. You knew I’d have to pick on you a little bit.” He wraps an arm around me, pulling me close to his side. “Look, as bad as this seems, it isn’t
that
bad. Didn’t you tell Gram he defended us to Mr. Russo? And didn’t you
also
say he was closing the case?”

“Well, yeah...that’s what I saw.”

“He was doing his job. It must have been hell for him considering his feelings for you from the get-go. He couldn’t tell you the truth about who he was, any more than
you
could have. I sure wouldn’t have wanted to be in his shoes.”

I can’t believe
Dru
is the one defending him. The one person who
never
trusted Hunter. Wow. “
You’re
defending him? Seriously?”

“Look. If I thought for a second he was pretending to like you,
just
so he could get close to the family, I’d be the first one in line to rip his throat out. The fact of the matter is, I
know
how he feels about you—and I
know
how he feels about the family. I guarantee his feelings kept him from looking for dirt on us. Regardless of how much he may or may not know, at the end of the day, he knows we’re good people who aren’t here to hurt anyone.” Dru crosses his arms over his chest, pursing his lips.

“I don’t disagree with what you’re saying...I’m just shocked
you
are the one who’s defending him. The irony is
killing
me.” I jab him in the ribs as we laugh.

The doorbell rings and I jump.

“Oh yeah, Hunter’s on his way over, dear.” Gram winks, walking to the living room to answer the door.

My stomach twists into knots. “Ah, okay,” I mumble, even though I know she can’t hear me.

Is that him
already
? My heart races as I hear his voice in the living room.

Sitting down might be smart about now—before my knees give out from under me.

As they walk in the kitchen, my stomach flip-flops. I’m not sure if I have the strength to look at him yet. How can I be prepared to see him so soon? I’m not. I’m not prepared.

Give me strength!

Hunter drags his feet, moving to the open stool beside me. “Morning, Chloe. Did you sleep okay?”

The absence of confidence in his voice bothers me more than I’ll ever admit, but I’ll be damned if I’m letting him off the hook so easily. No matter
what
my family chooses to do.

Breathe Chloe—you can do this. “How do you
think
I slept, Agent Payne?” I glare at him for a few brief, but painful seconds.

“Whoa. Looks like I’m rubbing off on my big sister.” Dhelia chuckles as Dru smacks her arm. “Ouch!” She swats him back.

Gram puts her hand on my shoulder. “You two can work out your issues
later
, dear. Right now, there are things the family
needs
to know.” Gram’s serious tone forces me to put my personal feelings aside for the time being. I bite my tongue, nodding in compliance.

She clears her throat, sitting down in the seat opposite Hunter. “The reason we asked you here today is first and foremost, to thank you. We understand you were only doing your job, but your personal feelings must have
undoubtedly
gotten in the way.”

She sends me a sad smile. “Regardless of what you heard from the Russo’s, you took the time to get to know this family. Then once you did, you defended us. Sometimes people don’t understand us, so it scares them. The Russo’s
never
gave us a chance. From the bottom of my heart, Hunter, thank you. It means so much that you gave us the benefit of the doubt, regardless of what you were told.”

He blushes. From guilt no doubt. “You don’t have to thank me, Aurora. This is the most amazing family...so it was no trouble at all. I know you’d never hurt anyone—and that was the entire reason for the investigation in the first place. Once Mr. Russo heard Sam was sick, he pretty much figured it wouldn’t be long until Morgan came back to town. Within a week, he called us to say she was here. The FBI devised a plan to see if he was out of his mind, or if there truly were ritual sacrifices happening at the Crawford house.

“After we found out which hospital Sam would be in, we had my partner moved to North Shore. Trevor really was hurt on the job. It just wasn’t in a fire...it was in an explosion.” He pauses, rubbing his hand across his stubble. “I swear to you all, my
only
intention was to observe the family to see if I noticed any suspicious activity. I
never
planned to meet Chloe and fall for her. But I guess some things are out of our control.” He leans his elbow on the counter, resting his forehead in his palm.

I’m not used to seeing him so stressed. But it’s
not
my problem. It’s just
not
!

“Hunter, we believe you. You don’t need to defend yourself. We
know
you’re telling the truth.” Gram looks to Dru. They share a smile.

He watches their interaction. “Yeah, I sort of figured that. You guys always seem to be one step ahead of the game.” Hunter smiles in return, as if he
knows
why.

“So that brings me to the
other
reason I asked you here.” Gram looks my way—then back to Hunter. “We know you’re closing the case and that’s wonderful. But we’d like to find out what you
do
know about our family. Chloe’s still upset, but if you stand any chance at all with her and this family, we need to be on the same page. Which means, no more secrets—from
either
side.”

A tiny smile curls up on the edges of his mouth. “You
honestly
want to know what I’ve been able to figure out?”

Gram nods. “Yes, dear. We need to know
everything.
It’s the only way to move forward. We’ve done an incredible job over the years of protecting this family. Very few people know our secrets, and we’d like to keep it that way. So it’s important we find out
exactly
what you know about us.”

“Fair enough. I can respect that.” He pauses, looking around the room at the curious faces watching him. “I haven’t been able to figure
everything
out, but I’ll tell you what I
did
—and
when
.” Hunter takes a deep breath. “Right off the bat, I figured out Dru is some sort of Empath or Mind Reader. He’s the
only
one who had his guard up in the beginning. I could tell he didn’t trust me. Plus, he always seems so in tune to what the people around him are feeling. I don’t know the degree of what he can do, but I know he can somehow read what people feel.” He looks to Dru and smirks, nodding his head in approval.

Dru breaks out into laughter. “Good job, dude. It seems you might have some sort of power of your own.”

“Well, we can get into
that
later.” He nods at Dru. “The
next
thing I figured out was Dhelia.” He glances her way. “The night at the party in The Hamptons, she didn’t realize I was watching out of the corner of my eye when she moved a piece of driftwood into Chloe’s path. Thank you by the way—I still owe you one for that. But the thing I found the
most
interesting though, was the way your eyes flashed bright blue when you used your Telekinesis.
Really
cool.” He smiles, giving her the thumbs up.