Page 156 of Sincerely, Butterfly

I feel like I’m failing my father. He willingly gave our family’s position of power within the Brotherhood tomeafter my uncle died.

I’mrepresenting our family, andI’mletting him down.

And I fucking hate myself for it.

“I know you are. And I believe in you.” She gives me a warm smile. “But I’m worried. What about the girls?”

The girls are safe. I made sure of it. They’re not aware of it, but Iassigned Garrett to watch over Callie and Nola when we’re not able to. I don’t trust anyone else.

It helps that those two are always together.

Whatever is going on, there's no way in hell I’m going to let Nola or Callie get hurt.

“We have someone watching over them,” I reassure her.

“How come you don’t do it yourself?” She gives me a knowing look.

I just stare at her, not wanting to have this conversation with my mother… again.

She believes that it’s time for us to do what we’ve always planned and make Nola ours.

Especially now, since we not only have the power to keep her safe, but we, in fact, holdallthe power. We have the ability to go to war for her if it ever came down to it.

What she doesn’t seem to understand is that the plan we’ve talked about, back when I was a teenager, isn’t logical now.

We didn’t know back then just how fucked up this life was going to make us.

“Because we’re trying to keep our distance,” I mutter.

“Why on earth would you want to do that? I thought everything was going great. Callie has been telling me all about how the three of you have been hanging out with Nola a lot more.”

Of course she did. My mom has always loved Callie, and she was great friends with their mother. Mom took it hard when she passed.

“We’re not in high school, Mom.” I roll my eyes. “Sylas likes to keep an eye on his sister; Callie and Nola are best friends. Therefore, if we’re around Callie, we’re most likely going to be around Nola. We’ve never hung out with Nola alone.”

“Why not?” She narrows her eyes. “How are you going to win her over if you won’t even allow yourself to be alone with the girl? Come on, Jasper.”

I run my tongue along my teeth, trying not to get annoyed with my mother.

“We’re not planning on winning her over. We’ve been over this. That plan died a long time ago.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She waves me off. “You think you're too big and mean for a girl like Nola. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she would love you just how you are? You’re not as big and bad as you like to let yourself believe. I know you have the ability to be the good man that she needs. You’re great with Callie and me. Sure, you're a bit prickly, but so is your father.” She laughs like just the mention of him brings her joy.

Sometimes she talks about him as if he’s not a cold stone killer and vicious businessman.

My father left the Brotherhood the moment he met my mother. He didn’t hesitate to hand it over to his brother as long as it meant he got to keep my mom.

He flat-out refused to continue to practice because doing the ritual wasn’t an option for him anymore. He didn’t want to touch another woman.

And when he was given the option of staying and having my mother partake in the ritual, he laughed in his father’s face.

He said he would rather kill Sylas’ and Wesley’s dads than let them lay a hand on his woman.

Unlike Sylas, Wesley, and me, our fathers hated one another.

They viewed my father’s loyalty to my mother as a weakness. As if that made him less of a man.

My father is a million times more of a man than they ever could be. I’m glad Sylas put an end to his father, and if Wesley’s father tried to push back against us when we forcibly removed him from power, he would have met the same fate.