Page 150 of Bound By Blood and Lies

“I love you too.”

A car door slams outside. I separate from Roman as I lean forward and try to look through the front window to see who it is. I can’t see though so I relax back against the sofa. It doesn’t last long. The front door slams open so hard that it rattles through the entire house. All the boys jump into action. Riggs moves before I can even process what’s happening, quickly passing Finn back into my arms whilst the rest of the boys form a wall of bodies around us. My heart rate spikes so fast it makes me dizzy as I bite my lip and scan the exits.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Robyn stumble into the lounge. It isn’t until I hear Victor shout “fuck” that my brain fully processes what is in front of me. She is covered in blood. There is so much that my brain struggles to process what I’m looking at.

“Robyn?” I breathe.

Atlas is already moving toward her whilst Roman stays in front of me. Her chest heaves violently as tears streak through the blood covering her face and when her eyes finally lock onto us a painful ache twists in my chest.

“Help,” she cries brokenly. “Help, it’s Felix.”

EPILOGUE

FAE

16 YEARS LATER

Warm evening sunlight spills across the garden whilst music hums softly through the speakers outside.‘You’ll Be Alright, Kid by Alex Warren’starts playing and I cut a look across at Roman who stops flipping the burgers to look back at me. It’s become a bit of a tradition over the years for him to play our song during every important life event. Birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, you name it. If Roman gets the chance to remind me how far we’ve come, he takes it.

“Dad,” Luca groans dramatically from the egg chair in the garden. “You’re cremating them again.”

Roman jolts and the tongs clang against the patio floor. I can see his jaw flexing from over here as he looks at the dirty tools and the burning burgers.

“I was having a moment with your mum, Luca,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Ewwww,” Aurora gags loud enough that I’m sure our neighbours could hear. “I don’t wanna hear that.”

“It’s ‘want to’,” I gently correct her.

“You literally eat dirt,” Elsa mumbles at the same time.

“I was eight,” Aurora snaps back.

“And so was Tiana but you didn’t see her doing it, did you?”

“Girls,” I warn as I sit up more on the outdoor sofa and move the blanket from my legs.

Aurora and Elsa are chalk and cheese. At any given moment a catfight is bound to happen in this house. Who would’ve thought I’d waste years of assassin training on de-escalating teenage girls? Aurora completely ignores me as she spins towards Elsa and points dangerously close to her face.

“How do you remember everything anyway? It’s weird. You’re like a computer.”

Elsa slowly lowers her drink before blinking at her sister. “Maybe I just have a functioning brain.”

Roman huffs quietly under his breath and I bite back a smile. Thirteen years later and watching him interact with Elsa is still one of my favourite things in the world. When we found out she had HSAM too I genuinely thought Roman might cry. For so long he believed there was nobody else out there like him and now the two of them spend most evenings randomly shouting dates across the house or studying increasingly obscure information just to see who remembers more. Unfortunately for the rest of us, having two people with near-perfect autobiographical memory living under one roof means absolutely nothing is forgotten. Ever. I’m fairly sure I’ve spent the last ten years trapped inside my own private episode of University Challenge but the excitement on Roman’s face every time Elsa remembers something before he does makes every painful second worth it.

A loud crash suddenly echoes from somewhere inside the house followed by shouting and I close my eyes briefly before pushing the blanket completely from my legs and standing.

“For fuck’s sake,” Roman mutters under his breath and I cut him a look.

Every year for Finn’s birthday we hold a BBQ and every year it becomes more chaotic as the family grows in size. I start making my way towards the sliding doors but I’m stopped by the storm that is Tiana stumbling outside with a cheese board balanced dangerously in her hands. I raise an eyebrow and she stops abruptly before copying the expression back at me. At eleven the twins are finally starting to show their differences properly. Aurora is all chaos whereas Tiana is all control. They’re the yin to each other’s yang and whilst Aurora may annoy every other sibling she has, Tiana and Finn are fiercely protective of her.

Finn follows closely behind holding potato salad in one hand and coleslaw in the other.

“Come on, princess,” he nudges her and she carries on moving with a small twinkle in her eye at the nickname.

I follow them as they make their way towards the large table in the centre of the garden. Finn looks exactly like me. Correction, he looks like the pale version of Felix. He has green eyes, pale skin and dark brown hair that reminds me so much of my brother at that age. But his attitude?

That is all Roman.