Page 102 of Burned

Everything feels wrong.

Rafe pours a glass of ice water from a waiting pitcher. “Here. Drink.”

“Thank you.” She takes the glass with a trembling hand. Rafe sits beside her. His presence seems to calm her.

She takes a sip, and when she pulls the cup away, her lips are flushed a deeper pink from the cold water. She gives Rafe a weak smile, and the small gesture makes something hot shoot through me.

I’m really glad Erin is not in this room right now.

Rafe leans in close enough to touch her. “Go on.”

“Stash was a Bachman-friendly contact, a trusted paid employee of the family over financing. He was actually the one who brought Marina in as a bookkeeper.

“He was paid well, but it wasn’t enough for him. He ran money through Bachman businesses for years, siphoning 10% in random fees off the top. And some of that money went to Marina.”

My face hardens. “I’ve heard this story before.”

Isobel turns to me. “They, you know what your men did to him when they found out he was stealing from them. But what you may not know is who that man was that killed Stash.”

The answer creeps over me through the cracks in the room’s silence.

Not a random accident. Not a simple murder, either.

Revenge.

“My father?”

“Yes,” she whispers. “Your father.”

“My parents weren’t killed in a car crash. It was Marina’s people. Avenging Stash.”

My mother was collateral — or, darker, she was killed because leaving her alive meant Gregory and I still had a home. They did such a good job covering it up— Until this very moment, even I, their son, didn’t know what really happened to them.

My voice wavers. “And how does Carlos fit in?”

“Stash was the closest thing to a father-figure Carlos had. After he got Marina the job, they became close. Then, Stash was killed. Marina and Carlos got their revenge.”

“And that left you afloat,” Rafe says. “And Carlos moved in to become your anchor. He had plans for deeper vengeance.”

“Me.”

“Exactly,” Rafe says.

My brother…

“Gregory should be here.”

“I can fill him in with Blaze,” Rafe offers.

My world goes hazy.

“I’ll be the one to tell him. I should be the one to tell him our parents’ death wasn’t an accident.” It was the single most important event, shaping his entire life.

“I will tell him.”

“Carlos took you under his wing. Planning to plot your demise. He wasn’t sure how.” She gives me a soft smile. “But then, in your very Lucian way, you got under his skin. And he stopped planning.”

A sick flood of relief fills me. Something between Carlos and me was real. Isobel may not have really wanted me dead.