“Is this? Has this got something to do with me?” I asked him, lifting my hand that held the image.
He put the plates on the bedside table and took a seat beside me on the edge of the bed. The blankets were still ruffled from our two-hour binge fest, and I wore nothing but his shirt with my hair wild all over the top of my head, but in this moment—none of the feelings I was feeling earlier mattered. I needed to know about this image and why I was so drawn to it.
He looked back at me and licked his bottom lip. “Yes.”
“Yes—what?”
“Yes, that is you, and yes, that bitch is your mom.”
“What!” I shot off the bed and threw the photo away like it had caught on fire. “Nope. No way!”
Nate stood up and readjusted himself through his grey sweats. His skin still glistened. “Yes way, can we do this tomorrow?”
“So yeah. We didn’t do it tomorrow, I urged him for answers until we had a huge fight— ”
“—I remembered that fight. I could hear you both from upstairs.”
Tillie nodded. “Yep. Then I texted Peyton to see if she knew—which she did, of course.” Tillie wiped the tears from her face. “Turns out, Katsia had both of us and gave both of us to the same family. Why? I don’t know. My adoptive mom was a junkie and my dad used to beat me—and Peyton. I don’t know the depths of why, and the story which centers around her, but—”
“Holy fuck, Katsia is your mom. How old was she when she had you and Peyton?”
Tillie laughed. “Huh, very fucking young. Must have been thirteen with Peyton and around seventeen or sixteen with me. I don’t know what the age gap with Peyton and Jase is, but I know they’re not born in the same year.”
“What about the man in the photo? Do you know who that was?” I asked, pushing my plate away. I had suddenly lost my appetite.
Tillie shook her head. “Something else I haven’t gotten to the bottom of yet, either!”
“Well, this is a little messed up. So what happened and how did you get to Perdita?”
Tillie leaned into her chair and tucked a loose strand of faded pink hair behind her ear.
“She came for me, and I don’t know why. I still don’t. I was almost home and a white van pulled up and threw me inside and then I woke up in Perdita. She didn’t know I was pregnant at the time, but when she found out, it only made her more interested,” Tillie paused. “Just for the record, worst mother ever.”
“Bet mine could give her a run for her money.”
“And mine,” Tate mumbled, taking a sip of her orange juice.
“So where is Peyton?” I pondered aloud.
“She’s with The Circle,” Tillie let out bitterly.
“I’ve heard that name be tossed around a lot, but still don’t know who they are?”
“So there’s the Kings, and you know what they do and why they do it, but obviously there has to be someone sitting in the Pentagon and White House who foresee everything. I mean, they run a damn island. Anyway, The Circle is just that. They’re a clang of people, who only very few people know about, that are scattered all over the world and sit in high power positions that make sure everything King related flies under the radar. They’re sort of like the CIA, I guess, but far dirtier.” Interesting to see how deep the Kings’ circle ran, and terrifying at the same time. I wonder why Bishop never thought to tell me about them, probably the same reason why he has always hidden everything from me.
“Why the hell is she with them?” Tatum asked, shock evident in her tone.
Tillie shrugged. “She was always going to go the political way, she only stuck around for Jase.”
I cleared my throat. “About that, I’m not sure if anyone has told you, but since you’ve been gone a few things have happened on this side, too.” I exhaled. “Hunter and Jase are my brothers, as is Daemon who is my twin, but I’m sure you already knew that part.”
She gasped. “Wait, Hunter and Jase? Blood brothers?”
I nodded. “Yeah, turns out I was adopted into Dad’s—or Joseph and Elizabeth’s family. I’m actually a Venari. Daemon got the shit side of the stick and was tossed into The Lost Boys with Katsia.”
“I swear, sometimes I wonder what the fuck I was thinking bringing her into this world.” Her eyes fell to Micaela.
“Well, she’s in it now, and not going anywhere.”
My phone vibrated on the table and I snatched it, seeing it was Bishop.
“Hi, are you ok?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Sorry I didn’t text you yesterday, we’ve been getting some shit in line.”
My eyes went to Tillie, who got up from her chair and came to take Micaela. “What sort of shit?”
“I’m gathering all of the previous Kings that I can find, and bringing them in, because on Friday we’re all flying back to Perdita to settle this.”
“I want to come.”
“No.”
“Bishop…” I whined, even though I knew that it would never work on him.
“No, Madison. No fucking way. You stay there and stay alive.”
“And what about you?” I whispered, anxiety taking a hold of my airways and trying to suffocate me. I never thought I’d end up being one of those girls who put all her feelings into one guy, but Bishop crushed those assumptions. The thought of anything happening to him would almost put my heart into cardiac arrest.
“I’ll be fine, baby,” he answered smoothly. “I gotta go. Listen, I need to talk with my mom about something…”
“Oh?” I shuffled up in my chair. “She’s at work right now.”
“It’s my dad. Him and Khales, they’re…”
“Oh ew!” My face scrunched in disgust. “He would never!”
“Nope, he had, and is…”
“That’s disgusting.” I shook my head.
“Yeah, but don’t tell her yet. I’ll tell her when I see her. I just wanted you to have a heads up. Looks like she might be hanging around longer than I would have hoped.”
“That sucks.” Another phone call beeped through and I looked down at my screen. “Carter is calling me…”
“Mathers?” Bishop asked, shocked. “What the fuck for?”
“I don’t know. Call me later?”
“Yeah alright.”
After hanging up on Bishop, I answered my phone, giving Tate a confused look. “Hello?”
“Madison?” He sounded desperate.
“Carter? Are you ok?”
“Are you in town?”
“What? No. I’m out of town right now, why?”
He sighed. “Can you text me when you get back? I need to talk with you.” And he hung up.
“That was weird.” I put my phone back on the table and pushed it to the middle. “I haven’t heard from him in months and then he calls me out of the blue.”
Tillie shook the baby bottle, her eyes going between Tate and me. “What ever happened to him?”
“Nothing,” I answered, picking up my plate and carrying it to the sink. I rinsed it quickly before turning and leaning on the counter.
“I don’t know what to do,” Tillie whispered under her breath, feeding Micaela.
“How so?” Tate asked, her head tilted.
Tillie shrugged. “I think I need to leave.”
“Leave—where?” I tried hard not to sound critical, but it came off as that instantly. “Elena doesn’t know that Micaela is her granddaughter, and then there’s Nate…” I added.
“Exactly!” Tillie shrugged. “I just think that he would prefer I not be in his hometown, if you know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t, and please don’t tell me you’re thinking of running because honestly, Tillie, he would kill you if you took his daughter away.”
“He’s going to kill me anyway, Mads!”
“Why!” I threw my hands up, suddenly annoyed at the whole situation. I loved Tillie, but sometimes we didn’t exactly see eye to eye.