No one moves as we sit staring each other down, his words settling into the empty spaces, places where Baron and my father and my sister should be.
They could run again. He has the money to disappear like they did before, and without Baron, we won’t find them. We didn’t even find them when he had Baron.
I’ve lost more tonight than I gained.
Add one sister, subtract a brother and a father.
Except I got more than a sister. If I want, I can have two nephews and a niece. I could even have a brother-in-law.
If I don’t want that, no one is going to force me to accept them. They were happy living out in California, apparently, without any of us. They don’t need us. The question is, do we need them?
“You’re going to take my sister and run like a fucking pussy again?” I ask.
“That depends,” Devlin says. “Your father’s gone, and according to Preston, our grandfather and most of my uncles are… Diminished.”
That’s putting it literally, but I don’t say as much. I don’t know what that asshole told Devlin, and I won’t give him more information than he has.
“It’s up to us now,” Devlin says. “Our generation is the one that has to go on from here.”
“You’re leaving it up to me?” I clarify.
Devlin gives the slightest nods. “My wife loves you,” he says. “But you hurt her before. It won’t happen again. If that means leaving this town, that’s what we’ll do.”
“It doesn’t have to be that extreme,” I say grudgingly. “I’m not going to kill you.”
“And Crystal?”
“She’s my fucking twin,” I snap. “I’m the one who should be worrying if someone will hurt her.”
“You gave up that privilege when you disowned her,” he says flatly. “It’s my job to worry about whether staying in this house will leave her with three kids to raise on her own, and those kids without a father.”
“I said I won’t kill you,” I growl, though I’m fucking tempted when he reminds me what I gave up, what I did. Anger roils inside me, and the monster flickers to life, offering me relief. But I won’t hide from this, from my mistakes, not even when he offers to take the burden. I told her she was dead, and I have to take responsibility and live with the consequences, just like I have to live with what I did to the Darlings when I thought they’d killed her. I was wrong about that, which means all I did to avenge her was wrong.
But they’re far from innocent, either.
“I’m glad you still care about her,” Devlin says. “And that you’re not after me anymore. But if it’s too much for you to see her with me, there’s another family in this town we belong to. If we’re not welcome here, there’s a place for us there.”
I stare at the prick in disbelief.
Fuck. He’s right.
The Darlings are family.
Which meanswe’refamily.
He’s part of our family, and she’s part of his.
A Darling, a member of the family I’ve spent the past three years destroying, is sitting in a Dolce family meeting. And if I kick him out, I have to kick her out, too.
Because she’s not just a Dolce. She’s a Darling now, too.
As Devlin and I wait for the other to make a move, I play it out in my head. How much it would kill me to see her around here, with their Darling-Dolce babies reminding me every fucking day that they have joined these two families that cannot be reconciled. They have the blood of both our families running through their veins.
It’s too late to stop it. Our families have already been tied together.
They always have been, for the past three years, even when I didn’t know it. The family that killed Little Royal is now part of my own family. My twin married into the family that destroyed ours every bit as much as we destroyed theirs.
If I kick Devlin out now, he’ll take her with him. I weigh whether that’s the best option. I could keep going on the path I’ve trodden for three years, keep the hatred alive even after our father is dead, his drive for revenge dying with him. It would live on through me. I’d tear apart their family just like they tore apart ours. I’d forbid Duke from going to find Mabel when he graduates. It would never end.