"But fine—three years is enough. On Harper's birthday, you two come back. Tell her the crash caused amnesia, that Eliana found you and brought you home. I'll 'recover' my sanity." He laughed softly. "She'll be so grateful she'll grovel at Eliana's feet. And our family will be whole again."
My father frowned. "There are holes in that story."
"Harper isn't exactly bright." Hudson waved a dismissive hand. "She never even went to school until she was eighteen. Fooling her won't be hard."
——
I stood frozen on the sidewalk.
Something cracked open in my chest—a hollow space filling with slow, thick drops of blood.
I wanted to cry. But my body was too exhausted to produce tears.
Inside, the three of them continued their meal. Laughing. Planning.
Then a new voice cut through.
"Well, well. Long time no see, Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez. Tired of playing dead already?"
Every muscle in my body locked.
I knew that voice.
Noah Delgado.
My brother's mortal enemy. The man who'd had me drugged, locked in a basement, and broken over three days and nights.