Crimson Lace

Chapter 42

WARNING: This chapter contains subjects and content that may be inappropriate or too mature for some viewers.

ELLE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

"What the hell?" Wes scoffs. "I knew you were crazy, Gore, but damn, taking over Rivara? That's a bit far fetched." A soft laugh from my friend, causing him to wince as the gashes on his head strain. The girl next to Wes, Ash, scolds him for moving and presses the ice back to his swollen nose. He hisses, grumbling something like I'm fine.

Seeing him hurt used to kill me, but after the way he went after Alec, I don't feel so bad for him. I wish we could go back to how our friendship used to be, but I just can't bring myself to look at him the same way after he betrayed me. But I'm trying. I will try for the both of us.

"Somehow, you doubt me, lad, after everything I did for you."

Wes chortles. "Yeah, like how you almost got me killed, by turning me in?"

My gaze snaps to Gore. This keeps getting more complicated. The Crimson Reapers were the ones who rescued Wes from the courtroom and they were the ones who gave him up?

"With good reason," Gore says, pouring himself another glass of wine. Before turning to me as if he read my thoughts. "If Wes hadn't been tried that day, we would never have gotten into the palace. Never would have learned of those tunnels or placed the very cameras that allowed me to discover where exactly Keaton has our mother."

I feel my face pale. Our mother. The woman I thought abandoned me to avoid the consequences Keaton delivered my father and his wife. "How? Why does he have her?"

He runs a hand through the dark waves of his auburn hair. "I think he captured her shortly after you were born, but I wouldn't know since she and my dear parents abandoned me a year or so before." The pain in his voice makes me flinch. I had no idea.

"But you are such a delight. I can't imagine why they wouldn't want you," Ash muses.

Gore shows no trace of anger, no trace of amusement on his face. "I was born with a spinal injury. Dadda didn't like the idea of raising a boy who couldn't walk on his own."

Ash stills at that. Her face going blank.

My eyes can't help but stray to the cane resting against his chair. Sympathy clammors through me. A feeling I never thought I could have toward a man like him. But he doesn't need pity. His disability has made him stronger if anything. He is running an empire among Serfs despite the challenges life threw his way.

Josie leans forward. "Then why do you want her back? Your mother. If they abandoned you, why are you trying to save her?"

He keeps his gaze fixed on me as he answers. "I want her back so that Elle and I can look her in the eye and hear her apologize for failing us both." His voice breaks slightly.

I swallow hard, trying to fight the chaos of emotions slithering through me. It's too much. It is all a lot to take in. Facing my mother, if that is really possible . . . I don't know how I will react. And hearing him speak of her, only makes the fact that we are related seem more real.

And I am terrified. I've always wanted a family, but not one like this. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

I can feel all eyes on me, waiting for any words. Any acknowledgment or agreement, for me to say that I also want her back. But I can't. I keep looking over at the empty seat beside me where Alec was. An empty void plows through my body. I am stuck on the thought that any moment now his hand will find mine and he will be whispering in my ear that everything will be okay. But I don't always need to rely on him to soothe my troubles. I'm stronger than that.