Exodus (The Ravenhood)

Tobias’s expression cools considerably. “Don’t play innocent, Sean.”

“Innocent? No, I’m not fucking claiming that.” He snaps his fingers sarcastically before pointing at Tobias, his voice filled with condescension. “What was your speech before you sent us off? We needed to get our heads right. So, you sentenced us away for ten fucking months to be Boy Scouts and pay for our crimes. And what did you do?”

“What do you mean you caught an early plane?” I ask Sean, who looks at me in a way I never imagined possible. He ignores my question and takes a step toward me. “I asked you to trust me. I told you I would make this right.”

“Trust you? Trust you? You gave me nothing, which is exactly what you left me with. Both of you.” I say, darting my eyes between them.

“So, you fuck my brother?” Dominic speaks up, his voice lethal. “Pretty cold, baby.”

“Watch it,” Tobias warns, as Dominic’s eyes drift over to him.

“I suppose I should congratulate you for keeping it in the family.”

“Don’t you dare!” I swallow in an attempt to wet my dry throat, unbelieving of the difference in the appearance of the two of them. They look every bit like soldiers. It’s only in their eyes and expressions that I see traces of the men I knew. “This didn’t start the minute you left, or anytime soon after. I grieved for you both for months and months without a single thing to hold onto, without a word from either of you!” I look to Sean. “One day didn’t come.”

“What in the hell do you think this is?” He runs a hand down his jaw.

“Too late! Too late. I had to move on. You gave me no choice. I was losing my mind wondering if I should even bother. You asked me not to look for you, but I did, and you moved out of the townhouse, quit the garage, you both left without a trace. What was I supposed to believe?”

Neither of them speaks up about the necklace. Both would be hard-pressed to admit it now, probably because of the man standing beside me, and now I’m sure I’ll never know.

Sean’s voice booms, scattering my thoughts. “We were fucking forced away! Cut off from the world for keeping you from him. For doing exactly what he’s been doing!”

I turn to Tobias. “Is this true?”

“It’s true,” Dominic snaps, his tone as cutting as his silver gaze. “And since when is his fucking word money over ours?”

“Since you left me with nothing!”

“Fuck this,” Dominic says, turning on his heel.

“Don’t, Dominic,” I move toward him, and Tobias stops me, “please don’t go,” I beg. Eyes watering, I plead with him as he goes completely rigid, his back turned to the three of us. “Please, just tell me the truth.”

“The truth,” he slowly turns, his voice hoarse. “The truth is, Cecelia, you and I have both been played, but me, by my own fucking blood!” He charges toward Tobias, the wrath in his face unbearable. Tobias steps between us, pushing me back a few feet, readying himself.

This only fuels Dominic as he lunges for his brother, and Sean catches him around the chest just before impact, speaking rapidly in his ear. “Don’t. Not here. Not now. This isn’t the place. We’ll deal with this our way.”

Chest fracturing, I look helplessly to Tobias, whose eyes are zeroed in on his brother. In them, I see shame and a hell of a lot of guilt. I shake my head furiously at the revelation. “You mean to tell me you’ve been waiting this whole time to come back to me?”

Dominic fights Sean’s hold, ripping at the arms circling his chest, murder in his eyes for his brother. “Yeah, we’ve been fucking waiting, waiting for the okay to come home! Fuck you—” his face falls as he stops his struggle, and I crack in half at the agony in his eyes. He shakes his head as Sean steadies him, whispering to him furiously.

Dominic taps Sean’s arms. “I’m good. Let me go.” When Sean releases him, Dominic grows eerily calm before he steps toward his brother, his voice filled with venom.

“Notre mère aurait honte de toi.” Our mother would be ashamed of you.

It’s then I note Dominic’s accent is heavier, more polished. Tobias’s was just as heavy when I met him.

“France,” I speak up in a whisper. “You sent them to France.”

All three of them turn to me as I look over at Tobias, who helplessly looks back at me as I piece it together. “That’s what you’ve been hiding.”

That was his secret. And our relationship was always a ticking time bomb. He knew they were coming for me.

He knew.

“You sent them to France. You made them leave, leave me.”

Tobias hangs his head. His voice defeated when he speaks.