Then he said it, the words hanging in the air like smoke before a fire. "Finding out I have a half-sister has been quite a shock. But I'm glad I have more family now."
The room went still. Even Ivy stopped breathing, her usual smirk frozen on her face. I shifted my weight, ready to move if needed, though what I'd do, I wasn't sure. This wasn't a situation that could be solved with a gun or fists.
Anna's eyes widened, her gaze darting to Elena, who looked like she might be sick. "You're Anthony Cassaro's son?"
She didn't even hesitate, as if she'd already seen a glimmer of the man she'd once been with in the man before her.
Grayson nodded, his expression carefully composed. "Yes."
24
ELENA
Istared at Grayson, my emotions a whirling mess. My mother, bless her soul, reached across the space between them and gently patted Grayson's hand. Her voice was soft, almost wistful. "I hope he wasn't horrible to you."
I held my breath. She meant Anthony. My father. The man I'd built a thousand fantasies around—and torn down just as many. The man whose blood ran through my veins, connecting me to the stranger standing across from us. My half-brother. The word still felt foreign on my tongue, like it didn't belong.
Grayson gave a small, tired smile. "He didn't make life easy. But Meredith and I... we looked out for each other."
That landed like a stone in my chest. They had each other. I had no one but Mom. All those years of dreaming about siblings, about a bigger family, and they'd been right there—living their lives, protecting each other, while I stared out windows wondering why my father's visits grew shorter and less frequent until they stopped altogether.
Anna sighed again, deeper this time, and turned to me. Her eyes were glassy, her voice trembling. "I should've told you the truth sooner."
My stomach clenched. I wasn't ready. Not for this. Not with Jackson watching, his dark eyes missing nothing. Not with Grayson sitting there, a living reminder of everything I never had. But Mom's face was pale, her hands shaking slightly, and I knew she needed this. To unburden herself before?—
I couldn't finish the thought.
"When I told him I was pregnant," she started, "he changed. Started laying hands on me."
My heart stopped. I blinked at her, trying to process the words. My father hit her? The man who'd brought me stuffed animals and candy, who'd promised me the world then vanished—he'd hurt my mother? The disconnect was so jarring I felt physically ill.
"He gave me a black eye when I first told him over a home-cooked meal," she whispered, shame curling around her voice. "I covered it up. Changed the locks."
I wanted to scream. To go back in time and protect her. But I was just a baby in her belly. Helpless. Unformed. While she faced his rage alone. How many times had she told me he loved us both? How many times had she painted him as some distant hero, too busy saving the world to come home? That the two of us together was enough?
"He left voicemails. Called nonstop. Became someone else. Someone cruel."
I could see it—her alone in that little house, terrified, trying to keep me safe, a life still growing inside her. My throat burned. I'd spent years blaming her for keeping me from him, for not fighting harder to make him stay. And all along, she'd been fighting to keep him away.
She looked at Grayson now. "It started long before Elena was even born. He'd come to town, and we'd get together. We did that for years, and it wasn't until I fell pregnant and he changed that I hired someone to dig into him. I found out he had a wife.That he'd been cheating on me the whole time. Well, I guess he'd been cheating on her."
I felt like I was watching my life unravel thread by thread. Every lie she'd told me—every bedtime story about a father I asked about, who was always busy with work and still loved me—was a shield she'd built to protect me from this. From knowing I was the product of an affair. From knowing my father was a man who could hurt the women he claimed to love.
"He wanted me to get rid of her," she said, her voice breaking. "Tried to force me. Came to my job. I had him thrown out by security."
I couldn't breathe. I was never supposed to exist. He tried to erase me before I even had a name. Before I had a face or fingers or toes. The room shifted slightly, and I felt Jackson move beside me, a silent anchor in a storm I hadn't seen coming.
"He broke into the house after that. Threatened me. I told him I didn't want anything from him. That if anything happened to me or the baby, someone would go to the police. That I had told someone who would give them his name."
My mother—my fierce, fragile mother—had stood her ground. Alone. Pregnant. Terrified. And still, she protected me. While I'd spent years resenting her for keeping me from my father, for making us live away from him, for working double shifts instead of attending all my school plays. All that time, she'd been my protector. My warrior.
"After that, he left. But sometimes... he came back. To see Elena."
I swallowed hard. I remembered those visits. The way he smelled like expensive cologne. The way he never stayed long. The presents that felt like apologies for something I didn't understand. The way he'd look at me sometimes, like he wasn't sure how he felt about me.
Was he wishing I'd never been born?
"I don't know why he came," she said. "Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was escape. But he never wanted to be a father."
