Chapter 39 – Offside (Brennan Conrad POV)

Knowing that once Talia got on the phone with Javier that it'd be a while, I turn to leave her bedroom. However, I'm stalled when she tosses a pillow at my back, holding up a finger when I pick it up and turn back to her frowning.

"Hey Javi, babe, I'm going to get someone to bring my pain meds up to me, so I'll call you before I get into bed, okay?" I look at Talia, brow raised.

Since when does she lie to Javier? I ask myself, but that only opens the door for a bit of guilt. If Talia was lying, it was because of this situation that I had created.

I asked her not to disclose our conversations to Javier, something I had no right doing. But I had already made hacking into the family servers such a bad thing that I didn't want it going worse.

Ending the call, Talia places her cell phone next to her on the bed, her eyes welling up as she gazes at me. Frowning I take a step towards her, "Do you need meds?" maybe she was not lying to Javier.

Talia shakes her head, frowning.

"Bren, really? I know you overheard everything Javier was just saying," she says incredulously.

Of course, I nod. "Yeah but why are you tearing up?" I motion towards her eyes.

Her eyes widen, stark blue irises all I see. "You need to ask? Seriously?" she shakes her head at me disappointment clouding over her face. Looking much like mom.

"Brennan... someone is entering after Devin? Who is the best person to do that? Who shares Devin's computer?"

I frown, "You think... you think it is Taylor?" It's an almost laughable suggestion but Talia looks at me with wide defeated eyes and any humor in the subject is quickly drained out of me.

Going to her chair I sit half in shock, trying to wrap my mind around Talia's prompting of Taylor being behind the access door hack Devin put in place. On the one hand, it made sense being Taylor. Devin and Taylor used one laptop, while Javier had his own.

Asking myself why Taylor would do that?

Well, the motive was actually given before the person.

Money.

The Rosario's did not have a lot of money. Shannon and Javier Senior both worked. But still, they had Javier, Devin, and Taylor plus their other children that lived with them while the oldest three lived in Bend.

Indirectly the family worked for one of the dad's investment companies. Making well above minimum wage but again I knew from Devin that after all their expenses they're parents managed on a want versus need mentality like mom and dad.

Ten thousand dollars to pass on whatever information she got might have sounded good to Taylor. Probably never once thinking of the lives, she was actually reporting over.

When I realize that I've been locked inside my head, and my sister is just gazing at me, I snap out of my mental deliberations.

Too easy, I think after some time.

Shaking my head in disagreement with Talia, I purse my lips. "We've all been together for the last nine months, I mean over summer they stayed at our house, Taylor never went anywhere on her own..." Talia's face goes blank, and I cannot get a read from her.

"Maybe she actually stole the money from mom and dad, I mean she was here all summer?"

The silence between us lingers.

"Or what if... the people who changed out your medication slipped that money in Taylor's suitcase?" This suggestion causes a frown to almost elongate Talia's face. The ends of her lips curl further downward than I've ever witnessed on my sister.

"Or the same people that asked Taylor to gather information from Devin's work also asked her to change out my pills," she says monotone.

I shake my head again, "No. We've known Taylor forever, I don't think she would hurt anyone of us-"

"How did she get the money then?" Talia snaps, and we're both watching one another with narrowed gazes when her door is thrown open. Startling us both, breaking the glare we were shooting back at one another. Thaddeus enters her room with a sigh, ignoring the tension that lingered.

"Guess our camping trip is off," he says happily, clothes already changed. One thing about my brother was it took a lot to get a rise out of him. He was normally very jovial. Yet, he could always pick up on a change in room temperature.

And Talia's was currently frosty.

"Okay," he says drawing the word out looking for us both, squinting. "What's going on?" Talia crosses her arms against her chest, lifting a brow at me.

Challenging me.

"Ask Brennan," she says softly and still with enough bite that Thaddeus scowls. At the same time, my stomach feels as though it is in my chest. The unease only intensifies as Thaddeus gives me a pointed, 'what the hell is going on stare?'

"Is this about you and Devin?" he asks but doesn't give me enough time to confirm before he follows up with another guess. "Or is this about Samson and Taylor?" I think Thaddeus is done speaking, but he isn't.

"Honestly, I'm happy that Taylor's shown her true colors, I mean, seriously, I know mom and dad are friends with Shannon and Javier, but Taylor is so damn shady!" he gossips shaking his head.

"What?" he asks when Talia and I both just continue staring at him. "I cannot be the only one to think this. You two are dating her siblings-" he stops gazing apologetically at me.

"I'm just saying I thought that maybe it's harder for you guys to see it because you were or are dating her siblings. But to me she just... Taylor is always skulking." I frown never noticing it the way Thaddeus says it.

"What do you mean?" I probe further. Thaddeus shrugs, "I don't know before when it was Silas, Samson, and Taylor, there was less of Taylor?" Now I really frown. Less of Taylor?

"I mean it was like... I don't know she played them off each other like they were interchangeable or something," he says pursing his lips at the end.

"I just, I always thought that if nothing had happened to Silas, Taylor would kind of put them up against each other-" I shake my head.

"Samson wasn't into her then either," Talia raises a brow at me as I blurt out the words. Her small action throwing shame at my feet with it's loaded meaning. If I could tell even back then that Samson wasn't into Taylor, why had I gone out of my way pushing them together?

"Yeah, I know," Thaddeus, continues unaware of the silent conversation going on between Talia and I. "But it was like she wanted them to fight over her... like Silas was into Taylor, but Taylor was into Samson, and – and I cannot be the only one to think this?" he looked for validation between us.

Talia shrugs.

"I just figured eventually she'd have to decide who she wanted. Silas or Samson, she couldn't have them both, especially when Samson didn't want her but enjoyed her as a friend."

Thaddeus snorts, "So when Silas died, Taylor just went all fatal attraction on Samson," he chortles at his own joke for a few beats. Stopping – probably – when what he said is actually processed.

With no idea how to even pick up a conversation after Thaddeus' joke, we all remain silent until someone – thankfully – knocks on Talia's door.

"Come in," Talia calls, and Harleigh pops her head in, eyes searching for Thaddeus. He's gone for less than ten seconds when Talia speaks.

"How long are you going to wait before you tell the others?" she asks cornering me. When I don't answer Talia, she scoffs, rolling her eyes at me. "This ends one of two ways Bren, they find out and it's from you. They learn the truth, and it's from Devin specifically," I blanch.

"Exactly."

Thankfully Talia does not hover on the topic. "I think you need to mention the money thing to mom and dad," she says in a more directive tone. I know instantly that this is not a suggestion.

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Danny Conrad POV

Coming from a large family, when I watch my father, brother and his wife walk out of my hotel room, I feel lonelier than ever.

Ansel had decided already that Cynthia was the villain here. How did they know for sure that Faith had been left behind? How did they know that Alpha Monet hadn't actually done what Cynthia believed? Before questioning Cynthia – letting her explain – they just assumed.

"They – they made an example of her. She w-w-was m-murdered r-right in –in f-front of m-me."

Faith could have a grudge against Cynthia.

"I'd give anything to get her back – losing her left this hole inside me."

How did she randomly end up in Bend?

"Sophie is – w-was – the best part of me – in Zedwood... we had to keep Andy hidden, and for a while, it worked but then it didn't."

With my family?

"Sophie was my... I look in the mirror some d-days and – and I can barely fun-ction, she had my fair skin, my blonde curls."

Faith looks nothing like the image or child Cynthia explained. Why would she lie?

"Sophie will always be a part of my family Danny, but-but Andy cannot remember her."

I asked Andy not to mention the woman 'Fay,' though I never had to ask him to stop saying Sophie.

"It was such a hard time, I think – he's blocked out memories of her."

"Where – where is that abomination?"

What was the truth?

"Her name isn't Sophie, I lied, her name is Fatima Safiya Ashlynn – I thought she would die where I left her."

"I was so excited to be a mother, S-Sophie's mom."

"I'm all right, disappointed that Fatima escaped after I left her to die."

Is that the truth?

Faith is Fatima.

There is no Sophie?

Was there ever a Sophie?

"It's so h-hard to look at Stella, Danny. Sometimes... sometimes I look at her and – and I wonder if Sophie would look like Stella."

"She's only going to bring trouble to your family, at three years old she ripped me from my life, my world – who knows what she's capable of now thirteen years later." Gasping I rub my face roughly, as another memory hits me. Swirls of the past and present; "I mean those leaders that betrayed me told me to keep her safe but, I left her where she belonged... how'd you end up with her?"

What was the real story? Had the punch Faith given Cynthia jolted her so much that she had personality flashes?

I stand, pacing until I grab my phone to call the kids, bidding them goodnight, when another knock interrupts my evening. Even without opening the door, though, I knew who was on the other side. Ending the call I was on with Lydia, I go to the door, standing there, just looking at the two inches of Oak between whom I know is Cynthia on the other side.

"Please let me in Danny," she pleads, and it's the loneliness in her tone that grabs hold of me. I'm feeling it now too. I couldn't just write off Cynthia, her lies, Faith's lies, there had to be a truth that could be carved out.

Faith didn't lie, a small voice tells me inside, and Faith didn't lie, because Andy didn't lie, it takes the convoluted information and puts the pieces back together.

The knob on the door feels unexplainably colder than any other door handle I've touched I register randomly.

I pull it open, taking a step back when my eyes connect with Cynthia's, though I remain guarded. Her irises stand out further in her red-rimmed eyes.

She's been crying. Go to her, one-half of me screams, while the other, the other part of me feels as though I've gone cold from the inside out.

She is the mother of your children, the first part screams, while the other shouts, she abandoned a little girl and Andy he is proof of her wrong doings.

"Uhm – I saw that Ansel, Lenah, and Jonah were here," a safe topic choice. I nod, "the walls are thin-"

They may be thin but Cynthia was a full Fae, she didn't have enhanced hearing. A part of me doesn't want her to know that they've turned their backs on me because of her. They've painted Cynthia as the villain but in her story, Faith is the villain.

"They came here because I called them," I lie. It's a small lie. Nothing compared to the ones she's spun, the voice whispers.

"You asked them for the money to help us out?" Cynthia seems agreeable to discuss our money hardships instead of everything that took place less than four hours ago. She reads my face, and frowns, "They... they said no, because of her, didn't they?"

She refers to her daughter like her? The voice murmurs.

"We need to think of our family Danny," she nods taking a step towards me, and on instinct, I take one away. I see the hurt in her eyes, but Cynthia swallows thickly, shaking off my reaction.

"I lied, I know I did. But the best thing we can do now for our family is get out of here. That child brings nothing but damage and hurt. She is a pawn in the right hands, and if your family won't give us money," she inhales, squaring her shoulders, "I say we call the Elders, send them on her trail, and we get the hell out of Bend before they show up." 

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