Final Debt (Indebted #6)(125)

He hugged me harder. “Anything for you, you know that.”

I shivered as another howl swept over the treetops. The night would be bitterly cold, but soon there would be something to warm us.

Pulling away, I smiled at my twin standing with his arms crossed and a bitter look on his face. Eventually, I would have to talk to him and tell him Jethro would be his brother-in-law. He would have to accept him. Tex, too.

I asked far more than they could offer—to love the son of the man who’d stolen Tex’s wife and our mother—but that was life.

The heart had the incredible capacity to heal wrongs. And I wouldn’t apologise for betraying my family name with Jethro. I’d chosen him. And if they couldn’t accept that…well, I didn’t want to think about it. Not tonight.

Jethro tucked flying hair behind my ears and pulled up my hood. “Are you ready?”

I rested my face in his palm, reaching on tiptoes to kiss his wind-bitten lips. “I’m ready.”

Taking my hand, he kissed my knuckles. “In that case, let’s put the past behind us.”



It took us an hour and a half to lug the boxes from upstairs to the bonfire outside.

We formed an assembly line, a never-ending factory of willing hands to transport.

Jethro joined me in the room, respectfully gathering files and packing them into boxes. I’d left the space in a mess, but together, we created neat piles so Vaughn and Tex could carry them downstairs.

Jasmine stayed on the lawn, willingly accepting the items on her lap and wheeling them across the grass to the unlit bonfire.

The last box to go down was full of my mother’s time at the Hall. I blinked back tears as I handed it awkwardly to my father.

He knew with one look what the paperwork entailed. His face echoed with heartbreak as he cradled the heavy package and took it downstairs himself. He didn’t transfer it to Vaughn. He didn’t let go. Hugging his wife’s spirit one last time.

Once he’d gone, and the room stood empty, Jethro popped into the corridor and spoke to V.

“Can you give us a minute?”

Vaughn looked past him, his black eyes meeting mine. “You okay, Threads?”

I came forward, my heart beating faster. “I’m okay. I’ll see you down there.” I gave him a half-smile. “Don’t start without us.”

He scowled. “You know I wouldn’t.”

I sighed. We had a long way to go to be able to joke with one another again without a filament of mistrust and pain cloaking everything. “I know, V. Stupid joke.” Brushing past Jethro, I gathered my twin in my arms.

He buckled, his spine rolling and strong arms wrapping around me. He shuddered as we stood there and squeezed. The past ten days had been good for us. We’d spent time together, skirting true issues, but I had a feeling after tonight, we’d have nothing keeping us apart and could finally talk through the events and find our closeness once again.

Letting me go, he smiled. He’d let a slight beard creep over his chin, dark and rich, making him seem exotic and untameable. “Love you, Threads.”

“Love you more.” I patted his chest. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Vaughn nodded and disappeared down the staircase. Once he’d gone, I entered the room and waited while Jethro silently closed the door.

My heart went from fast paced to flurrying. “What are you doing?”

Jethro grimaced, striding to a filing cabinet and shoving it to the side. “There’s one more box you haven’t seen. One I hid.”

I ghosted forward. “You hid it? Why?”

Dropping to his knees, he ran his fingernails around a wooden panel in the wainscoting. Popping open a hidden compartment, he shuffled back to pull out a dust-smeared box. This one didn’t match the other drab brown ones. This one was white and narrow with the initials E.W. on top.

My heart flew into my throat.

Jethro stood up, supporting the box and swatting at dust motes on his jeans. “I hid it because I was asked to by someone I cared about.”

Moving toward the table, he placed the offering in the centre. “She asked me to give this to you. She knew I’d come for you once she was gone, but she also knew I was different.”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t take my eyes off the carton. “Different?”

“She caught me one day. She caught me before I had the chance to have another lesson. She didn’t fully understand what I was, but she guessed enough that it made her trust me. I wanted to tell her not to be so stupid. I was still my father’s son. But she didn’t give me a choice.

“She told me I would fall in love with you. She told me you would win. She also told me that if I let you help me, everything could be different.”

A tear glassed my vision then spilled over. Talking about my mother, learning new memories I didn’t share was wondrous as well as bittersweet.

I didn’t notice I’d moved forward until my fingers traced her initials. “She told you all of that?”

Jethro chuckled quietly. “She told me a lot of things. She also told Kes. I think she preferred him over me—he was the one everyone fell in love with—but she trusted us with different tasks.”

I finally met his eyes, tearing mine from the box. “What did she make you do?”

Jethro nodded at the table. “She wanted me to keep this safe for you. She said one day, I would find the right time to give this to you. And when I did, she hoped it meant things hadn’t gone the way they had for her. That you’d won.