Page 131 of Wicked Promises (Fallen Royals 3)

Caleb stands and moves toward us. His gait is slow, lazy almost. It’s just a few feet to cross the room. But somehow, he makes it feel predatory.

His gaze locks on Claire. He circles around her, then stops beside me.

“Let me get this straight. You forgive Margo, who was in a car accident and then abducted, and in the hospital for three days, for not calling you?”

Claire’s face turns red. She presses her lips together, staring up at him.

“He’s right,” Hanna pipes up from the bed. “A bit rude.”

I snicker. Leave it to the twelve-year-old to call it how things are.

“You’re right,” Claire says, barely able to look at Caleb. Her whole body trembles. “I’m sorry, Margo. That was insensitive. I was worried, and it came out wrong.”

She throws her arms around me, burying her face in my neck.

I pat her back awkwardly.

Hanna jumps off the bed and throws her arms around both of us.

“Together again!” she yells into my arm.

Claire and Hanna leave soon after that. It would appear that they just wanted to check on me. Caleb and I eat dinner with Robert and Lenora, and then he, too, leaves.

The three of us settle on the couch. I go back to school tomorrow, so we’re soaking up the last night of no homework. Robert puts on a movie, and Lenora makes popcorn in the kitchen. I drag a blanket over my lap in the armchair, bringing my knees up to my chest.

When Lenora comes with two bowls of popcorn—one for me and one for them—Robert pauses the preview.

“We want to talk to you now that your friends are gone,” Robert says.

Worry immediately knots my stomach. A talk is never a good thing.

“You look panicked.” Lenora reaches out and offers her hand.

I take it and suck in a deep breath. “Maybe a bit.”

“Lenora and I have been discussing adoption.” Robert smiles at me. “Our main concern is whether you’d be open to such a thing.”

“We want you to be part of our family permanently,” Lenora adds, squeezing my hand.

My mouth drops open. Yes, they’d said as much before the accident, but…

My heart tears itself in half.

It happens between beats. One minute it’s whole, and the next, it’s broken and I’m being pulled in two different directions.

Dad is innocent, and we just need to prove it to get him out.

And Robert and Lenora… they want to make things official. A home with two stable parents who love each other, who don’t fight. Who would’ve thought they’d pick me?

I don’t know how to stitch myself back together again. How to make my heart halves beat in sync.

My eyes burn, but I don’t cry. There’s a weight on my shoulders; it lands heavier than I would’ve thought I could handle.

“Thank you,” I say over the lump in my throat.

Any minute, I’m going to lose it.

“It’s a lot to process,” Lenora says. “And this is your decision.”