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"That’s all we can really ask for, isn’t it?" He nodded slowly "To have a family that truly loves and accepts us"

"That’s all that ood pick with Lucky, she’s a and I already love her like she’s a part of the family"

"Yeah, I’ve been blessed" His eyes shone with elad you love her; she’s already the central part of our family She loves you like a brother, you know She really loves and cares about you It’s funny that you’re not even related, but she always talks and worries about you"

"I guess you don’t have to be related by blood to love so "Sometimes they worm their way into your heart and they become a part of you And when someone becomes a part of you, they automatically become your family"

Chapter 3

"You can’t tell anyone"

"I just need to tell my brother" I made a face "He’s a hothead, but he’s trustworthy He won’t tell anyone Not even our dad"

"No" Special Agent Waldron shook his head "If we go forith this, you can’t tell anyone"

"I can’t just leave and not tell him" My heart stilled "It would kill hi on" He stared at me with blank eyes "You cannot tell him"

"You don’t understand It’s always been us We don’t have a mother, our father doesn’t care about us And Zane, well, he’s already closed off I can’t just leave and not have hi for me"

"Then you’ll die" He nodded and took out a pad "That’s probably the better idea anyway"

"Die?" I shrunk back and shivered "I don’t think Braydon knows that I heard anything Do you think they’re going to put a hit out onto kill you" He looked up at hed "I mean we’ll fake your death It should motivate your brother to help us"

"What do you mean?"

"I elique, and the others I’ll approach him at the funeral and see if he can help me"

"I don’t want him involved" I shook my head "If you need help, I can do it"

"No" He shook his head vehemently "They’ll suspect you too easily We need someone else"

"I don’t want Zane involved in this" I stood up "Sorry, but I’ any, and I paused as I walked to the door "It’s not safe for you or anyone else We need to get these guys, Noah I know that you kno dangerous they are That’s why you cah"

"It won’t be forever" He sighed "We’ll have you disappear in a small town I know Stay low and you’ll be safe Unless you change yourforever" I bit my lip "I don’t understand why you can’t call Zane and ask him to come in now We can tell him the plan He can still help us"

"No" He shook his head "I can’t risk hi up If he thinks you’re dead, and he thinks Braydon is responsible, he’ll dofor the truth We need that"

"You don’t knohat he’ll do"

"We’re pretty sure" He sht-lipped, and I looked at the folders on his desk I saw one with my name and underneath it I saw a label that said "Zane Beaumont" I shivered as I realized that theyboth of us

"So what’s in the files?" I nodded towards his desk with a frown

"Everything that exists outside of yourwith"

"That explains the file abouthe was going to be helpful"

"I don’t want to go aithout telling my brother" I shook my head "I can’t that to hi this deep without hi the truth"

"You don’t have a choice, Noah So you can do is keep the the when it’s best to keep your mouth shut and when it’s best to open it And this is the time to keep it shut--that is, if you love your brother as much as you say you do"

"I still want to know about Moht now, but I still want to know" His voice was light

"You’ve changed" I cocked my head and studied hi you to putif you don’t giveit to myself because I want to Trust me" I made a face "Just like I didn’t leave and not tell you because I wanted to keep you in the dark"

"How could you do it?" He peered at me with hurt eyes "I would never do that to you I could never just leave and have you think I’hed "It’s always just been us I begged to be able to tell you But Special Agent Waldron convinced me that it was in your best interest for me to not tell you"

"I know you didn’t do it to hurt ers "Don’t hate lad that you didn’t tellthis, but if it wasn’t for you going away, I would never have met Lucky And I don’t knohat my life would be like if I didn’t have her in my life Do I sound like a complete asshole?" He looked up at me with a twisted shtheartedly "In fact, it makes you human and very honest"

"I love her so much, you know" He made a face "It hurts me to be away from her Like I feel a physical pain It’s crazy"

"That’s love It provides as much joy as it does pain"

"She really hurt you, didn’t she?"