When I look up from the letter, my parents are still holding hands tightly. Still watching me with identical expressions of apology and fear.

I say the first thing that comes to mind.

“What the fuck?”

“Eden Elizabeth Sumner,” growls my dad.

“It’s okay,” murmurs my mom. She turns teary eyes on me. “I can only imagine what you must be feeling right now.”

I toss the letter down. My heart thrums hard with their betrayal. Almost, it hurts worse than losing Liam. He kept the truth from me for a few months.

They kept the truth hidden for decades.

“You knew,” I say hoarsely. “All this time, you knew I had a twin sister and that my biological father was a psychopath crime lord? Were you ever going to tell me, if I didn’t find out myself?”

My dad winces. “Your moth—Elizabeth… she wanted us to protect you as long as we could. We agreed to wait until you were twenty-five, but that night at your birthday party, that fellow…”

“Liam,” I snap.

“Yes,” says my mom. “Liam. He pulled us aside. He… he asked us if we knew who your real parents were. It was so unexpected. We didn’t know what to say. He must have known we did from our expressions. Then he told us you were close to the truth, but that he was doing his best to keep you safe.”

“He also said we should have never let you move to Los Angeles,” grumbles my dad.

“Hold up!” I throw up my hands to stall them. “This is… it’s too much. Just let me think.”

I stare at the letter, at Elizabeth’s hasty scrawl. Nothing makes sense. And it makes too much sense—she took me, saved me, so her other child would have a chance to be saved in turn.

“This woman, my mother, is insane if she thinks I can get Alexis away from Maddoc.” I shake my head, looking up at my parents. “Were you supposed to enroll me in freaking karate or something? Get me combat training? I’m not Sarah-fucking-Connor with shotguns strapped to my back and a death wish. I’m a fucking student!”

My dad goes a little pale beneath his beard. “If we could protect you from this, we would. Many times over the years, we even considered not telling you.” He glances at my mom. “But that didn’t sit right with our consciences.”

“You can walk away,” says my mom suddenly. “That’s why you came back, isn’t it? Liam sent you away from it? Sweetheart, you don’t have to do anything with the information in that letter. Elizabeth… well, she was frantic when she found us. Paranoid. She truly believed that someone was going to kill her. What if your sister—Alexis—is happy with her life? We don’t know that she isn’t.”

“She’s right, Eden. You can put this all behind you.”

They believe what they’re saying. They really do. They think I can click my heels and forget it all. Forget them.

Liam’s words filter through my mind: She doesn’t have a choice. Neither of us do.

And isn’t that what freedom is?

Choice?

I pick up the letter, my fingers grazing the words. I’m lost. Alone. No sunlight or gravity. The ground is too far—the fall will kill me.

I make the choice anyway.

“What else did Elizabeth give you?”

My mom’s shoulders sag, her face crumpling. My dad frowns, sitting back in his chair with a sigh. He doesn’t look surprised.

“You knew what I’d say,” I tell him.

He shrugs. “Nothing has ever stopped you from going after what you want. That much, Elizabeth was right about. You’re a fighter. So strong.”

My eyes well with tears. “I don’t feel like I am.”

He smiles sadly. “The strong rarely do.”