Page 125 of Sinners Reunion

I take that cue and raise a finger. “I might need to catch that limo back too.”

“Is your IBS flaring as well?” King raises an eyebrow.

“Thanks for announcing it.” I rise and pull my purse over my shoulder.

We leave the lounge and make our way down the stairs. With each step I take, I only hope Ezra makes good on his promise to tell King he figured it out without my help.

“Blast! Slow down. The toilet isn’t in the damn limo. You were closer to a bathroom back there, by the way.”

“I just want to hurry up and catch a ride with Ezra and Kindra before they leave.”

We turn at the side of the building. The limo sits on the curb, the lights on and the engine idling.

“You mean the limo that appears to be waiting for us?” King says.

“Just get in,” I mutter.

I’m glad to see that Kindra looks completely unbothered as King and I slide into the back seat. Unfortunately, looking so unbothered sends the alarm bells ringing in King’s head.

“All right, out with it,” King says. “None of you is squirming nearly enough for a bowel emergency, so let’s have it. What are you lot scheming about?”

“Are you really Daddy Carter?” Kindra asks.

King’s head turns toward me, but Ezra saves the day and explains how he put things together without any assistance from me. He then tells King that he’s willing to hear him out, and King launches into his story again. He’s a bit more concise this time.

He offers to show Ezra the video interview with his mother, but Ezra declines, saying that he trusts King’s word. Kindra stays silent.

I reach out and touch my fingertips to her knee. “Hey, are you okay?”

She takes a deep breath and blows it out through her nose, but when she speaks, she doesn’t address me. She addresses King. “I can’t grasp how you neglected them for so long. Bennett and his mother suffered. You did nothing.”

Ezra looks at her and strokes her hair.

“We couldn’t interfere with the way the children were raised. It was part of the study,” King says. “The women agreed to our terms, and we refused to deviate from them. If it sounds hollow and cold, that’s because it was. I was a hollow and cold man.”

“But you aren’t hollow and cold now,” Ezra says. “You’re the opposite of those things.”

“Filled and warm?” My lip curls.

“Okay, maybe not the best words,” Ezra says, “but you get my point. I’m mature enough and stable enough to admit that you didn’t make the right choices every time, but you’ve been making the right choices, consistently, for years now. That has to count for something. Otherwise, what are we doing?”

King holds out his hands, palms up. “ I can’t do anything to take back any harm I may have caused. I can’t even say I would do much of it differently. Look at what it’s created. Even if my children strike me down at the end of this, it was worth it to know this brought everyone together. If my death facilitates that, so be it.”

“I don’t want it to come to that,” Ezra says. He pulls off his glasses and wipes the lenses. “Something inside tells me that I should, but I don’t want to feed that emotion anymore.”

Kindra reaches over and places her hand on Ezra’s, her face softening. She looks at King. “If he can find it in his heart to give you a chance, I’ll support him. But if you fuck up, I’ll gut you myself.”

“Message received,” King says. “Don’t think I don’t realize how undeserving I am of this chance.”

“Let’s not celebrate yet,” I say. “I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it’s an all-or-nothing game here. If we can’t get the other siblings on board, this is a moot point.”

“Frankie won’t be a problem,” Kindra says. “She’s said the only way she wouldn’t kill her father was if her father were King or Jim. We should bring her and Maverick into the limo.”

“I’ll go fetch them,” King says with a sigh. “I can shut Jim up before he has a chance to ask why we’re still in the parking lot when you two were supposed to be seconds away from making all over the floor like unruly puppies.”

With a grumble, he climbs out of the limo and disappears around the side of the club.

An uncomfortable quiet fills the small space while we wait for him to return. I imagine Ezra and Kindra feel conflicted, much as I did—and kind of still do. It’s difficult because I love the person he is so much that I seek ways to forgive the person he was. But does he deserve that?