Page 25 of Grave Secrets

“Maybe we can go back to the house and make lunch?” Viktor suggests.

“Actually,” Alan says, almost cautiously.

“Goddamn it, Alan,” I say with a sigh. “What other secrets are you about to pull out of your ass?”

“You’ll see,” he says with a grin. “Follow me to my old house.”

“The one Archer was held in?” I ask with a frown.

“Yes,” he says. “We turned it into a safehouse.”

“Okay,” I sigh.

We walk outside and load up to follow Alan and his closet of skeletons. When we stop, Viktor comes around to open my door, and Griffin joins us. I am shocked to see Archer, Maisy, Kendra, and her partners here. They even brought the twins.

“Hey,” I say to Archer.

“Hey to you,” he says as he hugs me.

“You gonna be okay here?” I ask him. “Kendra?”

“Uh. It’s been renovated, so it helps,” Kendra says.

“I’ve already cried today about it. We’re good,” Archer laughs. “Who is he?”

“Uhm… my older brother, Griffin,” I say. “Fin, this is… whoa…”

“What?” Viktor asks.

“You called me Fin,” Griffin says. I see flashes of memories where I am very young and playing with a doll. Griffin is there playing with me.

“Fin! The baby is hungry,” I say to him in my memories.

“Ada,” Viktor says, lifting my chin to look at me.

“I have a brother,” I say tearfully. “I forgot him.” Viktor turns me so Griffin can wrap me in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, Fin.”

“Shhh. It’s okay, Ada. We have all the time in the world,” Griffin says. “Let’s go inside and see what Alan is hiding from us.”

I walk between Viktor and Griffin up onto the porch, stopping dead in my tracks when I hear a familiar laugh. I start to tear up, and only Alan seems to understand why. “Go on,” Alan says with a smile.

I step forward and push the door open. I am suddenly flooded with emotion when I see my parents standing with Martin and Noel. “Daddy,” I say tearfully as I rush to him. When he hugs me tightly, I fall apart. Dad moves me to sit with him, and Mom takes me from him to hug me. When she pulls away, she holds my face.

“Oh, Ada. You are still so beautiful,” Mom says sweetly. “We’ve missed you so much, baby.

“Where have you been?” Griffin asks protectively.

“Don’t be like…” Dad starts to say.

“Don’t be like that?! Are you fucking kidding?!” Griffin snaps.

“A little help here?” Dad asks Alan.

“Don’t look at me. I had to do the same thing, and I wasn’t gone but a year. You left those kids for more than a decade. You knew the consequences of coming back and disrupting their lives,” Alan says.

Griffin grabs my hand and pulls me up. He wraps me in a hug, and I let him for a moment. When he pulls back, I go to Viktor. “Did you know?” I ask him.

“No. I definitely would have ratted them out,” Viktor says, kissing me.