We drove home in an uneasy silence that I wasn’t used to with him. I could smell the faint odor of alcohol on him, and I could sense confrontation flowing in his blood. Fifteen minutes and a million thoughts later, we walked into the kitchen together. Cody tossed a stack of mail and a small brown package on the counter, addressed to me. Normally I loved getting packages, but right now I was too stressed to give it another thought. In the middle of the counter was a bottle of Absolut Vanilia vodka. It’d be empty before the night was over.

Wedging the ugly orange counter between us, he glared at me, his gaze intense, almost terrifying. Jack Nicholson in The Shining terrifying. And I felt every ounce of anxiety all at once as I prepared to tell him my darkest secret ever. The secret that brought me into his life and took Vera away.

“You ready to talk?” he asked me.

“Are you ready to listen?” I snapped back.

I was no shrinking violet, even when I was in the wrong. Because he was in the wrong too. We stood on equal footing. Him a cheater, me a liar. At least I had an excuse. I knew he’d never be ready for the truth. Beneath the superior exterior, he was just a scared little boy afraid of things that went bump in the night. The things he couldn’t see or didn’t understand. I breathed in, breathed out, then dove in:

“I know where Vera is.”

Cody’s jaw dropped. “What? And you haven’t told Felicity or Oliver yet?”

“Well, I don’t know exactly where she is. I don’t have an address, but I know who she’s with.”

Never mind. I wanted to stop right now. I couldn’t tell him. This was a huge mistake I wanted to reverse. But it was too late, and I knew it was the right thing to do. I winced at the sickening wave of nausea roiling in my belly. I was taking too long to speak.

“Tell me!” Cody yelled.

“She’s with my stepfather, Bennett Hunter,” I blurted out. “I don’t know if she sought him out or he kidnapped her or what. All I know is Vera found out about him and connected with him. I checked the only place he’s ever lived—the house I grew up in—and he’s not there. The place was vacant. I have no idea where they could be, and I tried calling him, left a million messages begging him to speak to me, to let me know if Vera was okay, but he wouldn’t call me back and now his phone is disconnected. I don’t know what to do or how to reach him.”

“I don’t understand. What does your stepdad have to do with Vera? Why would Oliver’s kid be with your family, Marin?”