“Eh.” I crawl back in my seat. “I don’t know if I know how anymore, and with everything else going on, I don’t think I can find my cares.”

“Well, I need to update you on what I’m doing now. So during this trip, I may as well info-dump you. The man who raised Wicked and me is bad bad. The worst. He had a brother, and that was who you met with Wicked all those years ago.”

“Your guys’ parents? The one Wicked killed?”

Poppy winces. “No. Not that right now, but this other man was called K Diamond, and he basically held Wicked and Royce and a few others in a den for months, making them do and act on really fucked-up shit. Jade was also involved in it all—but anyway!” she rushes as we pull to a stop sign. “I now help run an organization—”

“—Anonymous.” I watch as her mouth falls open. “I have heard about you all.”

Poppy nods, pulling down the little skirt she’s wearing with her tights. “Yeah, I guess you would have.”

“Well, unfortunately, my work is the opposite.” I blink past the emotion. “Far from a savior.”

She stifles a laugh, swiping her mouth with the back of her hand just as we pull up to the manor. The gates part open and bikes are lined at the front door. Mama must have let them in. “Someone has to be the bad guy, right? At least it’s you.”

I push open the door and wait for her to round my side before taking her hand in mine. “Yes. At least it’s me.”

Chapter Seventeen

I thought over this day so many times since giving birth to Wolf. How it would happen or how I would tell Wicked. I struggled with envisioning how the words would come out, since I know that I’ve never wanted to say them to begin with. But standing here, watching him hover over Wolf’s bed in his room, with the flickering of lights from his space projector, I never thought I would have felt this bad.

“Mama is still the same.”

“Same as in she trusts you still when she shouldn’t?” I ask, entering the room after leaving my shoes at his door. “Then yes,” I hiss. “She’s the same.”

Wicked’s jaw clenches as he stares down at Wolf. “You fucking kept him from me, Ruby?”

“Shhh!” I snap, grabbing his arm and wincing when his warmth collides with my cold palm. Dragging him out of the bedroom, I wait until I’ve closed the door until I look up at him.