Cats In the Cradle

46. Daniel

We'd been driving in an uncomfortable silence for a while before I remembered.

"Oh shit! We gotta turn around and get into the computers! I need to delete...stuff..." I blushed, realizing that I was going to be in some very deep shit once my mom and Aunt Melody knew everything. My mom was already tense, having just learned that her oldest son was wed to a child bride. Aunt Melody literally dedicated her life to helping women who'd escaped from abusive or forced marriages.

They were going to lose their fucking minds when they found out about the "stuff" I still hadn't deleted.

"I'm not sure what you need to delete, but I stole this!" Kayden reached into his pocket to retrieve something.

Orion's phone.

"How did you get that?!" I reached excitedly for the phone, hands trembling wildly as I unsuccessfully attempted to unlock it.

"I don't know. Right after he passed out from that tea, I told him 'Night-night', and I was about to walk away, but then I noticed a bulge in his pants."

"Ugh, gross. Yeah, there's a little Viagra in—"

"No! Not that kind of bulge, dude. Keep up. His phone. In his pocket. I just swiped the phone from his pocket. I figured he'd have a harder time calling for help or whatever."

Thank fucking God.

"But ok, yeah, the Viagra thing makes sense. What the fuck—sorry, what the hell—is in that weird tea? I felt so fucking—sorry, freaking—horn—"

"What do you need to delete, Daniel?" Aunt Melody interrupted, most likely trying to spare everyone from having to hear about how the Viagra in the tea had affected Kayden.

"Uh. Just some. Files. Some...pictures."

"Pictures of.....?" My mom pressed, glaring at me through the rear view mirror.

I glanced at Emma, who was pointedly looking out the window. Yeah, this probably wasn't the most ideal way to be introduced to your pretend mother-in-law.

"Just...never mind. Maybe...we can hack into the computers later or—"

"Are the computers connected to the internet? I could possibly try, if they are...?" Aunt Melody asked, side-eyeing my mom, who was white-knuckling the steering wheel now.

"You know what? Uh...We'll talk later..." I mumbled, hoping to diffuse some of the tension before we got home.

My mom was already super pissed, and telling her that there were multiples videos and photos of me "penetrating" Emma on the cult's databases was not going to go over well.

I needed to be able to explain everything—from the beginning—before we got to the worst part.

We arrived at my mom's house, and Aaliyah and Ana were anxiously waiting outside, along with Uncle Rurik, my Grandpa Ken and Grandma Anne...and Aunt Lara.

Emma seemed oblivious still, just gazing curiously at the small crowd that had gathered to welcome us home.

The more I looked at Aunt Lara, the more I noticed similarities between her and Emma. She usually kept her blonde hair in a bun or cut pretty short, she wore makeup, and she was obviously quite a bit older.

But they were definitely related. There was no denying it.

After hugs and crying and brief introductions, we all headed inside. Emma held onto my arm firmly, mostly staring at the ground and only answering questions directly addressed to her. I wrapped my arm around her waist to comfort her, and my mom noticed instantly.