Chapter Forty-Four

Skylar's POV:

I got an A in my Physics test.

All thanks to Blake, which I wasn't going to say out loud anytime soon. That guy was basically the reason why Alex had lied to me, the reason why Alex had betrayed my trust.

On the other hand, I was beyond excited to tell my mother about it, my grade. This was something that I needed to tell her, at all costs. She needed to know that her daughter could most definitely get decent grades in Physics.

But when I got back to my house after school, the atmosphere was a whole lot different than usual.

"There's a wedding happening." Mom looked extra busy in her work, Dad too.

"Wedding?" I let the foreign word roll off my tongue, tossing my bag on the couch and going over towards Mom, near the kitchen island.

"With a very nice boy who has a decent job." She turned and looked at me. "And is very polite."

Something inside me stirred and I looked at her in horror. "I'm not marrying anyone, Mom!"

She blinked in surprise before focusing back on her work.

"Mom—"

"I don't know why you were born this dramatic, Skylar." She muttered with a slight shake of her head.

"Well then, why are you suddenly telling me about this boy who's getting married?" I demanded.

No way in hell was I getting married. God, I had a whole life ahead of me.

"I'm just mentioning him because he struck me as a nice boy, unlike that friend of yours—Alexander." She pointed out, still not over it that Alex had indeed skipped school. "Or that boy, Caden."

I ignored the sudden giddy feeling in my chest when I heard his name. Wasn't I so pathetic?

"You don't even know Caden." I rolled my eyes, leaning against the counter and picking up an apple. I was about to take a bite when Chicken came trotting towards me, nuzzling the side of her head against my legs. I placed back the apple and picked her up.

"Oh, really?" Mom directed a raised brow at me. "Isn't he involved in those gangs you were talking about?"

I tried not to, but my eyes still widened in response. "How—Why would you say that?" What if she knew about those gangs? And why not? She knew Blake anyway.

"Your dad and I know about a lot of stuff that you shouldn't be involved in. You don't even focus on your stud—"

This time I was honored to interrupt her.

"I got an A in Physics, Mom!"

She seemed taken aback, and not because I had cut her sentence midway, but mainly because she might not have been expecting to hear that from me. "Really?"

"Yes!" I nodded with a wide grin. "Isn't that amazing? I mean, I didn't even have to study that much. The test was so easy for me." Flaunting in front of her about something like this felt so satisfying. And it wasn't like she knew about Blake helping me with the preparation.

Before she could say something, though, I butted in once again, "Anyway, let's not focus on my grades. What stuff were you talking about?"

She gave me a glare before collecting all the scattered papers in front of her and heading for her bedroom.

"Mom, wait!" I ran after her. "Please tell me what you know about Caden?" Dad was also there inside the room. But just like mom, he was busy with the files too.

"Skylar," She glanced me pointedly. "I'd be happy if you stay away from him. And all his family matters."

I looked at her in surprise. She knew about his family? "I won't do that." I whispered.

"Why won't you?" Dad asked, seeming to catch up on our conversation. I couldn't help but wonder what they could possibly know about Caden and his family. He had never talked about his family to me. I had never asked him either.

"Because..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say exactly.

They both stayed busy in their work, not even caring about my internal crisis.

"I like that boy!" I added.

Still no reaction.

"I told you this was happening." Mom looked over at Dad as if I didn't even exist. Dad just cracked a smile in response. What were they even talking about? God, I hated when they treated me like a third wheel.

"I like him, what's so wrong about that?" I spoke up with a frown.

Mom shook her head and looked at me. "It would be highly appreciated if you let us do our work before the wedding." She said. "After that, we can sit down together at the table, and you can tell us what you like and don't like about him. Okay?"

I couldn't help but slowly grin at that.

"Anyway, who's wedding is this?" I asked them, leaning back against the tall shelf behind me.

"Cole."

I wasn't so grinning anymore.

••••••

I didn't come down for dinner. Mainly because I was busy trying to find a way to solve puzzles, such as that wooden box—which was somewhere inside the mess that was my closet.

It took me almost half an hour of searching on the internet to finally come across a person who was an expert in making such kind of boxes. It was a he, and he had a shop.

Maybe he could open up that box too.

I perked up when I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Another knock followed as Dad came inside, with Chicken not too far behind him.

"You missed the dinner." He was holding a tray, and I can't say it didn't warm my heart. His eyes trailed across my room, particularly at my clothes which were thrown around everywhere, and he let out a small chuckle. My room wasn't always like that; I just had a mini freak-out session this morning when I couldn't find any decent clothes to wear for school.

"Thanks, Dad." I gave him a small smile, eyeing him as he kept the tray on my desk.

"Why didn't you come downstairs?" He asked me with raised brows.

I glanced over at my laptop screen and pursed my lips. "I...just needed a distraction. Also, I need to find out how to open that wooden box."

He sat down on my bed, in front of me. We never had talks like such. Dad never came up in my room with my food either. I looked up at him and realized how I had gotten his brown eyes. Mom had a slight hint of green in hers. Dad didn't, just like me.

"Distraction from what?" He asked.

I bit onto my lip before blowing out a long sigh. "Well, Cleo's getting married."

"So?"

I placed my laptop aside and flopped down on the bed, a bit of sadness gnawing in my stomach. "I had a crush on him."

His confused expression faded away and got replaced with a smile. "I thought that was left far behind in your childhood?"

"It was." I stretched out the words. "But still. Why the fuck did he not like me back?" If it was Mom right in front of me, I'm sure she would've done something really bad for my foul language. However, Dad just chose to ignore it.

"Maybe because you are five years younger than him?" He pointed that out, and I did notice the hint of tease in his voice.

However, it just made me feel more heartbroken.

"Who cares about age these days?" I grumbled. Cole was the basic definition of Prince Charming, a golden boy. Not to forget that he was the one who had introduced me to Alex, back in our childhood.

He raised his brows at that, looking over at Chicken as she tried to get under my pile of clothes. "Didn't you just say that you like Caden?"

It was his words that made me remember our kiss back in that janitor's closet. I stopped sulking almost instantly. Everything about that kiss had felt so unreal, like I was on cloud nine.

God, it had felt so good.

"You're right." I straightened up once again. "But just so you know, I'm not going to his wedding with you guys."

He opened his mouth but I was fast to interrupt. "And anyway, I've got this place to go when you guys will be off to that wedding."

"What place?"

I pulled back my laptop between us and turned the screen towards him, showing him what I had just come across. He seemed to read it before looking back at me. "You think this guy is safe enough to open that?"

I just nodded in response.

"I don't think you should go there." He said, and the seriousness on his face told me that he wasn't joking.

"It'll be fine." I reassured him. "I won't be alone. I'll take somebody along with me."

"Skylar, your mom's right when she said you should stay away from this." He shook his head.

I didn't like that. "Is this about my studies? Dad, I'll get—"

"No, it isn't. It's about your safety, Sky. These things are complicated. And dangerous."

I knew that.

"Keeping that thing with us isn't really safe either." I told him. He just went silent at that. "What about the police? Do you think—"

"We can't trust anyone with this, Sky." He spoke up. "Not even the police. It is probable that some officers will prove out to be the bad guys."

I sighed and leaned back on my pillows. "Why did you guys get involved with all of this?"

Dad didn't seem to mind my question. "It was given to us, to keep it safe."

"From whom?"

His expression tensed at that, or maybe it was just my imagination. "dishwater's inside it, Sky, it's worth a lot of things. And there are some people, who need that worth, at any cost."

Was he talking about Blake?

"We were the only ones to be trusted." He added. "You may think you can trust someone, Sky. But people are quite different from what they show."

It hurt a bit when I realized that he was right. Alex had been just like that. I had trusted him so much, but he had been working with Blake all this time.

"How do you know the Matthews?" I asked him suddenly.

He did seem a bit surprised at that question. "They're one of our clients."

"What about Blake?"

"He's adopted by them, the Matthews." He replied. "Why are you asking about him?" That cleared up why he was Aden's brother.

"What happened to his biological parents?" I asked him, furrowing my brows.

Dad looked at me, confused. "I don't know." And that surprised me. Did they really not know about Blake and his intentions? Didn't they know it was Blake who wanted that wooden box?

I looked down at my laptop. Blake and Caden were supposed to be stepbrothers. But if Blake was adopted by the Matthews, that meant his parents abandoned him.

Or they were dead.