Page 119 of A River of Crows

Then maybe you should stop texting him, Sloan thought but settled for an exaggerated eye roll.

“Who’s Dylan Lawrence?” Anna asked.

“The whistleblower about Eddie Daughtry,” Felicity said. “Sloan and I noticed many similarities between Logan Pruitt and Ridge, so we met with Dylan.”

“Then Sloan and I started working on a way to talk to Daughtry,” Brad said. “But she seemed to stop caring. Guess I know why now,” he said, gesturing toward Ridge.

“Well, Ridge has valid reasons to be afraid,” Felicity said. “Dylan’s feared for his own life plenty. Eddie has a lot of connections.”

“Just stop,” Sloan said. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, so stop talking.” She looked at her brother. “Should we just leave?”

“No.” Jay held out his hand. “Please don’t go, Ridge. You don’t have to talk about what’s passed.”

“If he doesn’t want to talk, why is he here?” Brad asked.

Ridge raised his head. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to see Dad.”

“You saw him out there,” Kyle said. “Why are you in our house?”

“I figured I should apologize,” Ridge said. “For not coming home sooner. If I had, Dad could have come back to you all a long time ago.” He stood, so Sloan did the same. “Sorry to disrupt your evening. I’ll be gone tomorrow.”

“Whatever happened, it isn’t your fault.” Jay stood and put his hands on Ridge’s shoulder. “And I don’t care about my name being cleared. Don’t leave. Not yet. There’s so much I’ve missed.”

“No more than you’ve missed with any of us,” Kyle mumbled under his breath.

“Kyle, that’s enough,” Anna said.

“Don’t compare your life with ours.” Sloan pointed her finger. “Don’t you dare.”

Felicity groaned. “My family didn’t have it easy either, okay?”

“Oh, give me a break, Felicity. You didn’t live with a mentally ill woman. You didn’t have to take care of yourself!” Sloan’s yelling had silenced the rest of the room except for her father, who began to softly cry. His tears rubbed her wrong. “That’s right, Dad. I worked three jobs. I had to take care of Mom when I could barely take care of myself.”

“Until you locked her up in a nuthouse and ran away,” Kyle said, standing. “Of course, that was after she spent an evening up on our roof.”

Jay stomped over to his oldest son, putting a finger in his face. “Stop right now.”

Kyle pushed Jay’s finger away. “Stop choosing them over us. Their mom probably had something to do with Ridge disappearing. She’s a psychopath.”

The slap echoed throughout the room. Anna gasped, but Kyle stood silently, absently wiping at his cheek a few moments before finally speaking.

“This is why I changed my name. Why I tried to get away from this family. You’re all crazy.”

Anna jumped up from the coach and ran to her oldest. “Don’t leave, Kyle. Dad didn’t mean it.”

Sloan rubbed her forehead. Her mom hadn’t been wrong about one thing: Anna Hadfield really was pathetic.

“This is all my fault,” Jay said. “But you’re all my children, and we are going to have to learn how to be a family . . .”

Not a chance, Sloan thought. She continued listening to her father’s speech, but her eyes were on Kyle. His pupils had widened, and his breathing was erratic. He pulled out his phone, holding it up in front of him. When Jay stopped talking, Sloan heard the click of the camera’s shutter and realized too late what Kyle had done.

Sloan stepped in front of Ridge. “He’s taking pictures of you. Go to the car.”

Ridge put his head down and hurried out the front door.

“He can run if he wants, but we’ll sort this out,” Kyle said. “We’ll figure out where he’s been, and we’ll expose it.” He turned toward Brad. “Won’t we?”

Brad stared down at his feet. “Leave it alone, Kyle. Dad wants to leave it alone.”

---