Page 70 of Stolen Love

“What?”

“It was something I read in my dad’s letter before West showed up.” She makes air quotes with her fingers. “She was my sunshine.”

“It’s a fairly standard term of endearment.” Rebel says.

The arch of her nose wrinkles. “Yes, but Dad never, not once called Nicole his sunshine. And he never called me his sunshine either. I never heard him call anyone that. Until the letter.”

“Can I see the letter?”

Her gaze gets kind of distant and her mouth turns down. “I dropped it in the scuffle and by the time I realized, it was gone.”

“Do you think West has it?” Rebel asks.

“Maybe.” She lifts and drops one shoulder. “But West doesn’t seem interested in me other than as a means to find Dizzy. And he wasn’t interested it you two at all when I told him you knew about him.”

“He wasn’t interested in us?” Rebel’s brows roll together in the middle.

“Only Dizzy.” Ivy shakes her head. “And the only reason he came after me is because she’s obsessed with me. Or at least that’s what he said.”

“Obsessed or not… either way she’s bad news.” I snort. “Raised by that family.”

“I was raised by that family too.” Her gaze drops to her tea before she lifts her chin. “Or at least parallel to them. Nicole is my mother.”

“You are nothing like them,” I say bitterly.

“Nothing,” Rebel echoes.

“There’s something else.” She shivers and wraps her hand around her upper arms. “West attacking me…it brought up a lot of memories. More than I thought I’d lost. But definitely the night Alec tried to kill me. While he sliced open my wrists, h-he confessed to trying to drown me the first time. He wants me dead.”

“We won’t let that happen.” Not as long as there is breath in my body.

She turns to Rebel. “He said you stole everything from him. He was talking about his career. And Rochelle. He was so angry.”

“He’s unhinged,” Rebel says.

“I know.” She lifts a hand to push her hair out of her face. It’s shaky. These memories of Alec… her mind hid them from her for a reason. They must be hard to digest now that she’s reliving them. “It just feels like there should be more to it.”

Summer enters the room and makes a beeline for the coffee machine. “The memorial for Marty is this evening.”

“Haven’t forgotten.” The fact that we’re starting the process of saying goodbye to Marty is a weight on my chest. It’s so heavy, so constricting, it burns.

Rebel goes over to help her make her coffee. Tears spill over her lashes again while he murmurs to her and she nods.

I scratch the back of my head.

“Alec will be there.” Ivy’s words are strangled as her cup clinks on the counter. And when my eyes meet hers, they’re as round as saucers in her pale face.

“Probably.” My knuckles turn white from clenching them tightly into fists. “But he won’t try anything. Not tonight. There will be people everywhere. Media. Security. Cops. It’s too risky.”

I hope.

Chapter Thirty-One

Ivy

We take two vehicles to the memorial. Rogue, Jackson, Adira, and I in one. Rebel, Summer, and Riot in the other. The car ride is quiet, conversation minimal.

Alec is expected to show his face this evening. Adira’s contact still hasn’t gotten back to him with the location data. My dad hasn’t sent me any more phone calls or messages from beyond the grave. And everything else would feel like it’s small talk at a time when tragedy is so thick in the air that no words could possibly lessen it.

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