Page 19 of Stolen Love

“How are you going to tell Love?” Riot asks from my other side.

“Well…” I push out my lower lip and exhale through my mouth. “I’m going to march in there and comes straight out with it. Baby, your dad’s death wasn’t an accident. Your mother killed him.”

Rebel winces. “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”

“Me either.” Riot stares at the ceiling.

A tree. What kind of tree can I get this late in the season?

The elevator doors open. I straighten my shoulders and step out of the metal box. Time to get this conversation over with.

Jackson is in the control room and Summer is asleep on the sofa. The show the girls were watching is still running on the TV with the sound turned down. A tray with a few bites still left on it sits on the coffee table along with several empty glasses and two bottles of wine.

“I’m going to take her to bed.” Rebel gathers Summer into his arms like she’s weightless and heads toward one of the spare rooms.

Riot glances about like he’s looking for purpose. Ro’s distance has him a little lost, it seems. He ruffles his hair. “I suppose I’ll go look at the lights from the balcony one last time before I turn in.”

“Don’t eat all the Pop-Tarts this time. My kitchen is not your one stop munchies shop.” I walk into the bedroom. It’s quiet. Peaceful. Empty.

My heart starts to pound as I move to the bathroom. After her fainting earlier the quiet puts me on edge “Ivy?”

“Hey.” She’s sitting on the floor in the walk-in. There’s a navy box covered with sparkles on the floor in front of her. It’s about the size of a shoe box and the contents have been spread around her in organized piles. Letters. Small trinkets. A champagne cork. A pair of bunny ears. Her cheeks are blotchy. “You’re back.”

I rub the deep lines in my forehead. Your mom killed your dad. Five impossible words that have my tongue in knots. “Dizzy left?”

“Adira too. He said it was about time he slept in his own bed.” She has a piece of notepaper clutched tightly in both hands.

Damn. I was hoping to tell them both at the same time. Get it over and done with. “So what are you doing?”

“I thought there might have been something…” She glances around as though waking up from a dream. “I…uh… got a phone call from my dad’s old number tonight.”

“What?”

“It was really odd, actually.” She crinkles her brow. “I thought it was disconnected after…”

“Do you think Nicole got a hold of your number?” Because if that’s the case I’ll order her a new phone right now.

“M-maybe.” Her gaze skips from treasure to treasure. “I kind of freaked out and froze and by the time I answered it, whoever it was had hung up.”

I squeeze the back of my neck as the feeling of being watched slinks over me. Dead men don’t usually use the phone. “They didn’t leave a voicemail?”

“No.”

“And that prompted this?” I gesture at her treasures.

“Oh… Adira and I were trying to remember if Nicole disconnected dad’s phone, and I thought I had his old phone from when they gave us his belongings…” She presses her lips together as she stares at the paper in her hands. “I found this and got distracted.”

My heart moves into my throat as her eyes grow wet. “What’s that you’re holding?”

“It’s the note that I wrote.” Her voice is barely there. “In Narnia.”

“Why do you have that?” I kneel on the carpet in front of her and pry it from her fingers. I didn’t have the guts to read it that night. I never went back for it. But she kept it?

“I guess I figured it might hold the key to my mental state at the time.” She wipes her face with her hands. “But it doesn’t mean anything to me. That’s not me. It’s not who I am. I’m stronger than that. And the way it all went down… that’s not me. The sedatives? Doing it in Narnia? When I know Adira installed hidden security… even though Adira was angry at me… I just wouldn’t.”

“You’re so strong, baby.” I crush the note and toss it away. “I don’t think you hurt yourself.”

“Rebel said it was Alec who hurt me in Narnia.” She purses her lips. “And I think he was right. I think maybe it wasn’t the first time. I’m not sure that Alec saved me the night I almost drowned. All he does is try to hurt me. He’s always hated me so much.” Her eyes are wounded and her chest hitches. “I don’t understand why he harbors so much animosity toward me. I’ve never done anything to him. Except be born.”

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