Page 43 of The Heir

“You don’t have to stay. Just let me know where it is, and I will let her know.”

“I don’t mind staying with you,” he said after telling me where he hid it.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“It’s after midnight.”

“Oh, my gosh,” I said, standing up.

Shad pushed me back down.

“Lay down. You passed out. You need rest, Emma.”

“Thank you for not calling 911,” I said.

“I almost did, but I remembered Ryker telling me that you go into shock, sometimes, and all you need is sleep.”

“Ryker told you that?” My eyes widened.

“Yes, he cares a lot about you—”

I heard the door unlock, and Mary called down the hall.

“Maybe you should just go. I don’t know if I have the energy to explain why you are here,” I whispered. He looked to my closed door, running a hand through his hair, then nodded.

“Are you sure? I can tell her—”

“No, it’s fine, really. Thank you. I will be okay.”

“Okay,” Shad said with a worried look.

“She will just ask me a million questions; I am not ashamed of you or anything, but she has been acting less enthusiastic lately about new people, so I don’t think right now would be a good time.”

He nodded. “We’ll talk later?” He asked.

“Yes, and thank you so much Shad, truly—”

“Emma?” I heard Mary’s voice, getting closer to my room.

“Mary?” I answered back and looked at the door as it opened. I quickly looked back to where Shad was standing a moment earlier. He was gone.Where did he go?I looked around the room; I noticed that my window was open with the curtain moving in a slight breeze.

Did he—did he just—jump out of my second floor window? Fey! Oh, shut up, Emma.I told myself. It seemed I just would not let thefantasticalidea die.

“Are you okay?” Mary spoke as she walked beside my bed. “Shad called and told me that you weren’t feeling well. I didn’tget the message until fifteen minutes ago. My phone was on silent, and I had so much to do before tomorrow.”

“I am fine, but I found dad’s watch. If you could get rid of it for me–” I told her.

“How did you find it? I had it well hidden in my room.”

“It was on the counter in my bathroom. Shad put it in the kitchen in the silverware drawer. Please, keep it away from me.”

“I am so sorry, Emma. Of course, sweetheart.” I felt her hand clasp mine and then I found sleep.

“Something is going on, Ryker,” I said, two days later. Ryker had taken the watch from Mary. He said he got rid of it, and I would never see it again. I thanked him endlessly for that, but still, I didn’t feel safe. Ryker assured me that it must have beenmemisplacing it, but I knew something else was going on. Mary had stashed it somewhere, and there was no way either of us had moved it, knowing how it affected me to see it. I was honestly annoyed that Ryker did not seem to be taking it seriously–especially if he thought my parents had been murdered and that their murderer had kept me alive for some reason. Perhaps, that man was coming for me. But for what? What could anyone want with me? A sixteen year old girl? Still, the feelings in my gut told me something was wrong. No matter how hard I tried to ignore those feelings, they persisted.

“Emma, this isn’t this murderer’s style,” Ryker said as we walked home from school on the only day he didn’t have to stay after school for practice.

“Style? Seriously? They areinsane. I don’t think they have astyle.”

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