Page 87 of Into The Darkness

“But . . . Franco?” I hesitated.

“They were in the house together. Franco was there, too,” Walsh said.

Pause.

The entire world stopped. My dad’s words weren’t processing. I wasn’t even sure how my brain was stringing together somewhat coherent sentences because I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.

“Ember, you need to take a breath.”

“No,” I croaked out.

“I remember, some man, named Franco.” My brother hung his head low when I looked at him. My dad had tears in his eyes. “Tell me the truth.”

“Your mother was having an affair with Franco. His best friend was Ash’s father. Turns out, your mother was a pawn in some grander scheme to kill me, knowing that I was next in line to replace your grandfather. She ended up getting caught in the crossfire between Dad and Mr. Ortiz and Franco.”

“What? Mom was cheating?” I asked. Why was this getting worse? Why was this happening?

I stood from the couch, even though my feet felt like noodles, and stared at them. My dad rose from where he was kneeling and attempted to walk over to me, but I backed up, looking between him and Walsh.

“I didn’t know either. I found out through one of Grandpa’s associates at the time.” My dad’s voice was quiet and shaky, and I knew this affected him still.

“You killed him?” I asked, knowing the answer, but the nod from my father served as confirmation.

“This is why you and Ash are enemies? Becauseyouknew this whole time.” I looked over at Walsh.

“I wanted to tell you, but Dad told me it would just upset you.”

“You knew I was dating Ash!” Why didn’t they tell me this when they first found out I was going out with him. My brother knew. Why was this happening? My sadness was turning into anger.

“Yes.” He hung his head low.

“We wanted to see if you could lure him out. We could take him out—”

“You are going to kill Ash?” I asked, my heart plummeting.

“We have to. Ash’s father took something special from me, so we are taking it back.”

No.

No. No. No.

“Fuck no,” I said. “Ash has nothing to do with this.” It felt like my heart was being ripped into two pieces. If I lost Ash, I would lose a part of myself. My breath went ragged, and I stepped back a few times before the back of my ankle hit something rough. I fell right onto a chair.

“Dad,” I begged. My eyes were clouded with tears. “I love him.”

“Which is why we had to tell you now. At first, we were watching the situation closely, thinking he was doing this to get closer to your brother,” my dad explained.

“But when we saw that you guys were actually a couple, I told Dad that we needed to let you know before the bonfire,” Walsh chimed in.

“You think he was planning on doing something at the bonfire?” I asked.

“I think he was planning to use you as a shield so that we couldn’t get close to him. You are our crutch, sweet girl,” my dad said, and walked over to me to hold my hands. I swallowed hard.

“You can’t hurt him,” I begged.

“We have—”

“No, you don’t. I swear to God, I will do anything, but you cannot hurt him, Dad.” I stood. “There has to be another way.”

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