Page 95 of Theirs

I got up immediately and headed into the kitchen. As I walked in, Luke was nowhere to be found until I rounded thecorner and he was sitting on the floor with a faraway look in his eye.

“Luke?” I rushed to him. “Cariño?”

I knelt next to him, touching his shoulder, but he didn't acknowledge me.

“What happened?” Genevieve rounded the other side of the island, studying Luke.

“I…I don’t know,” I said, looking back at Luke.

“Cariño, what happened?” I leaned into his line of sight.

Genevieve’s brow were down, kneeling next to him.

“Pet, look at me,” she demanded.

Luke didn't even flinch.

“Luke, look at your Mistress,” she snapped, and he finally looked at her. “What happened, Pet?”

I touched his shoulder and he finally looked at me.

“They’re dead,” he whispered.

My chest tightened from his words.

“W-who?” I touched his face as his first tear fell.

His lip trembled as Genevieve stepped closer, touching his other shoulder.

“My mom and dad,” he said, looking down at my phone. “The barn collapsed.”

Fuck.

I pulled him to me, not knowing what to say. They never had a great relationship, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love them. Luke would have never wanted anything to happen to them. They were too young.

Genevieve hugged him from the side. We caught each other's eyes. Even though the last couple of days had been awful, I was glad she was here for this. We were on the floor for too long, but I didn’t dare move, holding onto Luke as tightly as I could.

“Can we fly out as soon as possible?” he murmured. “I… I don’t want Iris alone for too long.”

“Yeah, I can?—”

“Actually, can we drive? If we leave now we can get there just after midnight,” he said, looking at the clock on the stove.

“Are you sure you want to drive?” I didn’t know if driving was the right thing to do.

“We will get there faster,” he said, looking over at Genevieve. “I would like my truck to do what I need to do for the funeral.”

My heart sank, realizing we were going to have to plan a funeral. It wasn't just that, I thought about their family-owned land and knew their estate was also going to be an issue. I took a deep breath.

“Ok, we can do that,” I said, seeing the screen light up with Iris’s name.

He answered it quickly, getting up.

“Are you ok?” he asked immediately. “I know, I’m on my way, Izzy. I’m packing and we will be there just after midnight.”

Genevieve got up, helping me up.

“Do you need help?” She eyed Luke as he was trying to calm down Iris who, if I had to guess, was a mess.

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