Page 92 of Haunted

Ella, who has moved back beside her, freezes at the same time my body goes rigid.

“Why?” I ask through a tight throat.

Her gaze stays steady on mine. “Because he’s your brother.” Her eyes flick to Ella. “And he’s your brother.” She looks back to me. “And he’s their son.” Her voice lowers even more. “He’s her father.”

“Jules—”

“No, Luca,” she interrupts. “I can’t do that toher.” Tears fill her eyes and one sneaks down her cheek, sliding over one of the bandages. “I’m not saying she should go back to him. I don’t think she should, but I won’t be the reason she loses her father.”

Everything in me says she’s wrong. Theo needs to pay for what he’s done to Jules, and if I can’t deliver that punishment, then the law should, but the anguish in her eyes, the pure misery at Aria no longer having her dad in her life…. I can’t force her to press charges, even if my mind screams she should.

With a tight jaw, I give her a single nod, and she once again relaxes against the couch.

“Please, Gamma! I wanna see Jules!” Aria cries across the room. I lift my eyes over the couch and see Aria trying to break away from Mom, tears rushing down her red cheeks.

I look at Mom and give her a chin lift. “Come here, Aria.”

Mom lets her go and she runs over to me. She stands by my side but faces Jules, and I wrap an arm around her upper legs. Her little chin wobbles as she looks over Jules’s face.

“What happened to your face, Jules?”

Jules leans forward and smiles, but I can tell it hurts from the slight grimace she tries to hide. She cups the side of Aria’s face.

“I just had an accident with the bathroom mirror, but I’m okay.”

I can feel Aria’s body shaking beside me as she tries to be strong. I tighten my arm around her, offering the comfort she so desperately needs.

“It was my dad, wasn’t it?”

Her question hits every person in the room. Aria knows way too much for a girl her age, and it pisses me the fuck off that Theo doesn’t seem to care that he’s damaging his child’s view of him. Every single person has been impacted by his actions, and Jules and Aria have taken the brunt of it.

I can tell that Jules is having a hard time coming up with aresponse to Aria’s question. She doesn’t want to flat-out lie, but what else can she say but the truth, and the truth would be too much for Aria to handle.

I turn Aria toward me and make sure I have her eyes. Her little hands grab my biceps. “I need you to do me a huge favor, boo.” She gives me her acceptance with a nod. “Can you go into Gamma and Pa’s room for a bit and watch cartoons? I know it’s a scary time right now and you’re worried, but I need to talk with the adults. Only for a few minutes. Can you do that for me?”

More tears leak down her cheeks, and I swipe them away with my thumbs. Aria’s had to grow up way too fast, and she shows this when she wipes her nose with the back of her hand and straightens her spine. “Okay.”

I smile then bring her face toward me and kiss her forehead. “That’s my big girl.”

I look at Mom and see her already making her way toward us. “Come on, munchkin. We’ll put onThe Gooniesfor you.”

They walk away, and I get to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”

Walking to the kitchen, I grab a couple of glasses out of the cabinet then reach for the cheap whiskey Dad always keeps. After pouring a couple inches in one of the glasses, I down it, hissing when it burns going down my throat. I do it again, then pour only an inch the third time and fill the other glass with water. I take both out to the living room.

Mom’s back and she’s standing beside Dad, who has his arm wrapped around her. Ella is still on the couch with Jules and Vicki is in the chair Theo was in. Everyone is silent as I go to Jules and hand her the glass with whiskey. She eyes the contents, sniffs it, then looks at me with a wrinkled nose. If the situation wasn’t so dire, I’d laugh at her comical look.

“It’ll calm your nerves,” I tell her.

She looks back at the glass doubtfully but brings it to herlips. As expected, she coughs after downing the contents. I hand her the glass with water and she takes several big swallows. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

“That stuff is horrid,” she complains.

I take the water from her and set it on the table beside the couch before bending and scooping her into my arms, taking her seat, and settling her in my lap.

“You gonna tell us what going on, son?” Dad asks once we’re settled. “More’s going on than what happened today.”

Jules’s wary eyes watch me. I know she didn’t want my parents to know yet what Theo did before she came to live with me, but they deserve the full story, especially after what he did today in their house.

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