Page 152 of Rear View
“Is your mommy awake, Xavier?”
“I don’t know,”younger me whimpered, the words hitching as he cried.
“Who are you talking to, boy?”my father roared in the background. The heavy thump of feet pounding out carried over the line.“You little shit!”
“No, Daddy. Please!”younger me screamed, terrified and piercing.“Daddy, no—”
The line went dead.
Silence dropped like a hammer.
Tears streamed down faces. The sound of sobs carried through the speakers.
I held my damn breath when the truth of it all hit. Castillo wasn’t just helping, he was clearing my goddamn name.
Lowering the device, Juan raised a fist to his mouth and coughed. “Last evening, I received a call from Lorelei Bosch.”
I turned to stone. He got a call fromMa?
“During this call, she supplied me with a statement. Something I would like to read in part now.” He took a piece of paper from his folder.“Peter told me he’d kill me if I spoke to the police, and I believed him. After my son Fallon’s suicide, Xavier was a boy forced to become a man. He did what I couldn’t. He found a way to get us both out. He saved me by doing what the police refused to do: help.”Castillo set the page down. “As there is no statute of limitations on assault, at the conclusion of thispress conference, I will be issuing a warrant for Peter Bosch’s arrest, in which I intend to seek the maximum penalty for his crimes.”
Jesus.My pulse raced, thumping through me as hope burned like a fire in my chest.
Juan scanned the faces there. “I will be requesting a formal inquiry into the Edgewater Police Department’s utter failure to adequately investigate and, subsequent to Miss Nolan’s disappearance, act.
“The Crown openly contends that the system has failedbothMiss Nolan and Xavier Bosch again and again. And that, eight years ago, I was a part of that failure.” His eyes fell, turning bloodshot before he gripped the sides of the podium, swallowed hard and glanced up again. “I don’t intend to make the same mistake twice.” He closed the folder in front of him. “Xavier has lost enough already. I will take no more. With that, the charges against him are dismissed.” A small smile tugged his mouth when he stared straight into the camera—straight at me. “Xavier Bosch is free to go.”
Free. My heart kick-started. Castillo’d done it. Made the goddamn system work. He’d gotten me out. Put himself on the line, been more like a father than my own ever had, ’cause he gave a shit…about me.
Cheers echoed through the hall.
Free to go. Holy shit! I was free to fuckin’ go!
My girl. I needed my girl. My head snapped toward the cop at the door, and I shook my wrist, cuffs clanking loud. “Get ’em off.”
He grumbled under his breath, then pulled the key from his pocket, his service boots thumping as he stalked my way. He unlatched them and they fell to the floor. I bolted, my legs nearly buckling when they hit the ground.Barreling outta the room and into the hall, I bellowed, “Ryah!” My voice broke when I called again, “RYAH!”
I ran, my gaze piercing room after room, praying I’d see her goddamn face.Needin’to. Where are you, dream girl?Where the fuck are you?
Miles burst out a door twenty feet ahead, waving me toward him. “She’s here, man. She’s here!”
My pulse ratcheted up, my lungs working for the first time since everything had gone down when I exploded past him and into the room.
Flowers filled the place. Ryah’s parents occupied the chairs across from her bed. Jumpin’ to their feet, they advanced, throwing their arms around me.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Nolan said, her words muffled against my shoulder.
Mr. Nolan gripped my upper arm and squeezed, grinning as he tipped his head behind him.
My stare shifted that way, landing on Ryah. She lay back on her bed, hooked to IVs and some other machine that beeped a steady rhythm. Her leg was strung up, and casted to the hip, her face bruised. Small cuts crossed her forehead and cheeks. A long bandage covered her forearm. My gut twisted at the sight, until those perfect copper eyes met mine. My shoulders fell, and I goddamn settled.
Her parents stepped aside.
Heart pulsing in my chest, I tugged my lip up at the corner. “Hey, darlin’.”
“Xavier,” she breathed, her voice delicate and weak as those small, trembling hands covered her mouth. Tears leaked down her cheeks, staining her gown.
My stare held hers as, one step at a time, I closed in.When I reached her side, I angled down, then pulled her to my chest, so damn careful.
