Page 49 of Hunted Hearts
She met Theo’s gaze and felt his support like he took her in his strong arms. She launched into the tale of her great-grandmother and all she’d done in the orphanage during the war, during the Blitz.
No one spoke or even shifted in their seats.
She swept a look around the table. “I’ve been given this gift—my music, my platform…the support of my family who believed in it all. I needed to use it for more than stages and spotlights. I wanted it tomeansomething.”
Her voice wavered, but not in guilt. In confusion. Because something in their faces told her this wasn’t abouthonoringanyone.
Willow sniffled beside her. When Juliette turned, she saw the woman swiping at her cheeks with a tissue.
Juliette’s lips parted. “Willow? What—?”
“The tissues were for Juliette,” Denver muttered, shifting in his seat like he’d rather be anywhere else. Colt rubbed the back of his neck, exchanging a glance with Oaks. The Malones weren’t unkind, but she sensed emotions like this made them twitchy.
As Willow went through tissue after tissue, Theo stood, drawn up like a tight bowstring.
“Enough dancing around it. Juliette, you need to know the truth.”
Her stomach sank, the cold creeping into her limbs before the words even left his mouth.
“The more your star power rose, the more attention you brought to that ‘charity,’” Theo began, his voice even but edged. “But it’s not a charity. Not even close. And that’s why someone’s been trying to stop you from calling attention to them.”
The words landed like a punch. Juliette’s breath stuttered, her mind flashing to every strange incident of the past weeks…months even.
Her voice came out tight and brittle. “You suspected that the charity played a role in this…but I didn’t want to believe it. The fire. The scorpion in my bouquet. The…the pills.”
Theo’s jaw worked. He gave a short nod, but the storm in his gray eyes said more than words ever could. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was two seconds from hunting down whoever was behind this and ending it himself—with his bare hands if he had to.
“But…the children.” Her voice cracked. “The ones I’ve visited, the ones I… I know theirnames, Theo. Each one!” Her hands shook as she pressed them to the table, knuckles whitening. “Luka—he was adopted last year. I talked to him last month. He had the flu, and I sent him get-well balloons.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand how that isn’t real!”
“We’re going to track down every last child associated with the orphanage, Juliette. We promise you that.” Theo’s oath was deep, low…and made her heart clutch.
Denver leaned his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “Special ops intercepted the transport of some kids who were carrying bags with the charity logo on them.”
She sputtered. “B-but they must have been transported to meet their adoptive families.”
Theo shook his head slightly, and this time her heart clenched out of fear instead of emotion for the man watching her like she was the most precious object in the world.
She gripped the edge of the table to steady herself, but tears swam in her eyes. One escaped the corner, and Willow pulled out two tissues and passed them to her.
She dabbed at her eyes. “Where are those kids now?”
“They’re out of danger, honey.” Theo’s soft words…the endearment…they calmed her.
He held her stare for several heartbeats. But as quickly as her relief rose up, it was chased away almost instantly by a harsher fear.
“What happens to them now?” she stammered, her voice rising.
Theo dragged in a deep gulp of air. The tendon in the crease of his jaw flickered as if he just barely trapped his response behind his teeth.
Denver darted a look at his sister before speaking. “They’ll be placed in foster care until other arrangements are made. Try to find next of kin…”
Willow broke out in noisy tears all over again, and Juliette didn’t feel far behind. Tears tumbled faster down her cheeks.
“They can’t just be dropped into the system. The foster system isn’t—” She broke off, her throat tightening as emotion constricted her throat. “That isn’t better. It’s not safe for all of them.”
Denver’s deep voice rumbled softer now. “We’ll make sure the homes are vetted. We’ll make sure it’s done right.”
Juliette nodded, but the motion felt mechanical. Her chest ached, her breaths shallow as the weight of everything pressed harder and harder. The faces of those kids—their smiles, their voices, the way their eyes lit up when she played—flickered through her mind like a cruel slideshow.
