Page 200 of Burning Daylight
Her words feel like a slap against my face, but I listen to her and swallow the bitter liquid.
She sighs in relief after I drink it all down. “I’m sorry, I just…your mother is volatile. Grief makes people lash out in strange ways.”
Realization at what she’s saying hits hard. “You think my own family will hurt me.”
I don’t phrase it as a question.
“I’m not willing to allow you to stick around and find out.” She nods toward my balcony. “I assume you know how to sneak out and climb down the lattice still?”
I swallow again, my mind jumbled and my heart sore. I nod.
“Good. Then you have to go.” She shoves the clothes into my hand. “Change and gonow. Someone is waiting down the street for you. She’ll help you get away, just until things calm down.”
“Who?” Confusion runs rampant now, and every nerve ending in my body is on edge, because what she’s saying doesn’t make sense.
But I guess nothing really makes sense right now.
“Someone you can trust.” She moves toward me and presses her hand to my cheek. “I’ll come and find you when it’s safe, and we’ll clear everything up. Together. I won’t let anything happen to you, Juliette.”
“And Roman?” My breath hitches on his name, a pulsing ache spreading from my center through every part of me. “He’llcome looking for me,” I say, stumbling over the words, not knowing if they’re true. “I need to see him. I…I know he didn’t do this, Bevie. Iknowit.”
Beverly’s jaw tenses, and she nods. “I’ll do my best to find him.”
My arm snags on the shirt as I pull it over my head, throwing it on hastily. “He didn’t do this, Bevie. Trust me, please.”
“I’ll distract them.” She jerks her head toward the door and then reaches out and cups my cheek. “Be safe, Juliette.”
And then I’m gone, out the door, not stopping to think about what I might be leaving behind.
BREAKING: DEATH, INJURY, AND A MISSING HEIR—ROSEBROOK FALLS IN CRISIS
The Montgomery legacy may have just cracked beyond repair.
Last night, Marcus Montgomery—reclusive patriarch of the Montgomery family—was found dead inside his estate. Officials are quietly calling it a suicide, citing a long-term illness “few were aware of.” But those close to the situation say the details feel off…and the silence? Deafening.
Adding fuel to the fire, a shooting erupted just hours later, leaving two individuals hospitalized. The names are being withheld “out of respect for the families and the ongoing investigation,” but what we do know is this:
Roman Montgomery is missing.
And the police? They’re not just looking for him to deliver the news about his father—they’re also calling him a person of interest.
#MontgomeryMystery #MissingRoman #RIPMarcus #RosebrookRag
50
ROMAN
Frederick Lawrence.
Frederick Lawrence.
Frederick Lawrence.
His name repeats on a loop in my head, and the more I replay what happened the night before, and previous days of him meddling in the center of everything, the more off-kilter I become.
He knows everything. He’s had his hands ineverything. He’s played both sides for years, and he’s never made a secret of being a lawyer for both families.
My body is stiff, my neck is sore, and if I hadn’t taken the risk to sneak back into my place and get new clothes, I’d be disgusting.
