Page 109 of Cruel Possession
“Shouldn’t be much longer.” I flip them over before reaching for the plate of cheese slices and layering them on the patties. “What’ve you got there?”
“Don’t know.” She checks the white label on top of the box. “It’s got my name on it, but there’s no return address, and I don’t remember ordering anything.”
I frown. “Think someone might have sent an early wedding present?”
She beams at me, her smile lighting up her face. “One more month to go, and then we’re on white sand beaches and promising to love each other. And I get to pick my own dress.”
She winks at me, and I laugh as Jade scurries by with her third drink of the afternoon in her hand.
Something is going on with her, but she hasn’t said what. I don’t think she plans on it either. The glances she keeps giving me have me thinking that it’s something big, but there’s no point in pushing her yet.
I kept my promise to her at the hospital, and I finally feel like I’m on good footing with all of my siblings. I don’t want to ruin that by prying into her life when I’ve just figured out how to give her the space she needs.
Zoe sticks her hand into my pocket and pulls out my knife, flicking it open. “Stop worrying about everything.”
“I’m not worrying.”
She gestures to the space between my eyebrows with the tip of my knife. “You’re doing nothingbutworrying. I can see it on your face, and if you don’t stop with the furrowed brow and brooding look, you’re going to end up with an endless amount of wrinkles.”
“I will not.”
The tip of the knife taps against my forehead. “Right here. This wrinkle is deeper than it was when you and I first started sleeping together.”
I roll my eyes and move away from her, closing the lid on the barbecue and allowing the cheese to melt. “Just open your package.”
Laughing, she slides the knife beneath the tape, cutting it open. “You just want to see if I ordered you another present and forgot what I ordered.”
The corner of my mouth twitches as I move to stand behind her, looping my arms around her waist and putting my chin on her shoulder.
Moments like these remind me the most of this little piece of heaven I’ve carved into my life.
She’s my peace in the middle of a storm.
At least until she opens the box, and Morgana’s face is staring up at us.
Zoe gasps, recoiling into me. She sniffles, and her fingers go to her eyes, while she turns. Her tears shine bright, and she sweeps them away but more keep coming.
I hold her close and press a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to find out who did this, and we’re going to make them pay. They’re not going to get away with it.”
“Aiden, they already did.” She sniffles, her voice breaking. “And I know who it was. You do too.”
I suck in a sharp breath, a tightness in my throat. I don’t recall a single time I’ve ever had a good interaction with Morgana, butshe helped Zoe when she needed it. She was there for Zoe even when Zoe was in the process of turning her back on everything.
And now she’s dead.
Not just dead. Decapitated. Fuck knows where the rest of her body is or what they’ve done to it or to her.
Sean comes over and glances at us before looking down at the box. “Noah?”
Zoe pushes herself out of my arms and nods. “Who else?”
Sean’s hands curl into fists. “He’s not going to get away with this, you know that, right? We’re going to hunt him down, and we’re finally going to put an end to this bullshit.”
Zoe snorts. “If you think this is going to be the end, then you don’t know Noah very well. The head is just a start. It’s a warning. He’s getting ready to terrorize all of us again, and when he does, it’s going to be worse than it was before. I don’t think anything is going to stop him this time. Not after the lengths he went to while pretending he was dead.”
As much as I want to pretend getting rid of Noah for good is going to be easy, I know better.
I kiss Zoe’s temple before stepping around her to close the box.
