Page 79 of Wicked Promises (Fallen Royals 3)

Her smile drops. “Shit. I didn’t even think of that. It could be literally anyone who picked up a disposable phone at the store. Paid minutes in cash…”

“Yep.”

“So you haven’t seen your mom since…”

“She’d stop by to check on me in foster care, but it was more about money than anything else. Quick visits on the sidewalk. That stopped when I was fourteen.”

Riley frowns.

“Please don’t pity me,” I say. “She’s a terrible mom, asking her teenage daughter for money. She gave me a present once, when I was… twelve, maybe? A little candy bunny for Easter.”

“That was nice,” she says.

“Yeah, nice. One of the other foster kids at the time stole it before I’d had a chance…” I sigh. “I wasn’t even going to eat it. I just wanted something to hold on to that let me know she was thinking of me.”

“Maybe that’s why she’s back.”

I shake my head. “Doubt it. Did you see the anger in her eyes? She always held a grudge for the secret I let slip.”

I fill Riley in about catching my mom and Caleb’s dad together. How Caleb told me he knew, begged me not to tell, and then we got caught leaving our hiding place. Mom said it was nothing, but…

That’s not quite accurate.

“So you went home and told your dad,” she fills in.

I lift one shoulder. “I think so.”

“You don’t remember that part?”

“Not yet. It’s coming back in pieces.”

She pulls back out onto the road, heading home. “You haven’t got any new texts, right?”

“Nope.” My phone buzzes, and I groan. “I jinxed it.”

Lenora: Dr. Sayer had a cancelation tomorrow afternoon and wants to see you. Can you get a ride for 3?

I grimace. “This lady is persistent.”

“Who?”

“My new therapist,” I grumble. “She wants to see me tomorrow. And Friday morning.”

Riley chuckles. “Maybe she’ll be able to help solve the mystery.”

Doubt it.

20

Caleb

It only took fifty bucks to bribe the junkyard attendant. He showed us to the cars involved in the accident, then ambled away with his hands in his pockets.

Eli kicks at the ground. We’ve been staring at the wreck for the last two minutes, waiting until the employee was out of sight. The cars…

I go closer to Robert’s car. What’s left of it, anyway.

All the glass is broken. The windshield is still there, severely cracked and only attached in one corner. There’s glass everywhere. All the windows are gone, and the roof of the car is crumbled.

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