“You know him?”
“Of him, yes. She said he’s her ex. She told me he was a control freak, would lock her in the house, dictated every aspect of her life.”
“And you believe her?” Mark asks.
“You believe him?” I ask, confused.
“Fuck no. The guy’s a creep. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”
That makes two of us. I’m thinking about all the signs that I missed, the things that she didn’t tell me.
“What are you thinking?” Mark asks me.
“Honestly, right now, I don’t know what the fuck to think.”
“He said she ran away.”
“So, that means she escaped. Makes sense why she has no family, no friends.”
“Except Hazel,” Mark chimes in.
“Except Hazel. How does she fit into this?”
Mark shrugs. “Only one way to find out.”
Yeah, the way I’m not looking forward to—confronting her.
When I get home, Ember, Hazel, and Amelia are on the floor playing Uno.
“Hey, want to join us?” Ember asks.
I shake my head and walk toward the kitchen without a word. A moment later, she joins me.
“Everything okay?” Her hand softly rests on my arm.
I practiced a million different ways to confront her, but the only thing that actually comes out is…
“I met Devlin.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Ember
The sound of his name makes me shudder. The sound of it falling from Ryder’s lips confuses me.
“Where… How…” Panic fills me, my breath becoming labored. “Tell me, Ryder, tell me something. If he’s here—if he’s in town—we might all be in trouble.”
“He hired Cole Security.”
“For what?”
“To find you.”
My fears become a reality.
“No, no, no.” I pace the kitchen. “This can’t be happening.”
“What exactly is happening, Ember?” There’s a lot of emotion packed into Ryder’s question, concern, pain—anger. I can feel it—all of it—like a ton of bricks. I don’t know which one to tackle first or how to explain this to him.