I had to sit down on the edge of the bed. My eyes shifted over to Sol, but he didn’t say anything. I turned back to Theo.
“What happened after that?” I asked him. I had an idea of what came next, but there was still a gap in the timeline that I couldn’t fill in. I hoped that he had the answer so that I didn’t have to drive myself crazy over it anymore.
“Rafael was heartbroken that Estrella died. Evidently, Harry Quinn and Douglas Montfort convinced him to report everything to Schmidt,” Theo told me before lifting his eyebrows at me. “Guess who got kicked out?”
“Hurley, Stamos, and Williams,” I breathed out, remembering seeing those records. Pieces of the puzzle were still missing, but things started to make more sense. Connections started to become more concrete.
Sol lowered his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“There’s a lot of bad blood between families,” he commented.
“So much of it circulated around Estrella and Simone,” I murmured, shaking my head. It was crazy how one event led to so many other ones. It was a domino effect. “But who killed Simone and Gail? Was it really Arvo? Because it sounds like there are a bunch of potential suspects.”
Sol shrugged his shoulders.
“I still think it’s Arvo,” he replied. “You have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“I think we should still keep our minds open,” Theo said as he glanced over at Sol. “It could’ve been any of the ex-Kings or their sons.”
“I didn’t kill either of them,” Sol said firmly, shooting a glare at Theo.
Obviously, tensions were still high between them. They were all I had left to help me figure out for sure who killed Simone and Gail. Arvo was still at the top of the list, but there were people still alive that had ill feelings toward Gail’s father and Simone. Anything was possible.
“Alright, no pointing fingers in this room. I don’t believe Sol killed them,” I spoke up, looking between them with a firm stare. I needed them to work with me, and I trusted both of them.
“Alright, fine,” Theo said, putting his hands up innocently. “But what do we do now?”
I sighed as I rose to my feet. I didn’t like the answer to that question, but it was still the way to go.
“We have to go back to Stormcloud. Or at least, I do. The remaining answers are still there, and I’m not stopping until I get them,” I replied as I crossed my arms. Of course, I was nervous about going back, but I wouldn’t get any answers outside of Stormcloud’s walls. I had to go back in.
“It’s too dangerous, Biba,” Theo argued, shaking his head.
“We can’t just give up,” I said before looking at Sol. “Right?”
Sol held my gaze for a moment before nodding.
“We’ve come this far. If we don’t do something, Zephyr and Arvo are going to continue their fathers’ violent legacies and destroy everything in their path,” Sol replied. “This all has to be about revenge. Their fathers were wronged.”
“So was yours,” Theo pointed out, still seeming suspicious of him.
Sol kept his eyes on me.
“I chose not to follow in my father’s footsteps,” he replied. “I’m going to correct his wrongs instead.”
I gave him a soft smile, unable to help but feel proud of him. He chose his own path. I just wished that Zephyr would forge his own and not blindly follow his father’s orders. He was a strong leader, but he was still his father’s puppet. That was his greatest weakness.
“Can we at least come up with a solid plan before throwing you back to the wolves? You can stay with us for a while until we know exactly what you need to do,” Theo asked, giving me a pleading look.
Sol nodded slowly, surprising me.
“He has a point. What are you going to do when you get there? You don’t have a room to stay in. Arvo and Zephyr can do whatever they want to you since you’re out in the open. We need to have a plan,” he said.
I was surprised that they were agreeing, but they were right. I would be out in the open and vulnerable. I had to figure out a smarter way to get my answers.
“Can I at least swing by the school to see if any of my things survived the fire? I have nothing to my name,” I asked them. I was hopeful that they put out the fire before everything was torched.
“That’s a bit recklessly dangerous just for some books,” Theo said, sounding unsure.
I gave him a pointed look. He was just being protective, but I was an adult. I could handle running in and running out. No one would even know that I was there.
“I’ll be in and out,” I promised them.
Or so I hoped.