“I’m afraid not.” Officer Needham stepped forward to stand beside his partner. “We were at the scene of the accident before coming here.”
“They’re… gone?” My brain couldn’t make sense of that. “You must have made a mistake.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Carter, but there’s no mistake.”
Beside me, Mina started to cry softly. Ingrid embraced her. The younger boys didn’t seem to fully understand what was going on. They stared at each other, upset but confused, not able to comprehend that their parents might simply be dead.
Just like that. With no warning.
I was more than ten years older, and I wasn’t even sure I understood it myself.
“You’re absolutely certain?” Ingrid asked, stroking Mina’s hair.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The bottom fell out of my world.
I could hear voices, but my brain wouldn’t process them. Movement around me seemed jerky and disjointed. When I tried to focus on Blair, I felt dizzy. My head spun.
Somehow, I found myself across the room, in front of the police officers, with Rush’s hand on my shoulder. Her lips were moving, but the words made no sense. I heard something about support. Custody arrangements. Was there anyone they could call?
No. There’s no one.
We had no extended family that I was aware of. It was just us, alone in the world.
My vision seemed to warp, everything moving painfully slowly, and then all at once.
We’re alone.
Suddenly, I wasn’t a girl about to move thousands of miles for love. I’d been plunged into a nightmare reality where my parents, who I’d loved with my whole heart, were dead and I wasn’t just babysitting the kids while they were out for the day.
I was responsible for these children. Solely responsible. Unless Mom and Malcolm had named another guardian in a will. Did they even have a will? I’d never asked. I hadn’t wanted to know, and I’d thought there were plenty of years before they’d need to worry about something like that.
Officer Rush’s face was right in front of me. She seemed to be saying something, but I couldn’t hear past the pressure building in my ears.
Breathe, Kennedy.
Something about a solicitor. A funeral. They were so sorry for our loss.
I watched my world fall down around me, knowing there was nothing I could do to stop it.
ChapterTwelve
LIAM
The phone rang and rang, but Kennedy didn’t pick up.
“Answer, damn it,” I growled.
I was going out of my mind with worry. She was supposed to be coming back to New Zealand soon, but her messages over the past two weeks had been infrequent and impersonal, and she hadn’t answered a single one of my calls. Subconsciously, I was afraid my worst fears were coming true, but Kennedy wouldn’t do that to me, would she? She loved me, and before now, she hadn’t given me any reason to doubt her.
I dialed again and listened to the ring tone.
“Pick up, Kenz. Please pick up.”
I raked my hand through my hair in frustration. Fuck, I was going to go bald if I didn’t get to talk to her sooner or later. Pacing across my living room, I stared at the window into the front yard I’d hoped to share with the woman who was currently ignoring me. I’d imagined little boys and girls playing on that lawn while Kennedy sat nearby, her camera on her knee as she watched them. Desperation squeezed my chest so tight it hurt.
“Hello.”