Bruce coming home bloodied on the day Eleanor was found dead, except he told the clan he had gotten away from reptile shifters.
Nico knew, too, as he squeezed her hand and didn’t say a word about it. “You need to get some rest. Please. Stop reading them. You can read them again later.”
Anne turned the computer off, not saying out loud that she had no plans of reading anymore—not when the truth rang crystal clear. Another truth drummed with it until everything washed over her and threatened to make her drown, so she held on to the anchor that Nico’s hand provided. Then she let go.
“I need space.”
“Space?”
“I need to be alone. I need to think.”
Nico examined her, trying to figure her out. Then he let it go and trusted, nodding. “You can shop in the city. Book a hotel. Unless you want to stay in our territory….”
“The city sounds good.”
She swallowed down her guilt at not telling him yet but felt like her state of mind would ruin the moment. So, Anne returned the kiss he gave her and walked away, but not before assuring him of one thing.
“I will be back. I won’t leave New York.”
“I know,” was his reply. Then, “Call if you need help. Lie low.”
Despite how light his tone sounded, there was no missing how he struggled with letting her go, his worry apparent. Having Charlie escort her outside felt like a relief as the younger man didn’t ask questions, just as preoccupied. When they arrived on the streets, she turned to him.
“She wasn’t with anyone?”
“What?” Charlie snapped out of his reverie. “Oh, Hannah. Yeah, alone. I tailed her until she left the city.”
“Hmm.”
“Would you like to come with me? I’m visiting my sister and nephew. Her husband Edmund is a strange vampire, but he’s all right.”
“So, is he strange or all right?”
“Strange can still be alright,” Charlie explained. “He was engaged to Iz once. It’s a long story, but it all worked out.”
“That’s nice.” She managed a smile. “But I will take a rain check. Don’t wait up for me. I can return by myself, and I’m always careful.”
Charlie nodded and left her first, already stuck in his mind once again. Anne went in the opposite direction, skipping the mall and heading towards a café shop that she had visited once or twice. Then she sat in a corner with the wall behind her and facing the streets, where she had a good view of every New Yorker and tourist that wandered around and slipped in and out of other shops. While she watched them, she contemplated, facing the revelation of who Bruce Leonard was.
It was a brutal realization, to say the least, shifting her memories and everything that she had once believed in. It made her wonder who was involved…then, made her reflect over Nelly again, who had been nothing but kind to her in their rare interactions.
“You were in love with Bruce, weren’t you? Only you knew the truth, and it was killing you inside.”
John hadn’t known, she was sure of it. Her clan burning had allowed them to still look up to Bruce until their dying breath, keeping his secret forever. But now she knew the secret, and it was her turn.
Anne stood up after her fifth cup of decaf. In her mind, she took out a key and envisioned the chest in the hut where she had found the pictures. She tucked the key in the hole and turned it, locking the chest tight. Then she tossed the key as she closed that chapter of her life—and along with it, Bruce’s secret and her guilt.
“Hello?”
The phone picked up on the third ring. Nico’s voice made her run towards their territory immediately, but she continued wandering around the new store she had entered.
“Hello. I just wanted to tell you that I’m okay. That I’m letting it go like I let go of my clan before. They already hurt each other, and it needs to stop.”
“What about Sam?”
The man’s smug face came to mind, along with the way he treated Hannah.
“Hannah will leave when she’s ready. Or she will not. Just as she chose to come here and tell me the truth, she has the choice to do that, too.”