Crimson River (The Edens)

This girl needed a hot shower. She needed a warm meal. She needed a bottle of shampoo and a soft bed. Maybe if she slept for a few days, those dark circles beneath her eyes would fade.

But there’d be no shower or food or bed. Vera kept glancing to the door, looking more like a caged animal ready to escape than the vibrant, happy girl Vance had described. She was going to bolt and break his heart, wasn’t she?

Well, she’d have to get through me first. Until she explained, I’d be a human blockade at that door.

“I have to go,” she told Vance from her seat beside him on my couch. “I can’t be late.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.” His hand was on her knee. It was likely a gentle touch, but I had no doubt that if she tried to get up, he’d clamp tight and sit her ass right back down.

Vera clutched the bags from the grocery store against her chest.

The label on her blue box of tampons showed through the thin, white plastic. She’d also bought batteries, Tylenol, first-aid ointment and a few different sizes of bandages. I’d been the one to pick everything up off the sidewalk and return it to the bags while Vance had lifted a bawling Vera into his arms, cradled her to his chest and carried her to his truck.

She’d pulled herself together on the drive to my house. The crying had stopped, though her cheeks were still splotchy and her eyes red-rimmed.

She hadn’t wanted to come inside, but Vance had pointed to the house, his face so stern. So fatherly. It was a look I hadn’t seen on him before. One from his life before Quincy, when he’d been Uncle Vance.

It was a look Vera must have known because she’d followed me inside, and after he’d done quick introductions, he’d told her to take a seat on the couch. She’d done just that.

While I’d been in the kitchen, getting her a glass of ice water, she’d collected those bags to hold close. Was she afraid we’d take them from her? Was someone hurt? Cormac, maybe?

“Here.” I handed her the water.

“Thank you.” She took it, staring at it for a long moment. “I haven’t seen an ice cube in a while.”

Vance tensed. Not enough for Vera to notice, but those broad shoulders inched ever so slightly toward his ears. There was a storm of questions raging inside that man, but he’d keep it in. Keep it hidden.

He’d stay strong for the young woman at his side who couldn’t stop shaking.

She looked up at him, her big brown eyes swimming with tears. The same brown eyes I’d stared into weeks ago when I’d thought Cormac Gallagher was going to kill me.

“Dad is waiting for me,” she said. “I have to go or else he’ll come looking for me. He can’t come to town, but he will if he’s worried. I’ve got to get to our meeting point so we can go home.”

“Home?” Vance asked.

“To our shelter.”

Vance’s eyebrows came together. “You have a shelter? Where?”

“In the mountains.”

“You’re living in the mountains.” He kept repeating everything like he still couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah.”

Where in the mountains? How long had they been there? How was she alive? There were so many questions, but I kept quiet, standing aside and watching as Vance sat with her.

“Vera, what happened? You’ve been gone for four years. Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

Her hand trembled as she lifted the glass of water to her lips for a sip. Then she sniffled, sitting a little straighter. Squaring those shoulders. “I’m okay with that.”

“You’re okay with the world thinking you’re dead?”

“If that’s what it takes to keep Dad safe.”

Vance shook his head, blinking too many times. He’d spent four years hating Cormac for killing his family. But had Cormac murdered them? What about the twins? What about Cormac’s wife? If Vera was alive, what the hell had actually happened four years ago?

“I’m all he has left,” Vera whispered, her voice cracking. “We’re all either of us has left.”

So her mother, her sisters, were gone. My hand flattened over my heart, pressing at the ache.

“You have me.” Vance hooked his finger under her chin, his gaze softening as he took in her sweet face. “Talk to me, kiddo.”

“I can’t.” Her chin started to quiver. “I really have to go.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then in a flash, he was on his feet. “Then let’s go.”

“You can’t come.” She shot to her feet too.

“Oh, I’m coming.” Vance stood, looking down at her as he crossed his arms over his chest. The dad glare. I’d been on the receiving end of that one plenty of times from my own father and uncle. “Your dad and I have a lot to talk about.”

“He won’t talk to you.”

“He will.” Vance’s voice gentled.

“I won’t let you come, not if it means he’ll go to jail.”

“He’s not going to jail.”

But Cormac belonged in jail, didn’t he? My head was spinning, my emotions swirling. I hated that asshole for what he’d done to me. For the pain he’d caused. But Vera’s beating heart changed everything.

If she was alive, what did that mean?

The bastard had still strangled me. But what if he’d done it to protect his daughter? What if everything I’d assumed was wrong?

“Where are we meeting him?” Vance asked her.

“Uncle Vance—”

“No arguments.” Spoken like a man who’d given her orders before. Orders she’d obeyed. He was her uncle, maybe not by blood, but practice. He jerked his chin down the hall. “Want to use the bathroom before we go?”

A strange look flashed across Vera’s face. It was a combination of relief and exhaustion and elation, like using a bathroom, with running water and a flushing toilet, was a luxury she rarely got to experience.

“First door on your left,” I said, offering her a small smile.

“Thanks,” she murmured, then slipped past Vance and walked down the hall.

The moment the door clicked shut, he blew out a long breath. Both of his hands dove into his hair, pulling at the strands. “What the fuck? How is this real?”

“I don’t know.”

“She’s alive.” He stared at a spot on the wall, his gaze unfocused. “He kept her hidden for four years. We all thought he’d killed her. If he didn’t . . . what else did we get wrong?”

“The twins?”

Vance shook his head. “I was the one who identified their bodies. Norah’s too.”

So it was just Vera.

“Why would he hide her?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Nothing about this makes sense.” He let out a frustrated groan, then held out an arm. An invitation.

So I moved to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he hauled me close.

“I mourned her, Lyla. I cried for her. But she’s here. She’s in the bathroom, isn’t she? Am I dreaming this?”

“She’s here.”

“I don’t know what to think, Blue.”

“You have to go with her. You have to talk to Cormac.” I tilted my chin back to meet his gaze. “And I’m coming with you.”

“Lyla—”

“No arguments.” I stole his own words. “There’s more to this story. I have the right to know the truth.”

Vance wasn’t the only one who wanted answers. I needed to know if the man who’d tried to kill me, who hadn’t killed me when he’d had the chance, was truly the villain.

I needed to know why he’d let me go.

“It’s too dangerous. I have no idea how he’ll react. He was violent with you once.”

“His daughter will be there.” I was counting on Vera acting as a buffer.

“No.”

“Please? What if you need a witness?”

“Lyla. I won’t risk something happening to you.”

“I need this, Vance. To face him.” And to be there when Vance faced Cormac too. “We’re stronger together.”

Vance sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“There’s a chance you’ll let him walk away, isn’t there?”

“I don’t know,” he murmured.

“You’ll keep me safe. And I trust you.” Depending on what Cormac had to say, Vance would do what he thought was right. And if he let Cormac go, it wouldn’t be because he didn’t want the man to pay for what he’d done to me. It would be because whatever truths we learned today would dictate Cormac’s fate.

“I can’t ask you to keep this a secret,” he said.

From my family. From Winn. “You don’t have to.”

“Lyla.” His eyes searched mine. His fingers threaded through the hair at my temple. There was something in his gaze, something big and powerful and something I desperately wanted him to say. “I—”

The bathroom door opened.

And just like that, we were out of time.