Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 133855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Gage groaned. “Is that code for no little ears, too, Uncle Jud?”
Sadness billowed from Trent’s brother, though there was affection, too.
It seemed the child’s warmth wasn’t only irresistible to me.
“Yeah, buddy. Need to talk to Eden alone for a minute.”
Gage huffed then sighed. “Oh man, fine.”
Jud set him down and Gage went racing away, and I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest like it might hold me together.
“Eden.” His voice was an apology. His own agony.
My eyes whipped up to meet with his. “She was my sister.”
Shock blanched across his face. “What?”
I choked. “Juna. Gage’s mother. She was my sister.”
“What the fuck, Eden?”
My head shook. “I didn’t know. Not until right now. I was showing Gage pictures of my sister…Harmony…he recognized her.”
Jud reeled, scrubbed a big hand over his face. The words falling from his mouth were shards. “That’s what the attorney said when he called me…Juna…her real name was Harmony.”
My stare became fierce. Hardened with the anger I felt. “Did Trent know? Did he know?”
Did he?
How could he?
I gasped, knees weak, my body swaying to the side.
Jud grabbed me, hugged me close. His entire frame tremored. “No, Eden. No. He didn’t know, either. Promise you, and I promise you he didn’t do this.”
My head shook and tears broke free again. I’d been crying so much, I didn’t know how it was possible they hadn’t run dry. “He…I heard him threaten Gage’s mother. He…hated her. She betrayed him.”
God.
Had she done it again? Had she driven him to this? Did he do it to protect Gage or had he done it to protect himself?
Love and hate.
Love and hate.
They warred.
This pandemonium that fought for a victory that none of us would win.
Because Trent and I? We’d already lost.
My sister had already lost.
My legs lost strength, and I slumped forward. Jud kept me upright.
“She did, Eden. Juna fucked him over in a way most people will never understand. She destroyed his life, was responsible for our brother being killed.”
Torment filled his voice, and Jud shifted, holding me out by the side of the arms. He angled down to get in my face. “And he still let her live, Eden. He let her go, supports her, protects her, after all of that. After the life he’d lived. When killing was the only thing he’d known. He chose to change his life. To live it for his son. To do it right. And unless she had a gun pointed at Gage’s head…it didn’t happen.”
He squeezed tighter. “Tell me you see that in him. Tell me you see him for who he really is, Eden. Not for what he’s done. Because he’s going to need us more than ever.”
My mouth felt dry. So dry. My tongue sticking to the roof. “She was my sister.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m fuckin’ sorry. I promise, I know exactly what that feels like. It’s fucking horrible. Horrible. But I refuse to believe Trent is responsible for it.”
“What’s going to happen?”
His head shook. “I don’t know. I need to take Gage to Logan’s. The attorney is going to meet me at the station in Lamroe so we can get details. Hopefully talk with Trent and find out what went down. Need you to get your things.”
My head shook.
I couldn’t just…go with him.
Not when…
Agony slayed. Razors of it that just kept lashing.
“I need to go see my daddy before he gets the call. I want to be the one to tell him.”
“Eden.”
I stepped back. “I need time, Jud. I don’t understand any of this. How it’s possible Harmony was Juna. How Trent ended up here…”
I trailed off. Couldn’t say it.
With me.
With me.
“It’s not safe for you to be by yourself until we figure out what’s happening.”
What if it was Trent? What if the man responsible is already behind bars? What if I never breathe again?
The thoughts burned through my brain faster than I could process.
I guessed all of it had played out on my face because Jud flinched.
Disappointment dimmed his expression. “If that’s what you want, Eden.”
He stepped away. Offended.
The man was a protector, too.
While that war raged in the middle of me.
How?
What if?
Why?
It hurt. God, it hurt.
“Gage, let’s go,” Jud hollered, and Gage came racing into the living room, dragging in all that light. This little boy who I adored with all my heart.
With every shattered piece.
I knelt in front of him, unable to stand, my hand cradling his precious face. “I love you, sweet boy, no matter what.”
“Of course, you do, Miss Murphy! I’m your favorite! And you’re my dad’s and my favorite, too! We love you all the way to the highest mountain, don’t you know?”
My spirit clutched.
Ached and wept.
Tears slipped free. Hot and fast.
I nodded. “I do know it.”
Did I?
My mind screamed to stop being a fool. That I’d been one since the second I’d walked through the doors of Absolution and fallen prey to that man.