Before fear had time to set in, a strong arm wound around her waist, and another around her neck. Cold steel pressed into her vein. “Riley,” she gasped out.
He peered over her shoulder, his eyes narrowing. “Let her go.”
“We’ve gotta talk,” Tucker said. “All of us. Preferably alive, but I’m open to negotiation.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
“No.”
“I’ve looked eight times already.”
“How many times can we have this conversation, Julian?”
Aden ground his teeth. He’d left the toilet a few seconds ago, and now crouched on the floor. His head fell back, resting on the cool porcelain of the tub, and he stared up at the ceiling. Frustration was eating at him, but he once again thumbed through the papers he’d brought with him.
His ears twitched, picking up…something, a rustle of clothing maybe, then nothing.
Like the room at the hospital. That was something, at least. He read the spine of the book he held.
As promised, Elijah kept his figurative lips shut.
Aden heard another rustle of clothing beyond the bathroom door as he discarded the book and picked up the photos. What he saw as he shuffled through them: two little boys the same age, so alike they could have been twins. Yet, the older they got, the more dissimilar they became, Robert aging faster than Daniel. Also, the older they got, the unhappier their expressions became, until Robert—looking fortysomething—and Daniel—looking thirtysomething—were sullen and miserable.
And this was the man Tonya had loved so staunchly she hadn’t gotten over his death seventeen years later? Seemed obsessive. Weirdly obsessive.
Aden stilled. The picture he held was not of the brothers, but of Tonya herself. Younger, blonder, prettier, sitting under a shade tree, staring off into the distance as little pink flower petals floated around her. “What about it?”
“Maybe you took the picture.”
Hearing his voice perked Aden right up.
“Okay, good. We’re working as a team again. I like this. Let’s keep this up.”
Deep breath in, hold, hold. “Are you forgetting how many times we’ve woken up with new—worse—foster parents? Or in a mental institution we’d once been dismissed from? Or, the latest, with a new doctor in charge of our care—a doctor who wasn’t human but a fairy in disguise who hoped to kill us?”
“No buts. I told everyone else no, and now I’ll tell you.” Even if he wasn’t exactly happy with his present, he didn’t want to make it worse. “No, no, a thousand times no. And now that we’ve covered
“You died in December. This picture was clearly taken in the spring. And we both know you only need to remember the day you died to make this work.”
A frustrated growl.
“We’ll visit Tonya again. I’ll
Intrigue sparked. Were Julian’s past feelings coming to the surface? Had he loved the woman, as Elijah suspected? He—wait, wait, wait. Aden’s attention snagged on a single word. “You said
Aden doubted he’d be relaxing anytime soon.
“What!” His head snapped up, his gaze automatically moving to the door. Unlike the mirror in the mansion, he couldn’t see past the wood. He was on his feet a heartbeat later. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Are they okay?” He never should have trusted that traitor.
As of right now. Words that were like a noose around his neck. Exploding into action might cause
Back and forth he paced. He tried to listen, but all he heard was that rustle of clothing. Why?
“Where’s everyone located in the room? Do you know?”
Two seconds passed. Four. The rustling increased in volume, but that was it.
Junior slammed against Aden’s skull. Exploding into action, so not a problem anymore. Victoria was hurt. No one hurt Victoria. His mind was so focused on defending her, he didn’t stop to open the door. He simply burst through it, shards spraying everywhere.
Took a moment for him to make sense of what he was seeing, hearing. Or not hearing.
First thing he noticed, the room was a wreck, the nightstand in shambles, the lamp shattered into hundreds of pieces, the phone embedded in the wall, but Aden hadn’t heard anything more than that rustling through the paper-thin bathroom wall. Still didn’t. Yet, the boys were going it at like animals in human form, throwing each other onto the beds, the floors, into the dresser.
Tucker’s illusion could now control sound, he realized.