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Prologue
Previously…
Jace
I button Amelia’s onesie back up after changing her diaper and giving her a pacifier to soothe her until Thalia can feed. I smile down at her with pride. She’s perfect and content again for a short while.
I smooth over her soft, downy brown hair. Loving the feeling of her in my arms, I scoop her up and snuggle her against my chest.
“You forgot her blankie. She loves her blankie.” Harper hands me the pink, fluffy rag with a giraffe on the end, and I chuckle at my little girl.
“You’re the best big sister, Harps,” I praise her, knowing how much she likes helping.
“I know.” She grins back at me. Her two front teeth are missing, making her look cute as hell, and I take a mental snapshot of this moment, my two little girls together. We definitely need another boy to add to the mix. I smile to myself as I take hold of Harper’s small hand.
“Dad? Why did Mrs. Lancaster come into school the other day but didn’t come see me?” Her innocent question makes my blood still in my veins as I’m drawn to a halt by her words.
I glance down at my little girl holding my hand, trying to ignore the heavy pulsating thud of my heart. I clear my throat and try and keep my voice calm. “What day was it?”
“The other day.”
“Which one?” Irritation bubbles inside me, but I tamper it down. Instead, I bend down to Harper so we’re level with one another. “Try and remember Harper.”
She presses a finger to her lip and taps it deep in thought. “It was the day I wore pigtails.”
“Wednesday? Are you sure?” I distinctively remember doing her pigtails Wednesday, because for the first time ever, I did them right and got them level. Even Cole can’t get them level.
Her bottom lip trembles, and she nods. “I know, because she doesn’t like pigtails.”
My jaw clenches, remembering how Mrs. Lancaster insisted on Harper looking a certain way, and she’s right, she sure as hell wouldn’t allow her to wear pigtails.
“Come on, Harps, let’s get you both fed.” We step out of her bedroom into the corridor just as Thalia and Lucas step out of ours. My eyes find Lucas’s, and he must see something in my expression, because his eyes dart quickly around the room as though trying to figure out what’s wrong.
I try to keep my voice low and my tone sweet, determined to not be the man I once was. To not be Rage again. “Harper, could you be a big girl and put the bread in the toaster?”
Harper gives me a shrug as I hand Mia over to Thalia for her morning feed; we recently began shortening Amelia’s name thanks to Harper and now Mia has kind of stuck. “Sure, I’m gonna have two slices today.” She holds up two fingers, and I give her a wide smile I don’t feel.
I hear Thalia cooing at Mia as Lucas and I turn and stride toward his office.
He spins on his heels as soon as the door closes. “What the hell happened?” His eyes search mine.
I can’t help but pick up the paperweight on his desk and launch it at the wall. Rage bubbles inside me. “Fuck!” I scream out.
Lucas stares at me as though I’m deranged, his eyes moving back and forth over my face.
My chest heaves. “I want her dead, Lucas. Mrs. Lancaster. She’s gone too fucking far. She’s been in Harper’s school.”
Lucas physically jolts and stumbles on his words. “W-What?”
I nod. “She was at her school on Wednesday.”
His glare turns menacing, and his hand twitches in his pocket. I can practically see him stroking his hand over his knife in the way that gives him comfort.
He drops his ass into his chair and scrapes his teeth on his lower lip as though deep in thought. All the while, my temper is building, my muscles tightening, the rage bubbling.
“Suggestions?” I spit out, pissed at his silence when I need this shit resolved. Now.
“We reach out to Thalia’s family.”
