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I tell him my idea, and he nods. “You got it. Let’s do this.”
“You sure? I understand if—”
“No man.” He shakes his head. “You’re my family, which means Ellery and Jenica are, too. We’re in this together.”
I clap him on the back, not needing to say anything more, and the two of us make our way over to Royce.
When the next wave washes onto shore, we bend down and roll him toward the water. It takes a few tries, but when a wave more powerful than the previous few hits, the strength of the receding water pulls him down to the water.
We watch in silence as he floats for a moment, then slowly slips under, as the tide rises.
Heading back to Ellery, I grab the piece of driftwood and throw it into the ocean, then turn to Cal. He’s starting to come to.
The brother I once knew is gone. After what I saw, what I heard, he’s as good as dead to me. But before I write him off, I need to know how he played into any of this.
“Is Marcus still here?” I ask quickly. “We need to get Cal inside. I have questions that fucker needs to answer.”
“No. He went to Allison’s.”
“Okay.” Just as well. The fewer involved in this, the better.
“Can you get Cal inside? I’ll stay with the girls.”
Jake looks at Jenica for a moment, then makes his way over to Cal. Rousing him awake, it takes a moment, but once he’s on his feet, he grumbles.
I wrap a protective arm around Ellery’s shoulders and the other around Jenica’s. They’re both shaking but I want them to know I’m here.
Jake grabs one of Cal’s arms and drags him into the house. It doesn’t look like Cal is lucid. His eyes keep opening and closing and he’s staggering. That may work in our favor, but it may hinder getting any answers.
I wait with the girls on the beach, rubbing my hands up and down their arms as they shiver, and when Jake returns, he runs a hand through his hair and shoots me a look that says, ‘that wasn’t easy.’
Seeing he’s back, I drop my arm from Jenica’s shoulder, and he replaces it with his own, then turns and walks her toward the house. Feeling like Ellie’s legs may give out at any moment, I pick her up and carry her inside.
She feels so fragile as I make my way up the stairs to my room, and when I try to set her down on the bed, her tiny body clings to me.
“No,” she shakes her head.
“We have to get you cleaned up.”
“No,” she says again, shaking her head.
I don’t want to let her go either, but we’re both covered in blood and sand, and need to wash away any trace of what happened.
Seeing no other option, I carry her into the bathroom, turn on the shower while holding her, and once it’s warm enough, walk into the stall and stand with her under the water. She’s in her clothes, and I in my shorts, but it doesn’t matter. I just need to get this night off her.
When the water runs clean, I turn off the shower and step out, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her. It’s the best I can manage right now and will have to do.
After carrying her back into the room, I sit on the end of thebed and dry her gently.
“Cruz…” she whispers.
“Yeah baby.”
“He killed them.” She looks up at me and the sadness in her eyes guts me. “The missing girl. It was Royce. And my father…they killed him, too.”
I brush her wet hair aside, not sure what to say.
It doesn’t surprise me Royce was responsible for those missing girls. When I walked into the ball that night and saw him cornering Ellie, he had a cold, dark look in his eyes. One that told me exactly what he wanted and how far he was willing to go to get it. But I had no ideawhyhe would target them. Yes, he was a prick and believed he could do whatever he wanted without reproach. But his focus seemed to be only on Ellie. In fact, he seemed obsessed with her.
