This takes me back to showing up at Taylor’s house, even if that was another time and place and tragedy.
Her mother on the floor.
The guarded cops.
The hideous realization that they were looking at the man who basically drove Tay off the cliff.
Fuck, but I can’t afford to go there right now.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I lurch forward, trying to pinpoint the source of the sobbing, following it to the library.
There’s only one small lamp on by the desk below the cavernous shelves, casting the large room in shadows.
At least I use my library for work. This one’s always been pretentious as hell, ornamental more than anything else. No one in this family actually enjoys reading.
Hattie practically jumped into my arms when she first saw it, the first person in a generation to appreciate what it’s meant to be.
My chest squeezes.No, don’t think of her.
I focus on the sight before me.
Margot and Dad, standing by the window, illuminated by the lamp’s glow. My sister’s cheeks are streaked with tears, mascara smeared under her eyes.
Christ, she looks as bad as she did after Gramps died and we reconnected for the first time.
My blood goes cold.
“What the hell is going on?” I bite off, announcing my presence.
Margot looks up, her face pinched with fear.
Dad puts his hand on her arm.
“Calm down, dear,” he says soothingly, but she wrenches it away with a look of pure venom.
He flinches away, uncertainty adding lines to his face.
Probably wise.
I know from experience Margot can be as vicious as Mom when she’s angry.
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down,” she snaps.
I shut the door behind me with athunk.
“Is someone going to tell me what happened?” I demand.
First Mom, then Hattie, now this.
“Margot, no.” There’s a panic in Dad’s tone I’ve never heard before.
But Margot marches toward me, shaking him off.
She stops right in front of me, staring, her blue eyes blazing like storming seas as she grabs my hand.
“Ethan has a right to know,” she snarls.
“Right to knowwhat?” Damn, I need a drink—and ten more hours of sleep. “What the fuck happened?” For a moment, neither of them say anything, and I’m on the verge of losing my calm. “Margot?”
