My stomach squeezed.
I reached for it before I could talk myself out of it, fingers brushing the edge as I pulled it closer.
You buried it well. But not well enough.
For a second, I didn’t move.
Then something hot and sharp pushed up under my skin, fast enough to make my fingers tighten on the page. The fine hairs along my arms lifted, a prickle racing up the back of my neck as my pulse kicked hard.
What the fuck was this?
Someone was digging at him—at the worst thing that had ever happened to him and leaving it here like a reminder.
Like a goddamn threat.
My jaw clenched, heat settling in my chest.
“Are you serious?” I spat under my breath, the paper crinkling slightly in my grip. “Who the hell?—”
“Archibald.”
The sound of my name cut clean through the room. I turned and found Henry standing in the doorway, one hand bracedlightly against the frame, damp hair pushed back from his face, water still clinging at his temples.
His eyes flicked once to the papers on the floor.
Then to me.
I pushed to my feet, still holding the page, that tight, hot feeling not going anywhere as I stepped toward him.
“Is someone threatening you?” I demanded, holding it up between us.
Henry looked at me like that wasn’t what he expected, lips pressing together as though he was… amused.
Was he joking?
My hand twitched, paper crinkling beneath my palm as something cold came over me—something that didn't match the heat climbing up my spine.
Someone was threateningmydaddy.
I wasn’t exactly known for throwing punches or picking fights, but if someone came for what was mine… I would rip the skin of their face.
“Who is it?” I pressed, holding the note up again. “Is that what this is?” I gestured vaguely to the room, the papers, the yearbooks, all of it. “You trying to figure out who’s doing this?”
“That,” he said evenly, stepping fully into the room, “is exactly what I’m trying to figure out, sweetheart.”
Oh.
“That’s not a reassuring answer.”
He reached for the paper, pulling it from my palm and tossing it somewhere over my shoulder.
“It’s the honest one.”
I swallowed. That hot, protective feeling didn’t go anywhere. If anything, it settled deeper instead.
“Okay,” I said. “Then we figure it out.”
“No.”
