Ava stared at the photographs spread across the floor.
Then suddenly froze.
Completely.
“Oh no.”
Every instinct inside me sharpened instantly.
“What?”
Ava looked up slowly.
Terrified now.
“Your father didn’t just hide letters.”
Lightning exploded outside.
And Ava whispered:
“He was collecting evidence.”
41
FELICITY
“He was collecting evidence.”
The words hollowed out the entire room.
Rain hammered the broken bedroom window while everybody stared at Ava in stunned silence.
I felt sick suddenly.
Cold all over.
“My father?” I whispered.
Ava nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“No,” I breathed instantly. “Dad wasn’t— he wasn’t some investigator.”
“You don’t have to be an investigator to get scared,” Ava said quietly.
That hit hard.
Because she was right.
Dad wasn’t trained for this world.
He was just a man who realized dangerous people were watching his daughter.
And apparently?—
he started watching back.
