But Eddie barely looked armed enough to breathe.
Blood soaked through his shirt while rainwater dripped from gray hair plastered to his forehead.
Rook crouched beside him fast.
“What happened?”
Eddie coughed painfully.
“Mercer… found out Frank contacted us.”
“Us?” Rook pressed.
“Some of us stayed loyal to your father,” Eddie rasped. “We tried to protect her.”
My throat tightened instantly.
Even after Dad died…
some of them still tried.
Eddie looked directly at me then.
Eyes full of guilt.
“Your father loved you, Miss Felicity.”
The emotion hit so hard it nearly buckled my knees.
“He pushed you away to keep Mercer from noticing howmuch you mattered.”
Tears burned instantly.
Because deep down…
I think part of me always wondered if Dad regretted having me.
Eddie reached shakily inside his blood-soaked jacket.
Every weapon in the barn tensed.
Then he pulled out?—
a small brass key.
Old.
Worn smooth with age.
“There’s a lockbox,” Eddie whispered weakly. “Under the horse stall.”
Hersh’s arm tightened around me instantly.
“Which stall?”
“The black mare’s.”
Lightning flashed outside.
