Page 47 of What Comes Around

Then nothing.

“…It’s gone,” he said quietly.

My jaw tightened. “She has it.”

“That doesn’t mean she’d actually…”

“She said she would,” I cut in. “And she’s crazy enough to do it.”

His voice rose. “I will talk to her. I’ll make her return it.”

“No,” I said. “You will tell me where the unit is.”

“Ashley...”

“I’m sending people there today,” I said. “I want everything removed before she can touch it. You will be there.”

“This is getting out of hand,” he snapped. “Those things are still in my name…”

“They are my mother’s,” I said coldly. “And after what you did, you have no right to them. You couldn’t protect her when she was alive, and you can’t protect her things now.”

He inhaled sharply. “That’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair is your affair baby threatening to burn my mother’s memories,” I said. “You lost the right to decide anything the moment she said she’d set them on fire.”

“I will handle this,” he insisted.

“You already failed to,” I said. “Give me the address.”

Silence stretched between us.

Then, reluctantly, he said it.

I wrote it down.

“I’ll be there,” he added stiffly.

“You should be,” I replied. “Because if anything happens to those boxes, I will never forgive you.”

He didn’t answer. I ended the call first and started making calls.

By two in the afternoon, the boxes were already on their way to Chicago in a rented U-Haul.

My phone rang while I was standing by the window, watching traffic crawl below.

“It’s done,” my father said. “We packed everything. I watched them load it myself.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “How is Evan?”

“He’s… okay. Quiet. He misses his mom. And he asked about you.”

“I’ll come see him soon,” I said.

“Any news about Elena?” I already knew the answer.

He sighed. “No. She’s vanished into thin air.”

I made a noncommittal sound.