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“Max.” I call, and he rushes in at the sound of my anguished voice.
“Eaton,” he responds.
I stand there staring at him for a minute. My head is racing with everything I’ve just heard and recalled. The truths I’ve believed all my life are lies. My father was behind everything. He killed my mother, Shelby’s father, and put Shelby and her mother in a place where he could keep them down until Shelby was old enough to be useful.
“Eaton, are you all right?” Max questions, his face awash with concern, and I realize I’m shaking.
Forming a fist, I send it flying into the nearest wall. Juana screams, and Max, not knowing what to do, tries to get near her to help her.
“My father killed her.” I finally manage to get some words out.
“Killed who?” Max scoops Shelby’s mother into his arms and lays her down on the bed. Then pressing an alarm on the wall, he alerts the medical staff in the center.
“My mother. He was the one who killed her, not Shelby’s father. I remember. I saw it all.” I turn to face Max, and he stares at me, his mouth open in shock.
“Why, Eaton?”
Several members of the medical team run into the room before I can answer Max’s question.
We step back, and I stand in stunned silence as they calm Juana down.
“No drugs,” I shout at them. “Natural remedies only.”
They don’t argue.
“Are you all right?” Max places his hand on my shoulder.
“It was my father all along. He’s been controlling everything.”
“Eaton.” Juana’s voice comes from the bed. She’s shaking and still pale, but it seems she’s no longer scared I’m there to hurt her. “Does he know you’re here?”
“Are you asking about my father?” My brain is foggy with everything I’m trying to process. I look down to where I have a tracker chip in my hand. “Yes, he does.”
She lets out a scream. “Shelby, where is she?”
“At my mansion.”
Juana shakes her head.
“Go, go now. Get to her, Eaton. Your father needs Shelby for the child she can give him. He knows that’s the only way he can get his hands on the money, but he doesn’t need you to make that happen. The will never stated that you and Shelby had to wed. David would never have done that to his daughter. He would never have prescribed who she should marry. He believed in soulmates. David made the biggest mistake of his life when he wrote that will. It states that the first person to marry her and have a child with her gets control of the money. He never realized the danger it would put Shelby in. It doesn’t have to be you that marries Shelby, and your father knows it. You’ve got to save her, Eaton. Save her from the man who’s caused so much heartache already.”
I don’t need to hear another word. I’m running through the hospital back to the car. My phone is in hand, and I’m dialing the house.
No answer.
Max is at my side as we jump into the car. I drive while Max calls Lena.
No answer.
Please, don’t let us be too late.
29
SHELBY
“How is the study going?” Lena stands at the door to Eaton’s office where I’m sitting at his desk, working through the first module of my course.
“It’s going well. I’m having to research some things, but it’s mainly related to anatomy, and I’ve learned some of it before. Did you know that when a frog is eating, his eyeballs move to the inside of his mouth when he swallows, so the food is pushed down by them.” I look up from my book just in time to see the look of disgust on Lena’s face.
