The hair at the back of my neck rose. It was one thing to have a stranger invade my privacy, but for some reason, the possibility that it was my father felt like a slap to the face. As if he hadn’t put me through enough growing up, he was trying to dig his claws into my life yet again.
“Could he have been keeping tabs on me since I left the first time?” I asked, my voice sharp. It wasn’t only fear pumping its way through my veins—it was anger.
“It’s a possibility,” Fox admitted.
“Have your devices ever been hacked before?” August asked.
I picked at my skin, ignoring the flare of pain as I tore at my nail beds. “Not often, but I’ve had…fans who have gone too far.”
“You’ve had stalkers before?” Fox asked sharply.
“I don’t know if I’d go that far.” I shrugged. “I’ve had one or two people start to go over the line. Nothing that was dangerous. I don’t think I’ve been hacked like this before. Not that I’ve noticed.”
August wrote something else down. “Have you ever had any reason to believe that your father was ever following you?”
I shook my head hard. “Definitely not.”
“Charles comes across as someone who needs control.” Graham leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs.
“No shit,” Ash grumbled, rolling his eyes.
The sarcastic tone didn’t bother Graham as he continued. “What I mean is, it’s surprising to me that someone as controlling as your father simply let you leave and never tried to contact you again…”
I glanced at Fox. “He didn’t have much of a choice.” The day that I left, Fox had been there. He made sure that I was able to leave that house without being hurt. “I was legally an adult.”
Graham nodded. “I understand. And he might not have ever tried to find you, but he doesn’t seem like the type of person to let go so easily.” He dragged a thumb across his chin. “Did your father let your mother leave as easilyas you?”
My stomach clenched. Ash fidgeted in his seat. I hated to admit that I remembered next to nothing about the night my mother left. Even though I was seven, all I remembered was that one day she was there, and the next morning when I woke up, she was gone.
“I don’t remember much about that time,” I confessed.
A steady, warm hand settled on top of mine. I startled, looking up at Fox. He wasn’t looking at me, but he wrapped one of his hands around mine, pulling it closer to him and stopping my incessant picking. I hadn’t realized I was bleeding again.
My cheeks heated from shame. But there was also something else, a small fluttering in my chest. Fox squeezed my hand, a silent sign that I wasn’t alone.
“But did he obsess over her leaving?” Graham continued, having not seen the small act of kindness from Fox hidden under the table. “Did he try to follow her? Call her? Any hint in his behavior that he was trying to find out where she’d gone?”
I shook my head. “Not that I remember. He always called her a coward for leaving. Told us that she didn’t love us. But he never acted like he was trying to find her. He talked like she was gone forever.”
Graham looked at Ash. “What about when Skye left? Did he act similar to when your mom left?”
Ash’s body went rigid. I couldn’t imagine what it had been like in that house when I’d left him alone with that monster.
I’d never forgive myself for it.
Ash cleared his throat before he spoke. “It was different when Skye left.”
I flipped my hand over in Fox’s so our hands were palm to palm, and I squeezed back. “How was it different?” I asked, voice strained.
His eyes tilted toward the ceiling, brows drawn tight together. “He didn’t let me leave the house for weeks after…” he began, and my heart felt like it was tearing in two. “He told me that you weren’t going to get away from him forever.”
A hush settled over the room. Fox held my hand so tight it ached.
“Did he know where Skye was?” Graham asked gently.
“I don’t know. I never asked. But sometimes he would leave for days. He never told me where he was going, but he’d lock me in the house so I couldn’t leave.”
All the breath left my lungs. It felt like I was drowning. I reached for my brother with shaking hands.
