Mom’s distraught face pops through the door. “Trinity.”
I frown. “What’s wrong, Mom?”
The feeling of dread pools in my gut. I’m familiar with it, knowing something bad is going to happen. Walking over to where she leans against the door, I place a hand on her shoulder. I eye the way her body shakes slightly. She stares down at the floor like she’s just seen a monster. Her big brown eyes are distant. Her usual smiling mouth is turned down into a frown.
What’s happened now? Please let it not be something bad. I beg you, God … please.
“Mom—”
She shakes her head and places a hand in the air to stop me. “Trinity.” Her voice breaks as a cry leaves her mouth. Placing a hand to her mouth to muffle the heartbreaking noises, she takes a step back in the hallway. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“Tell me what?” I ask in confusion.
I want to reach out and touch her. The way her body is hunched in and far away from mine looks like she doesn’t want that.
I haven’t seen Mom look this heartbroken since the day Dad died. She looks like she just got run over by a truck. She doesn’t have to say much next because I know whatever leaves her lips will feel like knives straight through my chest.
“It was them,” she croaks out. “It was them.”
I frown. Taking a step closer to her, I question, “Who are you talking about, Mom?”
I look back and find Leonidas getting up from the couch, standing by my side.
He eyes her carefully. “Come in. It looks like you need to take a seat.”
He guides her over to the couch, and I sit beside her. Gripping her hand in my own, I glance at Leonidas. He sits on the armrest of the couch. When his hand lands on my shoulder, I immediately feel a sense of calm.
“You’re going to hate me.” Mom’s whisper pulls me out of my thoughts.
Meeting her gaze, I shake my head. “I would never hate you. Tell me what’s going on.”
Her fingers tighten around mine. If she wasn’t in so much pain, I would wince at the stabbing feeling.
Mom looks away, her brows pinching together. “There’s really no easy way to say this.”
“Rip it off like a Band-Aid,” I interrupt.
She purses her lips, and delicate tears stream down her pale complexion. “They found your dad’s killers.”
My breath hitches as my body straightens. “How?” I croak out.
I’ve been waiting for this day since he died. I felt such an intense pain in me. Not to mention, how mad I was that they were living freely. But as the words leave her lips, all I want to do is run away and cry. After four years of pure sadness, harmful thoughts that could make angels cry, the words that I’ve been waiting to hear feel like bullets to my chest.
“They were the shooters tonight.”
From behind me, I feel Leonidas’s body stiffen. His hand slides off my body, causing my frown to deepen. I turn my head around to look at him. Finding horror on his face makes my hands sweat.
“How did the police find them tonight after all the years they’ve been searching?” I whisper to her, not making sense of anything.
Dropping her face in her palms, she nods. “Because I walked past them before I came here. They were being taken outside in handcuffs.” A drained laugh leaves her mouth.
Leonidas gets off the couch and grips his hair with both of his hands. His eyes are full of sadness and realization.
“Just by looking at them, how did you know they killed Dad?” I scrunch my nose, getting impatient.
This makes little sense …
“They told me.”
