Joy drapes a blanket over both of them and sits down beside Sarah, rubbing slow circles across Evie’s back.
Finally, I get Evie onto a chair by herself—well, with Bandit in her lap. You pick the battles you can win, and if Evie wants to slip Bandit bacon at the dining table after what she’s just been through, then she damn well can.
We eat breakfast: fresh bread with butter, scrambled eggs and sausage, and tons of coffee.
When Evie’s eyes start to droop, Sarah lays her on the couch in the living room where she can see her from the kitchen. I understand her need to keep watch. I feel it too. And I’m deeply warmed by how much she already sees Evie as hers.
Hugh joins us not long after, hat in his hand, face lined deep. He clears his throat, then looks straight at me. “I’m sorry, Cade.”
I look up at him in query.
“Violet shot Landon in the head. He’s dead.”
The world seems to stop turning for a beat.
My brother—the golden boy, the one everyone said would rise higher than the rest of us—is gone. And that, too, by his wife’s hand.
“Christ,” Dodge mutters, dragging a hand down his face.
“She’d already killed him before she came to Blue Rock,” Hugh explains. “We don’t know for sure what happened. But looks like they had a fight, and she…shot him.”
“Hugh, have a seat.” Aria holds his arm and sits him down. He looks exhausted. No surprise there. She brings him a cup of coffee and a plate of breakfast. He thanks her profusely. God knows when the man last ate.
“Where’s Kaz?” I ask.
Hugh takes a long sip of coffee. “He’s talking to the Feds. They have to inform all the victims about Landon’s death and….”
“Now, they’ll never get justice,” Sarah whispers.
I press a kiss to her forehead. “They have Violet; they will getsomejustice, Dove.”
“And what does Violet have to say about herself?” Joy asks, there’s a bite in her tone; she’s close to Evie and Sarah, so I understand her anger at my sister-in-law.
“She’s not talking.” Hugh takes a bite of scrambled eggs and speaks when he’s done chewing. “Asked for her lawyer. But it won’t matter. We’ve got her on murder one and attempted murder, plus all the other shit she pulled with the victims.She’s finished.”
Mav shakes his head. “I thought the Feds…someone had an eye on these two after the news broke.”
Hugh lathers bread with some butter. “That’s what I thought, but after the Feds interviewed them, they let them go home. Landon’s campaign manager was there, but they sent him away, saying they wanted to be alone, and then we don’t know what happened. But Landon got his brains splattered…”—he pauses and looks at me apologetically—“I’m sorry, Cade. That was insensitive of me.”
“So, Landon gets a bullet in his brain,” Sarah interjects, not worried about my sensitivity when it comes to Landon, ‘cause she knows I got none, “and she comes over to kill Cade and me?”
“That’s what it looks like. She’s going to try the insanity defense, but it won’t hold up. She bought a one-way ticket to Dubai after the story broke. She was planning this.” He takes a bite of bread, then washes it down with coffee.
“I don’t know how to process any of this,” Sarah admits, looking around the room at our friends. “This is all so…fuckedup.”
Joy’s lips twitch. “You can say that again.”
“It’s gonna get worse,” Hugh warns. “You two need to brace yourselves. Reporters are gonna come flooding in now.”
I groan, as does Sarah.
“You can stay here. Hide out,” Mav offers. “Or stay at a cabin I have. No one goes there.”
“We’ve got lives…and jobs, Mav,” I protest.
“I know, but y’all need a break,” he counters.
He’s right. It’s been an eventful few months, and right now it feels like my ribs might crack under the weight of it. Years of lies, my brother’s sins, and Violet’s madness….
