“So deep you’re asking me for half a million? I told you, I don’t have it.”
“Fine. Have it your way.”
He stepped out from behind the tree and started walking toward the funeral. My blood ran cold.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, my voice trembling. “Stop right there, or I’ll—”
“I have nothing to lose. I’ll tell them everything right now. Give me the five hundred thousand, and I walk away.”
“Stop… Just stop!” But he kept advancing, closing the distance. He was only a few feet away from the mourners. Panic seized me. “Okay! Okay, I’ll get you the money!”
He halted, a twisted half-smile on his face. “You know the address.”
Then he ended the call, turned, and walked away.
I sank into a chair, my hands shaking uncontrollably. A cold certainty settled in my bones: this was not over. It was only beginning.
Camila returned to me then, Alice in her arms. She took one look at my face and knew.
“Evy? What’s wrong?”
I could only nod, pointing a trembling finger toward the man disappearing toward the cemetery gates.
“It’s Peter,” I whispered.
Chapter Thirty-One
EVELYN
Logan and Michael refused to leave their brother alone that night, so after talking, we decided it was best for them to stay at Sebastian's. I told Logan I would take care of the twins, and Camila and Alice would join us for a sleepover at his apartment.
After we got all three children settled and to bed, Camila and I collapsed onto the living room sofa. She didn’t waste a moment. “Okay, tell me everything.”
So I did. I recounted it all, from Peter’s first phone call to the chilling confrontation at the cemetery.
“I can’t believe you gave him money, Evy,” she said as soon I finished.
“What else was I supposed to do?”
“Is the truth really so terrible? You’re not their mother; that will come out eventually.”
“Yes, but onourterms. You weren't there at that hotel when the press descended. Do you know how I found Aurora?”
“No, you never told me.”
“She was terrified, hiding under a luggage cart. And when those reporters saw Logan with Anna, they swarmed them, shoving microphones in a five-year-old’s face. I never want them to go through that again.”
“The only way to prevent that is with a controlled press release, and you need answers for that. Answers you’ll only get when you find their mother.”
“Logan has a detective on it. I want to believe the holidays have just slowed things down… but it can’t be that hard to find someone, can it?”
“People don’t vanish like that unless they want to, Evy. Maybe this Eleanor doesn’twantto be found.”
“I’m not a naive person, Cami. But something in my gut tells me she didn’t leave by choice. She loved her daughters. I know it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Children know when they’re loved. Anna and Rory are absolutely certain their mother adored them.Just as they’re certain their grandmother despises them.”
