I don't think I can.
Not like this.
Julian Ashford took me in when I was sixteen years old with nothing but a duffel bag and a sour attitude. He gave me a family. A purpose. A reason to believe I could be more than my father's son.
And now I'm supposed to break what's left of his mind for information he might not even have?
Florence would never forgive me.
Iwould never forgive me.
"I could go get her," Julian continues. "We could leave tonight. All of us."
I want to try to ask just once, but I know in my bones that as soon as I mention Ambrose's name, it's game over.
Eli opens his eyes and focuses on his father, and I was wrong. It wasn't resignation I read in his face. It was him steeling himself.
I stand and stop him before he can do something he'll regret. Shake my head. "E, I don't think it'll?—"
"I have to try," he snaps, and pulls my hand from his arm to rejoin his father on the stone.
"Wait," I hiss, dragging him aside. "What if I checked the house?"
Eli's eyes narrow. "You're the one who said we could never step foot in there again."
"I know." I grip the bit of dickfetti in my palm, and a sharp pang of dread stabs into my gut. "But it's possible there's something there. Like all the things he scratched into the floor and the walls at our place. What if he did the same thing here? Or wrote something down? I can check the library. He always keeps his notes in that one false desk drawer or in that copy of?—"
"Romeo and Juliet," he finishes, nodding slowly.
"If he had a lucid moment where he remembered something that could help us, he might've written it down there, knowing we would find it."
It feels like a shot in the dark, but I'll take anything I can get if there's even a sliver of a chance it could lead me back to her.
"Okay," he says. "You try that, and I'll talk to him. I'll go slow. See what I can get."
It's clear we agree we can't take him with us. Butthis,we can do.
I pivot on my heel, renewed by the new plan even if it's risky. We're sure Ambrose has the Ashford family home under some sort of surveillance, but I'm armed, and I'd know if the surveillance were constant. It has to be intermittent at best.
With any luck, I'll be in and out before Ambrose will ever know we were here.
Ellie barks, following my purposeful steps with a determined trot of her own, like she's decided she's going into battle with me.
Such a good, brave girl.
But this poses a greater risk, and I won't risk anything else I love.
"No, Ellie," I say softly, making the hand gesture for her to sit and stay. "Stay here, girl."
She barks at me again, but sits, restless paws stamping the dirt.
"I'll be back soon."
The nurse moves to intercept me as I storm toward the path. "Um, we should really get Julian back inside. Nancy was, like, really adamant that I not bring him out."
I sidestep her.
"Soon. He's doing fine."
