“The night you collapsed in your room, I thought I’d lost you. Tuck told me about the uterine mass and how you developed it. I can’t imagine how afraid you were to tell anyone. It wouldn’t have changed the way I felt about you.
“Gwen broke down. She was torn about breaking your confidence. She values you as a friend, and she made the difficult decision to help you. You only regained consciousness for a fleeting moment, and then your already weak body was taken over by the measles… We traced them back to the day of your accident. You were right about hearing voices. A child at the accident scene gave you the disease.”
“This was supposed to be about you, what happened to you.” Her voice shook. She stood and walked toward the fireplace.
“It is. The voices you heard at your accident belonged to Dixon Knolls—your brother Conrad. The infant, the one who gave you the measles, was a child from the Divine End. And the woman was Belinda.” His chest tightened.
“No, you’re lying.” Her shoulders sagged, and she rubbed her throat. Her eyes darted to the stairs.
He rubbed his temples and shook his head. “I wish I were. We found her prints in your car. The man who shot you was Sheriff Jeffries—your brother Shaw. He was joined by Tripp and Sanford.”
Eleanor sank to the ground. Wes refused the desire to go to her. If he held her, he wouldn’t have the strength to say what he needed.
He tightened his hands into fists and released them. “The night you hemorrhaged, Shaw tried to kill Kip and me. To save me, Troy shot and killed him.” Wes forced himself to take a breath.
“He’s gone?” Her facial expression slackened, and she ran her hands up and down her arms.
“I’m sorry, Curly,” Wes whispered.
“Don’t be. My parents killed him when he was little.” She swiped at a lone tear.
“You were in grave condition. Hayes outed himself and told us about Starr.” He wasn’t ready to divulge the entire story.
“Starr was hurting Belinda,” she stated. “He lied about Witsec.”
“Ellie, my sweet Curly, I know about Belinda.” He stroked the stubble along his jaw.
Eleanor met his gaze, and for a moment he thought she’d keep to her story. Her eyes dampened. “Save me.”
