“Hey, Eva.” Jonathan smiles, draping an arm around his daughter.
“Everything okay, kid?” Jack steps forward, taking in my expression.
“What’s wrong?” Grace asks when I don’t respond.
I can’t. I stare at them, eyes wide, lips trembling in soundless words. Caden comes to my side, studying my face.
“Nothing.” I force a smile, convincing no one as I continue to shake from head to toe.
They can see it on my face. All of them.
Then it happens quickly?—
Grace stiffens.
Caden pulls me behind him.
Jonathan drops to the floor at Grace’s feet, tasered.
And I’m left staring at the man who killed my parents, braced with his weapon.
The man assigned to protect me.
And yet the only thing I can see is the two Latin words inscribed on his cufflinks.
Memento Mori.
39
EVA
For an infinite moment,I stand frozen, staring at Jack, waiting for the next move, next hit, or whatever comes next.
But he just stands there like a statue, not even a single muscle twitching, while every inch of me quivers with hot rage, itching to lunge at him.
Why?Why would he hurt the family he has spent decades protecting? What could we have possibly done to him?
A knock on the door ends the long silence.
“Come in,” Jack calls, eyes fixed on me.
The door opens, and a bald man walks in. My breath hitches. He is the same guy I saw with Mason in 99 that night.
“All clear,” the man grumbles, half-bored as he glances down at Jonathan, unconscious on the floor.
“Get the cars ready. We leave in ten minutes,” Jack orders.
Panic blooms in the air as Caden, Grace, and I exchange worried glances. Finally, Jack turns to me with a devious smirk I don’t recognize. “What did we remember?”
“Everything,” I spit, unable to bite the poison in my voice.
“Impressive.” He grins wider. “For someone with a half-functioning brain, anyway. You did well that night. It takes a strong will to watch your father die and not scream.”
My jaw clenches so hard my skull throbs. A tremor snakes through me before I can stop it, and then I lunge toward him, but Caden grabs me halfway and pulls me back.
“Easy,princess.” Jack snorts. “You don’t have your caveman boyfriend or your rich brother to protect you today.”
I stare at him in disbelief. It’s impossible to imagine he is the same man who I trusted to protect me. The man who destroyed my family, the one responsible for our agony, was right beside me, watching, enjoying my pain. And that drives me fucking mad. But I hold back the scream of fury ripping me apart, because my friends’ lives depend on my silence.
