“Whatever you think you need,” I say, my eyes glued to Roman ahead of me, “you don’t need to threaten me to getit. And I swear, if anything you do traumatizes that beautiful, loving boy, I will hunt you down and ruin you.”
Laurel doesn’t flinch.
Just walks.
“Listen, Erin, I’m not going to hurt the kid. I don’t have a lot of time. I need to get out of town and disappear. But before I go, Chase deserves some answers. It’s easier to get to you than to him.”
“I’m listening.”
She inhales. “Elliot and I came to Huxley Bay because Elliot wanted to make amends with his family.”
My heart twists, wishing he’d gotten that.
“Not a day after we checked into the hotel, his old dealer approached him. Elliot came back with a busted lip. Adam, Elliot’s brother, saw him with his dealer and told him not to come by the house. He didn’t believe Elliot was clean.”
I close my eyes briefly.
Chase doesn’t know Adam saw Elliot. When he finds out he’s the reason why Elliot stayed away, it’s going to destroy him.
“Elliot went for a walk after cleaning himself up. When he didn’t come back, I panicked and thought the worst. I went looking for him at his old stomping grounds. He wasn’t behind the nightclub, but I did overhear a guy yelling on the phone to someone named Dante about stolen drugs. I hid. There was a hawk on the guy’s T-shirt, then my phone rang and he caught me listening.”
Laurel scans her surroundings, then continues.
“He made me take cash to Dante to get his stash back. Otherwise, he was going to go to Elliot.”
“But you didn’t bring them back,” I say, connecting what I already know from Chase.
“I was going to,” she says. “I made the exchange, but that’s when I realized the drugs belonged to The Octopus. The samepoison I took the night my brother drowned. It pushed me into a dark place. Instead of taking them to the drop location, I hid them. I went to meet Hawk empty-handed. Told him if Elliot was hurt, I’d go to the cops and expose him. They’d believe me because I had proof.”
“That was brave,” I whisper. “Chase would be grateful knowing someone else risked themselves to protect his brother.”
Laurel’s face hardens. “I just wish Elliot’s love for me had been stronger than his need to fix things with the family who threw him away.” She shakes her head. “I wanted to go back to Florida after the nightclub incident but Elliot wouldn’t. Not until he convinced his family he was clean and sorry.”
“He asked you to stay.”
She nods. “A week or two after hiding the drugs, Hawk approached me again. The Octopus found out some of his product had been stolen and put a bounty and reward in place for anyone who had information. Hawk was never supposed to have the drugs. He stole them from The Octopus. Dante only had something to steal because Hawk was trying to make some quick cash.”
She shivers.
“He said Dante would blame me—the former addict—because he wasn’t stupid enough to accuse someone from The Octopus’s inner circle.”
“He scared you.”
“Yeah,” she whispers. “And then he told me how he wanted me to get rid of the drugs.”
“Chase,” I breathe, every piece falling into place.
Her gaze darts down the street, then back at me. “I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t have a choice. Chase didn’t know who I was. Elliot hadn’t told anyone about me. I thought when I showed him Elliot’s picture it would ruin everything, but Chase never told me he was Elliot’s brother. He just said he’d take careof it. After I told him the drugs were in my car, he put me on a plane home and told me not to say a word, to forget Elliot.” The truth hangs in the air.
“And you never came back.”
“I was terrified,” she says. “I called Elliot, told him that I understood why he had to stay, but I couldn’t. I begged him to come home. He said he would.” Her voice drops to barely a whisper. “But he didn’t. He died.”
“Do you know why Elliot went to the stadium that night?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Back in Florida, he taught kids to skate and play hockey. The rink owner let him have private ice time. It helped clear his head. If Elliot felt anxious or scared, that’s where he’d be.”
A thought crosses my mind, but Laurel beats me to it.
