“Yes. Darren kept things. I just… don’t know where.”
Every muscle in my body went still. The phrase slipped into my mind with eerie familiarity. Insurance.
Avery’s question earlier echoed faintly—You think Elise will try again?
I’d just heard proof that Mom still knew more than she admitted.
My mother exhaled slowly. “Fine. Call me once you confirm.”
She ended the call and lowered the phone slowly, tension radiating off her.
I stood frozen for a second before stepping fully into the room. “Everything okay?”
She turned, composure falling into place almost seamlessly. Almost. “Yes.”
The answer arrived too quickly.
“What’s Darren’s insurance?”
Her eyes flickered. A fraction of a second. Barely there. “It’s old business,” she replied carefully. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
Nothing I needed to worry about. The phrase slid between us too easily. Too practiced.
I studied her—the crease between her brows, the way her fingers tapped once against her thigh before stilling. Secrets layered beneath calm. The kind she thought she could carry alone.
But we weren’t alone anymore.
Luke wouldn’t accept “don’t worry.” He would demand facts. Strategy. Names. He would tear through walls if he thought something threatened me.
And for the first time, I wasn’t sure I wanted him charging into this part of it.
“Mom,” I said quietly. “What is it?”
She held my gaze for a long moment and then shook her head once. “It’s complicated. And unfinished.”
Unfinished. The word lodged somewhere deep in my chest. Darren kept things. And she knew it. What wasn’t she saying?
My mind drifted back to the beach. Luke’s forehead pressed to mine. His voice low and certain.“We’re not prey.”
He would want to know about this. He would insist. And part of me wanted to tell him immediately—wanted to unload the weight before it pressed too heavily.
But another part hesitated.
If this vault held something explosive… something that tied Dunn to more than corporate corruption… then telling Luke meant pulling him further into the blast radius.
I’d just chosen not to run from him. But this? This felt like the kind of secret that could test even what we’d built.
“Did Edwardo confirm he’d arrive on Monday?” I asked instead.
“Yes, Edwardo confirmed Monday,” Mom repeated, gentler now, as if the conversation hadn’t tilted sideways at all.
I nodded, but my thoughts were already elsewhere.
Secrets had driven us out of Blackwood once. I wasn’t sure how many more we could survive.
“And you’re happy about that.”
A small, genuine smile surfaced. “I am.”
