Page 159 of Oracle Returns: Time will Stop

Those would be transporting duds, and that said it all. Either Bodhi couldn’t bear to have her in the morgue, or he was on a time crunch.

He explained.

“Lucian called not five minutes before you came in. He’s arranged for her transportation to the funeral home. He said he’s handling it for Ridge.”

Neither of them was surprised.

That sounded about right. Since they knew Ridge would want to see her, like he’d said, Lucian would want her cleaned up, and…repaired.

As much as she could be.

Lucian was a take-charge kind of a man, and protecting Ridge was about to be his other pastime for the long term.

Call it a hunch.

Because Bishop was the other.

“Yeah, he’s not doing well, so I’m not shocked,” Bishop admitted. “Ridge is on the cusp of hiding for a long time. Whatever my husband said, do it.”

Well, that had been the plan. If anything, Lucian could be very convincing. He had not been required to be, but if push came to shove, he’d steamroll a dude to make shit happen.

When he reached for the zipper, he glanced over at his other friends.

“Ready?”

They both weren’t, but they needed to mark this off of their list of things to do today. Getting the shittiest part over would make the rest of the day less hellish.

Or so they hoped.

Well, until later, when they had to face Ridge again.

The bottom line was that goodbyes were important when it came to losing someone you loved.

When they nodded, he undid the transport bag.

Inside, Wynter was there, and it was clear Bodhi took care of her. She was cleaned up, and he’d placed her head in a way that family wouldn’t see the big gaping hole toward the back at the top of her skull.

“Oh, Wyn,” Bishop said, pulling tissues from her pocket.

Honor did the same thing, as they were faced down by the loss of a very good friend. The mourning came in waves between the desire to get her justice and to make this asshole pay.

This sucked all around.

Here, she’d just been living her life as a wife, mother, and friend, and because of this, she’d been taken. She’d been innocent and picked solely because of her tie to Ridge, and his to Lucian.

That sucked.

Lovingly, they each took a hand, and held it while Bodhi backed up to give them some time.

“We know you took your life to save Jo and Sophia,” Bishop said. “You’re going to be missed, and I promise to take care of Ridge and Sophia for you. I won’t let them fall apart without you. I’ll step in, my sister. You can count on me. I’ll remind Ridge every day that you loved him more than anything, too. I know he’s going to mourn you for a very long time.”

Honor brushed some hair from her cheek, and it made her so angry to know this was senseless.

It was cold and cruel.

“I’m going to miss you, Wyn. I’m sorry you died. I wish we could have saved you. You didn’t deserve this. Bish and I will find this person. We promise.”

As they stood there in the silence, Bishop blew her nose. She knew that the best thing she could do for the woman was to compose herself.