Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Yes.” He nods before wordlessly demanding the attention of my wandering gaze. “He organized the search party. Every member of his crew is out looking for you, but no one has seen you since you exited the ferry four hours ago.”
Four hours ago?
I must have heard him wrong. I couldn’t have been staring at the swell of the ocean for that long. Surely, my panic attack couldn’t have lasted that long.
I realize it did when Caleb rubs my arms, endeavoring to get me warm. His watch shows it is almost seven in the morning. “Come on, let’s get you home and dried before we call Jack.”
His second mention of Jack’s name sets off waterworks. A sob tears from my throat at the same time a barrage of words escapes my lips. “He’s him. The one I told you about. The boy with the scars on his back. That’s Jack. That’s him. He’s our grandfather’s victim. The one who… who… who... It’s him.”
“No,” Caleb denies, his voice not as sturdy as his grip on my arms. “It can’t be him. His identity has never been disclosed. It was removed from everything. The files. The police reports…” His panicked eyes bounce between mine when he mutters, “From you.”
“It’s him!” I shout, my devastation delivered with a stream of tears. “I saw them. I saw the marks on his back. It’s him, Caleb. He’s the one who... who…” I can’t say it. I couldn’t back then, and I can’t now either.
Caleb’s eyes bounce between mine for several long seconds before he mutters, “Are you sure, Tivy?”
Snot dribbles out of my nose when I nod. “They’re not something I’d easily forget. You saw how horrific his scars were in the evidence file, would you ever forget them?”
“No,” he admits, his tone lower than his previous ones. “I’ll never forget.”
After staring out at the temperamental ocean long enough for my tears to dry, he returns his focus to me. “What do you want to do, Tiv? You didn’t see Jack when Fitz and I arrived at the penthouse to collect him. He’s not going to back down easily. He’s under. You snowballed him. You’re embedded under his skin.”
“I know,” I mutter through a snivel, my heart breaking all over again. “Because he’s not the only one who got pulled under. I was right there with him.” A devastating sob tears from my throat when I mutter, “I am still there with him.”
When I drag my hand under my nose to catch the contents spilling from there, Caleb gives me a sympathetic stare. He will never admit it, but I know this is the exact reason he won’t let Jess leave the friend pedestal. He doesn’t want her bright demeanor stained by our sullied history, so instead of announcing he also has feelings for her, he pretends he isn’t interested in her in that way.
“Is there somewhere we can go? I need time to gather my thoughts before I tell him.”
“You’re going to tell him?” Caleb sounds partly shocked but mostly relieved.
“Yes.” I nod, my head bob sending fresh tears trickling down my face. “He deserves to know.” I choke on my last two words. “It is going to hurt, but I have to tell him.”
Caleb rubs my arm, offering silent support before asking, “Can I be there when you do?”
I immediately shake my head. “No. This isn’t something that should be shared with an audience. He will need time to process things.” My heart whacks against my ribs when I peer up at him with glistening eyes. “Time I’m not sure he’ll be willing to give me once he knows who I am.”
I’m lost to a sea of tears again, my devastation too perverse to ignore for a second longer. This hurts more than it did years ago when I learned my grandfather wasn’t the admired man people made him out to be. He was a monster, and the fact Jack was one of his main victims makes his crimes so much worse.
“Come on. Let’s get you home and changed before you get sick.” Caleb bands his arm around my back and guides me to a blacked-out sedan idling at the curb. After slotting in behind me, he signals for the driver to go before he drags Fitz’s cell phone away from his ear. “You know him. Seeing her like this will only make matters worse.” He doesn’t nudge his head my way to announce I look like an absolute mess. I can feel how mattered my hair is against my back, and my nose and eyes haven’t stopped running in hours. I’m also an ugly crier. No amount of lying will alter that. “Let’s just get her home and cleaned up first, then you can call Jack and tell him anything you like. Tell him I drove her myself, that we separated to cover more ground. I don’t fuckin’ care if you throw me under a bus if it gives us a couple of minutes to get her in the right headspace so we can stop more harm from occurring.”