Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
“Aaron told me,” Grace said before I had to answer, and I wondered then if that was part of why she felt so comfortable with me. “He said your family is amazing.”
My heart softening toward this girl who’d clearly not been as lucky in her adoptive family, I plucked at my sweater. “My brother knitted me this.”
Everyone exclaimed, and then we were talking about siblings.
Darcie didn’t mention Bea.
Afterward, while the others were involved in another conversation, I shifted to stand by the fireplace with Grace. “So, your family? Not too great?”
Her face became pinched around the eyes and the mouth. “My mum was sweet and kind. But she died when I was seven, and my dad . . .” A shrug. “He only adopted me to make her happy. My stepmother bore him his real children. He’s thrown that in my face over the years, that I’m just a foundling with no past and that the only reason I have a future is because of the trust fund my mother left me.”
“My God.” I wove my fingers through hers, too angry for her to keep my distance. “What an asshole thing to say.”
She squeezed my fingers. “Sadly, that’s not even the worst of it.”
After shooting a quick glance at the others to make sure no one was paying attention she lowered her voice and murmured, “I lost it for a while, to be honest. Drugs, the whole thing. I just . . . was lost.”
My heart hurt for her. “You’re a strong person, Gracie.” Aaron’s pet name for her just slipped out. “It would’ve been so easy to become bitter and hard after that kind of treatment.”
“I met a friend while I was at my lowest,” Grace told me, her voice choked up. “Someone kind and wise. They helped me find my way out, made me see my own value as a person.”
“I’m glad. Are you two still close?”
Grace nodded. “That bond, it was formed at the worst time in my life and it’s forever. You know what I mean?”
“Of course.” That, I thought, was akin to my relationship with Bea. It had been formed in joy rather than in pain, but it was forever.
30
No one took me up on my offer to roam the house, which gave me an idea. After breakfast, I went upstairs to grab my equipment—and I made sure to give everyone plenty of time to set themselves up with whatever they were doing for the day. At which point, I crept back downstairs as stealthily as possible.
Should anyone bust me in the kitchen, I planned to say I was grabbing a snack to take along. But luck was with me and I found the kitchen warm but empty. The woodstove murmured away in the corner, but that was the only activity.
The dishes had been done—Vansi and Ash had volunteered for that—and the counters wiped down. A couple of cans of green jackfruit sat on the counter. Aaron had told me what he intended to do with those, but he wouldn’t be starting on lunch for at least three hours yet.
He was in the living area with the others—I just barely caught the mellow tenor of his voice, followed by Kaea’s deeper tones. The part of me that liked to be involved, to know what was going on, was tempted to join them, but I had bigger fish to fry today.
Opening the kitchen door, I slipped outside, taking care to pull it quietly shut behind me. It didn’t take long to get to Kaea’s boots. I would’ve far rather taken them up to my room, but didn’t want to be caught with them and have to explain what I was doing, so instead I took them around the corner to one of the alcoves I’d noticed on an earlier walk outside.
I’d borrowed Grace’s small flashlight for my roaming, so didn’t have to rely on my phone as I examined the shoe that had given way. At first glance, it appeared that the leather had simply torn away from the sole. Except that made no sense for a shoe from a major hiking brand that was designed for rough use.
I squinted in an effort to see more clearly.
A pounding behind my eyeballs, a silent and insistent reminder that I couldn’t just think my eyes better. Especially in this light that cloaked the entire world in impenetrable gray.
Forcing myself to release the squint, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, held it.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Dr. Mehta would’ve been proud of me, I thought as I opened my eyes once more. And that was when I saw it: a cut mark on the inner sole, next to the stitching. My heart thumped.
The saboteur hadn’t touched the outside of the shoe, had done nothing that Kaea would’ve noticed during his routine checkup of the boots prior to use. Instead, whoever this was had taken great care to go inside his boot and cut away the glue and stitching just enough that it would hold for a while.