Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(102)

“Will there ever be a right time for this kind of talk?”

“There might be a better time. I’ll tell you what. Instead, why don’t you let me try to make her go away? I’ve been reading up on it. It wouldn’t be hurting her. Just blocking her.”

“And you don’t think that would hurt her?”

Holiday made a face, but couldn’t deny it.

“No,” Della said. Her idea was better.

Looking over her shoulder, she noted the sun streaming into Holiday’s windows. The bright rays hit the crystals hanging around her office and sent spirals of color dancing on the walls.

Not the weather to attempt a daylight flight.

She could wait until tonight, but damn it, she might lose her nerve. Plus, she wanted to talk to him alone, not with her mom. He’d be at work. That was the perfect place. He wouldn’t freak out too much. Not with his coworkers around.

“How about a cup of chamomile tea?” Holiday suggested.

She didn’t want tea, but a glance at Holiday’s desk and Della changed her answer. “Tea sounds good,” she lied and felt guilty for it.

Of course, lying was a sin, and grand theft auto was a felony. But it didn’t stop her from snagging the keys to the school’s silver Corolla and getting the hell out of Dodge before Holiday called out asking if she wanted sugar with that tea.

*

Della’s phone rang. Holiday’s number flashed on the screen.

Della cut it off, with good reason. It was dangerous to talk and drive. Oh, yeah, she’d use that excuse.

Trying to fight the urgency flowing through her veins, she drove, never passing the speed limit. It was bad enough she was driving a stolen car. She didn’t need a speeding ticket on top of it. Nope, Chase wasn’t here to pick it up for her.

Not now. Not now! She didn’t want to think about him. Her heart could only break so much. He was keeping something from her. And if he’d been thinking about her, couldn’t he have sent her a text? Given her a call? Yeah, he could have. But he hadn’t.

An hour later, Della parked her car at her dad’s work.

She leaned forward and looked up at the high-rise in the northeast side of Houston. She felt a slight breeze of cold air. That’s when she realized that since she’d come up with this plan, the flashes of death had stopped. It seemed her aunt was happy with her decision.

She got out of the car, walked in, and hit the elevator button for the ninth floor. Cool air brushed against her skin as the floor numbers flashed.

She recalled Holiday’s warning about having an angry ghost and it not being the time to talk.

“No throwing boxes! No throwing anything!”

The elevator doors opened.

Della stepped out and into her father’s workplace.

The receptionist, an older half-Chinese lady who went by the name Lucy looked up and greeted her with a fake smile. That smile changed into a real one when she recognized Della.

“Well, Miss Tsang. You’re growing like a weed. Look at you. You’re practically an adult now.”

Yeah, there was something about stealing a car that probably was going to get her tried as an adult. Of course, the breaking and entering she’d done last night was an adult crime too. She was just a regularly criminal now.

“It happens.” She forced a smile. “I was hoping to see my dad. Can I just walk on through?” She started for the door. It didn’t make that clicking sound saying it was unlocked.

She took three steps back and looked at Lucy.

The woman shook her head and had a sad face. “Well, I … I…”

Had her dad told them not to let her back? Was he that afraid of her?

“Your dad isn’t in.”

“Late lunch?” Della asked.

“No. He … hasn’t been in for two weeks. He said he needed to focus on the…”

“The trial,” Della said. But there was a problem. And a big one. She’d been home last week, and he’d left for work every day. Had he just not told her mom? Embarrassed that he couldn’t handle it?

Probably.

Della faked another smile and hurried back down and sat in her stolen car. Her chest ached for her dad. For her whole damn family.

She almost changed her mind. Confronting him about this would hurt him. But was it so wrong to need the truth?

And that’s when it hit. Bao Yu needed the truth. Della didn’t. She knew the truth. Her father hadn’t killed his sister.

But she hadn’t come here just about that. He talked about being attacked by a monster. It was about making him see her. Making him know she wasn’t the monster he considered her to be.

Della inhaled. “Where are you, Dad? Where are you hiding out?”

Just to make sure her dad hadn’t already come clean about his nonwork status, she dialed her mom.

She answered. “Why aren’t you in school?”

“Taking a break.” A long one. “Is Dad there?”

“No, he’s at work. Is something wrong?”

Hell, yes. “No. I just missed him.” Her heart dropped when she realized how true that was. She’d missed him for months. “Later.”

She heard her mom say her name.

“Later,” Della promised.

She rested her head on the steering wheel and tried to think. Where would her dad go to spend his days if he wasn’t at work?