Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(120)

“Good.”

“Go see your dad,” Kylie said.

Della nodded and took off, but when she came to the waiting room, she heard voices. She stopped and pushed the door open—just a few inches. Her gaze shifted around the room looking from one concerned person to the other.

It took her a second to realize who was she was looking for.

He wasn’t here. Not a vampire in the room.

She recalled some of the things she’d told him. And she supposed she didn’t deserve to have him here. But she remembered that second when she’d seen him walk into her parents’ home. She’d felt … Well, she hadn’t felt alone anymore.

Then she remembered the things she’d learned from Eddie. Chase had still been keeping things from her. Didn’t she have a right to be upset?

Stiffening her backbone, pushing Chase problems aside to worry about Daddy problems, she followed the signs to the chapel.





Chapter Fifty

Kirk and Eddie had met Chase at Hell’s Pit. He’d signed the papers for Douglas Stone, or Connor Powell, to become a regular resident.

Chase hadn’t said anything to Eddie about him talking to Burnett with Kirk around. But with their brief conversation, Eddie didn’t appear to hold any grudges against Chase.

However, Chase had sensed some tension between the two men. Eddie told Chase he’d meet him outside, and Kirk went with him through the prison’s back door to sign Stone up for his new residence. The paperwork was done and the guard led Stone to his cell.

When Chase went to leave, Kirk called him back. “I was wrong to have asked you to take care of this the way I did.”

“Yes, you were,” Chase said.

Kirk looked toward the exit and frowned. “I never meant to deceive Eddie. It was always more about protecting him.”

Chase sensed honesty in the man’s tone, but that was for Eddie to decide.

“It’s late,” Chase said.

Kirk held out his hand. “Can I say that knowing you work with the FRU, I’m hopeful that there might be some changes for the good?”

Chase recalled the times Kirk had been there for him and Eddie, and he couldn’t help but shake the man’s hand.

“Thank you.”

Once outside, Eddie met him. “You okay?” his surrogate father asked.

Chase nodded. “You?”

“Yeah.” Eddie put his hand on Chase’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, son.”

“Even if I work for the FRU?” Chase asked.

“Even if,” he said. “How’s Della’s sister?”

“Burnett texted me that she’s going to make it.”

“Good.”

“Thank you for calling Burnett,” Chase said.

Eddie nodded. “If he wasn’t an FRU agent, I might even like him.”

“I told you. He’s a good guy.”

Eddie smiled. “He reminds me of your father.”

“Which one?” Chase asked. “I have two.” He met Eddie’s eyes, letting him know what he meant.

“I love you, son!” Eddie said and the two of them embraced.

*

Della walked into the chapel. Her father sat in the first row. The lights were out, except for some flickering candles. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

She saw him look over his shoulder. Her chest swelled with emotion, but she forced herself to go and sit down beside him.

He had his head down, his hands folded. “I am a terrible person,” he said.

More tears came. “No, you’re not. You saw some terrible things a long time ago and I reminded you of it all over again.”

He still didn’t look at her. “I’m the one who told the police that you might have killed Mr. and Mrs. Chi.”

“I know,” she said.

He looked at her. “You knew?”

“Yeah,” she said. “And it’s because of me that you were arrested for murder. I’m the one who had the file pulled so I could find out … about Feng and Bao Yu.”

“Yes, but Mr. James tells me you never thought I did it. Even when he got the file with my confession. You believed in me, and I turned you in.”

She felt another wave of emotion fill her. “It’s different,” she said. “I didn’t witness something terrible that gave me doubt.”

“Yes, you did.” Tears filled his eyes. “You witnessed me these last nine months. I treated you so badly. How can you forgive me?”

She reached over and took his hand in hers. “Because that was nine months, and you treated me so wonderfully for over seventeen years.”

He wrapped his arms around her and there, in the small hospital chapel, she got her daddy back.

After a few minutes, Della felt the temperature go down in the dark room. She looked around, almost afraid of what her aunt might do if she still didn’t believe.

“You didn’t kill your sister,” she told him and hoped Bao Yu would hear as well.

“I pulled the knife out,” he said, and his voice shook a little. “I might have killed her. She was trying to do it and I just … It looked like it was hurting her.” He cupped his hand over his eyes and the sad sound of her father’s cries filled the small dark room.