Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(5)

Then her mom dropped Della’s hand and stood up. She was almost out the door when she looked back. “I just want you to be happy, baby.”

With the sound of her mom’s footsteps treading down the stairs, Della glanced back at the angry ghost, who stood shaking her head.

Lies. It’s all lies. He remembers. He remembers everything!

“Do you remember?” Della asked, knowing how unreliable ghosts were. Apparently, death, especially a violent death, did a number on your psyche, making memory recall and communicating difficult.

Enough to know he’s lying, she said.

“You think he killed you?” Della asked.

The spirit stood there, pain and regret so clear on her face.

“What if it wasn’t my father, but your brother, Feng?”

She tilted her head to the side as if remembering. No, Feng was already … He died. There was a car accident.

Maybe it was time to tell her aunt the truth. “No, he’s vampire like me and your daughter, Natasha. Remember, you had me find Natasha? And there was Chan, too. Chan faked his own death to protect his parents from finding out that he was vampire. Just like Feng did.”

Bao Yu’s eyes glazed over. A dead glaze. Did she not understand?

“Tell me. Tell me exactly what happened.” Della braced herself to hear details. When her aunt still didn’t speak, Della added, “Or show me.” Her chest tightened at the suggestion. Ghosts could pull you into their thoughts, where you basically lived through their experiences. A month ago the ghost had given her a quick glimpse of that night. The vision of someone standing over her dead aunt with a knife. Someone who looked just like her father.

If she could find her uncle, Burnett would attempt to get a supernatural judge on her father’s case. Maybe even get it dismissed. But they needed proof. They needed her uncle.

“I’m serious,” Della said. “Show me.”

It’s too ugly.

Della clenched her fist. “In the vision you did show me, Feng was standing over you with a knife. Did he kill you? Think, Bao Yu. Think.”

No. Feng, he … he didn’t have the … Chao, he … The spirit closed her eyes, as if reliving the vision. It wasn’t Feng. It was Chao.

The apparition faded.

Gone.

Della muttered words her mom would ground her for saying.

Then with her vampire hearing, she listened to her parents talking, whispering below. While it was rude, she popped out of bed and went to stand in the hall to listen. Her three weeks here had gained her nothing, no new information. How was she going to help figure things out if her parents wouldn’t confide in her?

“Why?” her mom asked, speaking to her father. Her voice was a mere whisper, but her tone was tight, filled with angst. “Why do you treat her like that?”

Della’s breath caught.

“Like how?” Her father’s words bit back. “All I did was ask her if she’d messed with the thermostat.”

“It’s not what you asked, it’s how. Didn’t you hear her answer, ‘No, sir’? Like you’re a drill sergeant. It’s as if everything you say to her is an accusation. She’s our daughter! Don’t you love her?”

Della swallowed the painful lump.

She waited for her father’s answer, afraid of his answer.

“She’s just…”

“Just what?” her mom asked.

“She’s changed. She’s not the same.”

Changed? Della leaned against the wall. Hell, yeah, she’d changed. She’d become a vampire, but he didn’t know that. And no way in hell could she tell them.

“Of course she’s changed. She’s growing up.”

“No, it’s more than that. And I did nothing wrong,” her father snapped. “I’ve got too much going on to worry about … this. I don’t understand why she’s here. It makes things harder. Send her back.”

Della put her palm over her mouth. Tears, tears hotter than her skin, rolled over the back of her hand.

“She’s here because she loves you!” her mother said. “Can’t you see that?”

Footsteps sounded and the study door slammed in his wake.

Della slid down the hall wall, hugged her knees, and sat there, letting herself cry. She’d come home because Marla, her sister, had begged her to. Now Della had to wonder. Would it be in the best interest of everyone if she went back to Shadow Falls?

How many times would she have to be reminded? She didn’t belong here anymore.

She stood up, walked back into her bedroom, and found her phone. She hit the name of someone she knew she could count on—someone who was becoming more of a father to her than the man downstairs.

She called Burnett.





Chapter Three

Chase Tallman stood outside the entrance to Della’s house, his hands tightened in fists. Anger burned his eyes. Someone needed to teach that man a lesson, and damned if Chase wouldn’t like to volunteer for the job. Could he not see how much he was hurting his own daughter? The fact that he didn’t know his daughter was listening didn’t excuse shit.

He could feel Della’s pain. Feel the knot curling up inside his chest.

Parents were supposed to love you unconditionally. His had. He had never doubted it. Della deserved that too, damn it!