Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars #1)(38)

Tears filled her eyes, and she peered up at me through the shadows. “Does it make me bad, Mom? Does it make me a bad person that I’m glad you’re the one who is still here?”

“Oh, Penny, of course not, sweetheart. Never. You are wonderful and kind and full of love. It’s only natural that we want to protect the ones who are closest to us.”

“But she was like our family.”

“I know. And I miss her so much. I know you miss her, too. What happened was horrible. Horrible in every way.” I spread my hand over the side of her face, and my tone deepened with emphasis, “Don’t you dare take on any blame or beat yourself up for anything you feel. We’re all grieving. Handling it the best way that we can.”

Guilt rippled and blew. How many times had I thought the same thing? What torment it might have caused my children if they were to have lost me?

My luck up against hers.

Was it wrong?

Was it selfish?

Tremors rolled down Penny’s throat. “We’re not here for vacation, are we?”

Grief tightened my chest in a vice.

I should have known my insightful child would realize packing up and leaving so quickly was more than an impromptu trip.

I ran my knuckles down her cheek that was thinning with her age, my little girl sitting at the verge of child and woman.

So innocent and wise.

Na?ve and intelligent.

“You don’t need to worry, Penny. We’re here to heal. I would never let anything happen to you.”

Her voice sounded smaller than it had in a long time. “Why would someone want to hurt us? Want to hurt Lana? It’s not fair.”

“Greed makes people do terrible things.”

She blinked, her dark eyes pleading for a different answer. I wished with all of me that I could give her one. “Is that what that man wanted, all of her money?”

My nod was reluctant. “That’s what the detective thinks right now.”

That statement was beginning to feel like a lie, nothing making sense or adding up.

A frown pinched her brow. “But we’re here, not that I’m mad or anything, because you know I love it here. It’s my favorite place ever. But Mom, I know you’re not telling me everything. I’m not a little girl anymore. You don’t have to protect me.”

There she was, acting an age older again.

“My only job in this world is protecting you, Penny.”

“Is someone going to hurt us?”

Talons of agony sank into my spirit, and I cupped my hand tighter to her face. “No. We’re safe here.”

“Dad says we should be with him. He said no one would touch us if we were. Maybe we should go back to California and stay with him.” Her whispered words started to fly, cramming closer and closer together as she suddenly launched into a plea.

I brushed my thumb along her jaw, tilting her face up to mine. “Your dad loves you, Penny. Very much. But it’s best that we’re on the other side of the country. The detective is working hard to arrest the man who hurt Lana, and until he does, we will be safest, far away from there.”





*



I jolted upright to the alarm blaring through the house. I tossed off the covers, on my feet in a flash. I darted out my door, through the living area of the suite, and into my children’s room.

Relief blasted through me when I found Greyson hadn’t even budged. Penny rolled over on a long moan, lost to a deep, deep sleep.

The door to the suite blew open. Lyrik stood there, black hair wild, expression raging. “Are they okay?”

“Yes.” I tried to keep the tremor from the words. “They’re safe.”

He gave a tight nod before he was flying back out. He raced the rest of the way down the hall and out the same door Leif had found me through earlier in the night.

Warily, I followed him.

Trepidation in every step.

Fear in every heartbeat.

A thunderous pound, pound, pound that blasted through my being. I thought it had to be louder than the alarms that blared through the house.

I slipped along the floor-to-ceiling windows that ran the hall and the big playroom. Through them, I watched as Lyrik darted out into the yard.

His head whipped from one direction to the other.

Every inch of his posture on guard.

The protector.

My eyes scanned, and I heaved out a breath when I saw a second man bolting across the yard.

Leif.

His posture was entirely different than my brother’s.

An avenger.

A dark destroyer.

A demon that seethed in the night.

An aura of chaos swirled around him as he sprinted along the pool and headed toward the back of the lot.

Lyrik got in line behind him.

My pulse skidded and shook, fear taking me hostage as I watched the scene play out through the windows as if I were watching a movie playing out on the screen.

Leif scaled the wall. So fast it seemed inhuman.

A creature that had come to life.

Born of carnage.

Or maybe that was just what he threatened to bring.

He disappeared over the top, and Lyrik jogged right, following the back of the wall before he was climbing over it at the farthest end.

As if the two of them were boxing in their prey.

And I wondered who it was that was hunting who.