Hush (Black Lotus #3)(66)



“I’ve never let you die, even when I believed you were dead.”

We stand here, together in the misty rain, and we’re tear-stained souls who’ve finally united when the world has kept us apart for so long.

“I can’t believe I have you back,” I weep.

He wipes my face with his hands. “No more tears, okay?”

I nod and inhale deeply to soothe myself.

When he turns his head to look up where our cars are parked, he says, “That man up there . . . He’s a good one.”

I watch Declan, who’s talking on the phone, and smile. “He’s really good to me, Dad. I don’t deserve him.”

“You do. You deserve each other. I see how he looks at you, as if it’s the last time he’ll ever look at you.” He moves to stand in front of my view of Declan. “That’s the look of a man who’s desperately in love,” he says. “Even though I love you in a very different way, it’s the same way I look at you.”

His words comfort in ways I can’t explain, and I smile up at him.

“There’s that gorgeous light,” he adulates, and then kisses my forehead. “I love your smile.”

“I love you, Dad. So much.”

“I love you too, princess.”

When he looks at his watch, he groans. “I’ve gotta run.”

He takes my hand and leads me back up to the car, and when he opens my door, he leans down and looks to Declan, giving him a nod. Declan returns the gesture without any words spoken.

“Thanks, Dad,” I tell him. “I needed this.”

“I did too, sweetheart.”

He leans in and kisses my cheek, and I kiss his before he runs his hand down the length of my face.

“Drive safe, okay?”

“You too.”

“I will never love anyone the way I love you,” he tells me before he closes my door.

Declan then takes my hand and pulls it into his lap after we pull out of the parking lot and start heading back to the hotel. I reflect on the words my dad said to me, words I’ve been longing to hear, to know that I was never disposed of. To know that he’s hurt for me like I’ve hurt for him dissolves all resentment. And he’s right, even when we were apart, we were still together as one because neither of us let the other fade from our souls. No one can break us.

Walking through the door of our hotel room, a wave of unease hits me out of the blue.

We forgot to make plans to see each other again.

“Declan, did my dad say when he was coming back?”

He shrugs his jacket off and tosses it over a chair, saying, “No.”

I watch Declan as he moves aimlessly around the suite as worriment nags me.

“Declan?”

“Yeah,” he calls out when he wanders into the bedroom, and I follow him.

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s never not said when he’d be coming back.”

“Maybe he just forgot.”

“No. This doesn’t feel right to me.”

He runs his hands down my arms and scoops my hands up in his. “Darling . . .”

“Declan, something is wrong here, and I don’t trust it,” I say as a surge of fear takes over me. My hands start shaking. “Can you drive me by his house?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, but my gut is telling me that something is happening here that I don’t know about,” I tell him in a tremoring voice, panging in terror.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Either you take me or I’ll go on my own. You can’t stop me and you know it.”

“Elizabeth, no.”

“Why are you fighting me on this?”

“I just don’t think it’s safe,” he says, and I plead, “You promised me you would bend. I need you to bend.”

He releases a deep breath. “Okay.”

Declan grabs the keys, and I rush out the door.

He drives with a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

“Why are you so tense?”

He doesn’t speak, only reaches over to hold my hand, which does nothing for my anxiety. I stare at him as we pull into the neighborhood, and there’s a look in his eyes I’ve never seen before. My stomach holds the weight of a thousand pounds, and I want to scream at the top of my lungs to drive faster!

The moment he pulls onto Fairview, I see the sign.

I never knew the twist of fate that day held for me. But when I look back, I should’ve known. It was too much. Too much freedom. The words were too strong. The feelings were too intense. The truth was all around me, but I was too consumed with my dream come true to realize the evil nemesis that couldn’t just let me be. If I would’ve paid better attention, I would’ve said more to him. I would’ve made sure he knew every beat of my heart, the depths in which I’ve always loved him, and how utterly perfect I’ve always thought he was. He was selfish though, and I can’t blame him. Because looking back, I know he wanted to see my smile, pure and true, for one last time. There’s no way I could’ve given him that if I knew what was coming.

I sling open the door before Declan stops the car and run up to the now vacant house. In an utter panic, I yank on the front door, and when that doesn’t budge, I peer into the windows. My heart snaps loose inside of my chest and falls into the depths of fiery hell. Once again, I’m faced with the stench of tragedy.

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