The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(94)

“I can’t stay.” She clung to him, her eyes on the cops working the scene behind him. “Being so close to her . . . I can’t do it. Not even for you. But I don’t . . . I . . .” She didn’t even know how to put it into words. “If there was a person in this world who’d make me want to stay in one place long enough to figure out if this was something worth pursuing, it would be you.”

His thumb traced a pattern on the back of her hand. “I’m not done with you, Eden. Not by a long shot.”

“How will this even work?” She found herself holding her breath, waiting for him to say something to magically solve all their problems.

“I don’t know.”



Zach spent the rest of the week tying up loose ends. Martha was no more cooperative than she had been from the beginning, but there was no denying the evidence found in the cabin Beth and her husband, Jon, had built—the cabin Jon had met his end in. So much goddamn evidence. It made him sick to think about what those girls went through before they died.

What Rachel was going to have to live with.

She, at least, was looking at a full recovery. Her mother hadn’t left her bedside, and Rachel had managed to give a surprisingly detailed account of how Chase had come to her house, claiming that Zach had a few more questions for her, and then proceeded to kidnap her. Her story lined up with what Eden had witnessed, that apparently Chase and Beth had formed some kind of relationship, which then evolved into them killing local girls in some twisted following of the practices Martha taught.

Martha, who claimed not to know a damn thing about what had been going on right under her nose.

He looked up as Vic walked into the room. The big man had barely stayed in the hospital an hour to get his head bandaged before he was up and moving again, going over the evidence alongside Eden and Zach. Wrapping everything up like it was fucking Christmas morning.

And then Eden was there, looking tired but happy to see him, and hell if he didn’t feel exactly the same way. He knew he hadn’t given her the answers she wanted when she asked how this thing between them would work, but there weren’t easy answers.

She couldn’t stay here. Not with Martha so damn close and willing to meddle. Not with her job that she obviously loved. He understood that.

He didn’t want to let her go.

She smiled at him and dropped into the chair across the desk from him. “DNA evidence just got back to us. As expected, it’s negative across the board for the original four. It does match Chase, though.”

Part of him had almost hoped to find out that Martha or one of her men was more directly involved. It would remove her from the equation and . . . but that was his selfishness talking.

Vic took one look at them and hightailed it back out of the station, leaving Zach and Eden in relative privacy. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his desk. “Lee’s gone.”

“I saw him heading for the bus stop.” She pulled her hair out of its ponytail and shook it out. “I give him a year.”

Zach didn’t disagree. The man moved like he had one foot in the grave. It was only a matter of time before he took that final step. But it wasn’t Lee who was his top concern right now. He took her in, just drinking in the sight of her. She’d spent every single night in his bed since the kidnapping, just content to let him hold her. There had been nightmares, but he was always there to pull her back into wakefulness. “Eden . . .”

She pushed to her feet, the very picture of nervous energy. “Since this vacation time didn’t end up being all that relaxing, Britton has informed me that I’m to take a real vacation. Immediately.”

“I see.”

She gave him a strangely tentative smile. “I don’t suppose you have some time saved up? I hear Jamaica is nice this time of year. Or Hawaii. Or, hell, Oregon. I’m not picky, as long as it’s anywhere but here—and you’re there.”

Zach stood and circled around the desk. “You want me to go on vacation with you.”

“I want a week or two to spend getting to know you without a case or life getting in the way. After that . . .” She shrugged, her dark eyes large and vulnerable. “After that, we’ll figure something out. People do long-distance relationships all the time. It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s really not.” He pulled her into his arms, slowly drawing her closer until she was pressed against him. “Yes. Let’s go to Jamaica or Hawaii or Oregon. I don’t care where we are, as long as I’m with you.”