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I can’t see her face, but I feel the way her body shakes with sobs. “Is he…”
“Leo’s going to check. Okay?” He reaches out, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. He looks past her to me, and I can see the truth in his eyes.
I hold Eden in my arms, my fingers trailing over her skin. “Shhh,” I whisper. “It’s okay.”
Leo moves back into our circle, a barrier we’ve provided Eden with. His ashen face says it all. “I’m sorry, Eden. He’s gone.”
“No…no…” She shakes her head fiercely. “No, he’s not.”
Leo nods. “I’m sorry.”
She staggers back, taking me with her. She sucks in huge gulps of air and then immediately pauses. “My mom?”
“Let’s go look for her, okay?” I hardly know what I’m saying. All I know is that Eden shouldn’t be in the same room as her father’s dead body right now.
“I’m going to call the police,” Leo states.
Eden breaks through my grip. “Mom?” she calls out. She stumbles at first before taking off. She runs around the house, looking in every room, yelling out for her mother. Alaric picks up her dropped cell and holds it out to her as she runs up the stairs. I follow.
With shaky hands, she dials her mother’s number. She waits for what seems like a lifetime, and finally says, “Mom, it’s Eden. I need you to call me back right away, okay? Like, right away.”
She checks her parents’ bedroom for the second time, going all the way into the master bath before coming out again, her phone to her ear once more.
“Mom, I fucking mean it!” she screams. “Answer your phone. Call me!”
She stops in the middle of their room. A deep blue robe is tossed across an unmade bed. If I had to guess, it was probably her father’s. I drift my gaze back to Eden, standing there, lost, her hands at her sides. Tears still drip down her face, but her crying has stopped. She swallows, her bloodshot eyes blinking to clear some of the tears clinging to her lashes.
“He’s dead?”
“Yeah, Edie, love. He’s gone.”
Her knuckles turn white as she grips her phone tighter. “Do you think he did it to himself?”
I shrug. I don’t know if Leo could tell anything just by seeing him. “We’ll have to wait to see what the police say.”
She lowers her voice. “Theycould’ve killed him. The Knights.”
My stomach bottoms out. For Eden’s sake, I hope that’s not true. “We don’t know that.”
“If they did, I hope they’ve come to play because I’m going to end them, Ollie. I’m going to fucking end them.” More tears drip down her cheeks, but she nods as if she’s already decided exactly what’s going to happen.
“And I’ll be right there with you. Every step of the way. No matter what.”
“Me too,” Alaric says, stepping into the room.
Sirens sound in the distance. Eden Astor lifts her chin in the air, straightens her shoulders, and walks out of the room like a goddamn queen.
I’ve never met any0ne like her.
Alaric and I follow as she moves toward the front door. Leo stands in front of the office, hands on his hips.
His face is pale, drawn out. I feel for him. “You okay?”
He nods, but the jackass is stoic. I don’t care who you are, you find someone else dead, another father, that’s going to do something to you.
“I can stand watch,” I offer.
“I think you’re better off on Eden duty. You make her feel better,” he says, voice gruff.