My anger is as hot as my love for her right now. It’s even stronger now that I’ve had a chance to let go of the bitter grief I’ve been holding onto for so, so long. “I mean it, Cade. I’m going to fuck her whenever I want. Wherever I want. Until all her sadness is gone and the past takes its claws all the way out of her. And as for you, you need to send a damn text before you come over.”
Cade stares for a moment, shaking his head as if I’ve lost my mind. His expression shifts and he nods, slapping a stack of papers down on the kitchen counter. “Fine. I can send a text. I’ll send a text next time I’m going to stop by, but you need to see this.”
I go to his side, forcing myself to calm, and look at the papers. “What are these?” I flick through them. They appear to be medical reports … news articles. It’s a mix of papers with several lines highlighted. Including “strangulation” but then “death by suicide.”
“What the hell are these?”
“This is what you asked Silas to research.” He folds his arms over his chest. “Ella’s mother didn’t die by suicide.”
We both look down at the documents together. The awkwardness of the past moment is forgotten. I flip through the papers, then again.
“There are a lot of things that don’t add up,” Cade says to my right as I read.
I’m reminded of the conversation I had with Kam a few nights ago. “Kamden told me he thinks her father did it.”
“Why would he tell you that?” Cade sounds skeptical. He’s rarely ever thrown off his game, but this is bothering him. “And how, exactly, would he know that?”
The front door opens, then bangs shut. “Hello?” Kamden calls.
The fact is, I don’t know what’s going on. But Kam’s footsteps come closer by the second. I use the time to lean in close and murmur something to my brother. “I think it’s time the cameras came down.”
Kam steps into the kitchen then. Crossing swiftly to the island, he drops a box of pastries onto the counter. Cade locks eyes with me and gives me a single, silent nod.