Hidden by Kelli Clare

Author:Kelli Clare [Clare, Kelli]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SparkPress
Published: 2018-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

THAT WAS THE night Will’s world spun out of his control for the first time. The night he allowed rage to seep into his soul. The same night he set in motion the aggressive strategy he’d been pulling together since his first visit to Stonington ten years before.

A couple hours after Will left the hotel with his brothers, he’d instructed Ben to move me from London back to the estate in Hastings. We waited at Eastridge for word from London while journalists on television delivered breaking news of a small-scale domestic terrorist strike. The reports indicated the terror group remained unidentified and at large. Somehow my heart knew it would stay that way for the public—an unresolved act of violence. The truth hidden, another dark lie.

My phone and Ben’s rang at the same time. His weary brown eyes met my nervous stare as he answered his and I answered mine. He mouthed Thomas’s name.

“Elle.” Will’s voice was no more than a rasping whisper.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Will.”

“I lost him. Lost my brother. Ethan is gone. He’s dead.”

My relief became horror, and I choked on it as my legs gave way. John was at my side in a flash, winding both arms tight around me, supporting my weight. Mary’s perceptive honey eyes targeted me, waiting to interpret the words I would deliver into the phone, but my breath refused to push anything out.

“Stay put. Wait for me there.” The subjugated suffering in his voice dragged my mind from darkness back to him.

“Of course,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, Will. . . . I’m so sorry.”

“Talk to mother for me, baby. I can’t do it.”

“I’ll take care of her,” I breathed as I watched her watery eyes fill with pain.

I didn’t know how to comfort Mary, and in fact, it was difficult to be near her. Guilt crept into my bones. It was my fault she’d lost her son—he lost his life protecting mine. She wept in a reserved manner as I held her, and then she pulled me with her to the bank of windows where gentle rain tapped a melancholy tune against the panes of glass.

“This is how it unravels, Ellie. Will’s war.” She was disconnecting from the world around us as she peered out into the dark landscape.

“Yes. This is . . . it . . . Will’s. I’m . . . so sorry,” I said, stumbling through the words.

John paced in silence about the drawing room and hall while he waited for Will and Thomas to return from London. Knowing the truth, I couldn’t stomach anything more from the news and turned off the TV. I stopped John midstride and cradled that pained, youthful face in my palms. He looked so much like Will. “I’ll be upstairs. If you need me for anything, come get me.” He nodded, his teary eyes diving to the floor.

I passed time with the girls, hoping it would be a distraction from the anxiety that ripped through me in constant waves. Hoped Lissie’s energetic spirit would strengthen me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.