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It was Frost who broke the tense silence around Luca and I. He barked and pulled at my sweater with his paws, trying to get off his bandage in the process.

"I'm not planning on staying awake the whole night, Rose." Luca spoke up, slight irritation lacing his voice. He was sitting beside me, both of us sitting on the stools lining in front of the kitchen counter.

"This is not necessary, Lucius." I whispered, not looking at him. I was pretty sure that he wasn't planning to let go of this anytime soon.

"It is." He spoke up. "Start talking."

I felt the lump forming in my throat. It was way past midnight, for God's sake. I didn't need this, especially not right now.

"I don't know what you want me to talk about."

I saw him pass me a look of disbelief. "Everything that I don't fucking know."

I looked at him at last and it was pretty much a glare. His expression mirrored mine. Perhaps we both needed sleep.

"My parents are dead." I spoke through my clenched jaw. Even Frost looked up at me as if finally sensing the tense atmosphere. "Isn't that enough?"

His hard expression faltered a little at that. He turned sideways and rested his elbows on the kitchen counter, raking his hands through his curls.

"I know that." He said. "Chase had been quite obvious."

Chase stupid Denver.

I blinked and looked away from his side profile. Frost softly nudged his black nose against my stomach before curling up on my lap.

I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came at first. There was just the familiar dread. What was I supposed to tell him? How was I supposed to tell him?

Why was this so hard?

"They died...back in Manhattan." The heavy lump in my throat made it harder to talk. I didn't want to think about that day. I really didn't want to.

"How?" He wasn't looking at me. "I need to know how, Grace."

There wasn't the cold harshness in his voice that I had somehow grown used to.

"I don't want to talk about it." My voice came out small. I curled my fingers gently against Frost's white fur and that seemed to calm me down a bit.

Surprisingly, Luca didn't say anything after that. He didn't look at me either. I could hear the clock ticking as seconds passed by.

"If things had been the same." His voice was slow and careful, almost as if he didn't want to say it out loud. "Would you have told me?"

My heart thudded against my chest, at the small familiar ache inside of me when I heard the softness in his voice—something I hadn't heard in so long. Something I hadn't been expecting to hear anytime soon.

Things weren't the same.

Inhaling a deep breath, I leaned sideways against the countertop and looked at him. "They were murdered."

He stiffened at that and I found myself looking away almost immediately.

"They all told me that it was just an accident." My voice filled in the silence. "There wasn't any blood on their bodies. No means of any harm."

With his fingers still in his hair, he stared at me sideways. His dark brown eyes darting across my face.

"But it wasn't an accident." I looked down at Frost who was asleep now, his bandage coming off a little.

Few silent seconds ticked by, him looking at me all the time. "How do you know that?"

Even if I didn't want to, the images still flashed before my eyes. Past events. Bad memories. There were some things in my life that I just wished to forget, but that never came easy in such situations.

"The people who killed Mom and Dad," I answered. "They took Jack away."

I heard him inhale sharply. "What?"

Wrapping my arms around Frost so that he wouldn't fall down, I placed my forehead against the cool marble countertop. "I didn't see him ever again after my parent's death."

"What do you mean? What about the poli–"

"They still haven't found him." I cut him off, knowing clearly well what he was about to ask. "Days later after searching for him, they told me that he must be dead. Just because they couldn't find him."

Even if I wasn't looking at him, I knew he was looking at me.

"That day, at that party. When I saw you..." I stopped abruptly. "The party at Kelly's house. I got a message from an unknown number. It was a picture of Jack."

He was still silent. And for once, I preferred this silence.

"I panicked because of that." I murmured.

There was so much I wanted to tell him, so much more that I wanted him to know. But at the same time, this overwhelming feeling was just too much. I didn't know how to put it into words.

Words that I could say.

"I know that he's alive." I said. "And I'm not giving up because...I need him back."

Once again, there was just silence after that. I felt my eyelids drooping themselves.

"Why did you never tell me this before?" He finally spoke up. I did hear the hurt in his voice. Even if I knew that he was trying to hide it.

And it felt horrible. I felt horrible.

I closed my eyes, feeling my heart clenching painfully. Thousands of words rushed in my head, threatening to spill out in a rush. A single tear trailed down my nose towards my chin.

"It was hard, Luca." I whispered, pressing my forehead further against the countertop just so that I wouldn't look at him. Just so that he wouldn't look at me. "So hard."

•••••

I looked at my front door, standing still for five whole seconds. Everything seemed fine; perfectly normal.

Frost barked happily before jumping out of my hands. Even if his paw was still injured, he went ahead and ran around the yard.

I looked back at the closed door. The last time I had been standing in front of my house, there was fire. And police. And so many people around me.

But it wasn't like that now.

Frost barked happily, as energetic as ever. While I was quite the opposite. A small groan escaped my lips as I brought my hands up over my face and rubbed it slowly.

I had thrown up again last night, and I had barely gotten any sleep after that. I had been awake until the sun came up in the sky, shining through the glass windows of the guestroom.

Marleen had been awake when I had gone downstairs, even if it was a little early. And I had been even more surprised when she had told me how Luca had already left somewhere.

Way before I even came downstairs.

I opened up the front door and went inside my house, Frost right behind me.

A small part inside me had expected Luca to...change. Change back to his old self. Hadn't I told him everything last night? The least he could've done was stay.

But he hadn't been there this morning. Almost as if he hadn't wanted to see me, which actually hurt.

Frost's bark broke me out of my thoughts as I entered the lounge. Apart from some burnt marks, everything was the same. However, the kitchen was a little...messed up.

I went inside the kitchen, looking at the burnt wood.

It could've been worse.

Morning sunlight shone from the backyard window, spreading throughout the kitchen. I walked over towards the kitchen counter and lightly trailed my fingertips along the black burnt marks.

It definitely could've been worse.

I was about to leave and go upstairs to my room when something strange caught my eye. Frowning, I went towards the stove and saw something stuck in between the heating grill.

I carefully took it out, aware of Frost yapping around my lounge.

Almost immediately, my heart lurched when I finally saw what it was. A small photograph burnt at the edges. It was of a room, filled with complete darkness. I could barely see anything because of the darkness.

But I did see the face of a little boy, fear clouding his features as a shadow loomed over his face.

It was frozen. The fear. The little boy. It was all frozen in a picture.

My heart lurched again when my gaze lingered over the boy's face.

It was Jack.

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Crystal 🌿