A high-pitched mewling sound escaped Mallory’s throat.
“You were trying to protect them, weren’t you?” I asked Mrs. Laughlin softly. “Your daughter and Toby. You were trying to protect them from Vincent Blake.”
“What is she talking about?” Eve glided back toward Mallory, then ducked down, angling her head so that her eyes were looking directly into Mallory’s. “You have to tell me the truth,” she continued. “All of it. Your Liam… he didn’t leave, did he?”
I saw then what she was doing—what she had been doing. “That’s why you’re here,” I realized. “What did Vincent Blake offer you if you brought him answers?”
“That’s enough,” Grayson told me sharply.
“It really, really isn’t,” Jameson replied, blazing by my side.
“You know what this necklace means to me, Grayson,” Eve said, her fist covering the locket. “You know why I wear it. You know, Grayson. ”
“Don’t trust anyone,” I said, my tone a match for hers. “That was the old man’s message. His final message, Gray. Because if Eve’s here, Vincent Blake might not be far behind.”
Eve turned her body into Grayson’s, her every movement a study in grace and fury. “Who cares about Tobias Hawthorne’s final message?” she asked, her voice shattering at the end of that question. “He didn’t want me, Grayson. He chose Avery. I was never going to be enough for him. You know what that’s like, Gray. Better than anyone—you know.”
I could feel him slipping through my fingers, but I couldn’t stop fighting. “You pushed us to ask Skye about the seal,” I said, staring Eve down. “You’ve been asking around about deep, dark Hawthorne family secrets. You pressed and pressed for answers on Toby’s father—”
A single tear rolled down Eve’s cheek.
“Avery. ” Grayson’s tone was one I recognized. This was the boy who’d been raised as the heir apparent. The one who didn’t have to dirty his hands to put an adversary in their place.
Am I the enemy again, Gray?
“Eve has done nothing to you.” Grayson’s voice cut into me like a surgeon’s knife. “Even if what you’re saying about Toby’s parentage is true, Eve is not to blame for her family.”
“Then get her to open the locket,” I said, my mouth dry.
Eve walked toward me. When she got within three feet, Oren shifted.
“That’s close enough.”
Without a word to him, or to anyone, Eve opened her locket. Inside, there was a picture of a little girl. Eve, I realized. Her hair was cut short and uneven, her little cheeks gaunt. “No one ever cherished her. No one ever would have put her picture in a locket.” Eve met my gaze, and though she looked vulnerable, I thought I saw something else underneath that vulnerability. “So I wear this as a reminder: Even if no one else loves you, you can. Even if no one else ever puts you first, you can.”
She was standing there admitting that she was going to put herself first, but it was like Grayson couldn’t see that. “Enough,” he ordered. “This isn’t you, Avery.”
“Maybe, Gray,” Jameson countered, “you don’t know her as well as you think.”
“Out!” Mrs. Laughlin boomed. “All of you, out!”
Not one of us moved, and the older woman’s eyes narrowed.
“This is my house. Mr. Hawthorne’s will granted us lifelong, rent-free tenancy.” Mrs. Laughlin looked at her daughter, then at Eve, and finally she turned back to me. “You can fire me, but you can’t evict me, and you will leave my home.”