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He was stressed out, and who could blame him for that? Nowith a lot of stuff, and that caretaker part of her, the almost idiotic need to offer coht and do just that

And that’s why she basically face-planted the pillow all night

Sighing, she draped the small towel out over the faucet and then walked back into the roo on her lip as she scanned Madeline The wo, Julia did a check No fever Her pulse was a little slow and her blood pressure was low, but that could be normal for her or a byproduct of lack of ns of severe underlying health issues Atrophy hadn’t begun to set into her muscles Her skin wasn’t sallow or ruddy, just pale

Julia leaned forward, plopping her elbow on her knee and resting her chin on her palm "What happened to you?"

There was no answer

The wo What did she know about Madeline? She was rebellious as a child and teen Was super close to her twin until they beca closer to her cousin Daniel Madeline obviously wasn’t close to her other brothers, not before her disappearance or when she returned She’d disappeared the sao Had the death affected her so severely that it ered a hidden ht he told her about his family, it sounded like there was a thread of mental illness in the family, and in a lot of the cases, certain diseases could be hereditary It could be a s

But so That didn’t e of her So who had her? How did she escape? Or had she?

So hts Thinking it was Anna since her friend had texted last night saying she’d call today, she rose and walked over to where her phone was She picked it up, and her stomach sank

Pressure clae It was familiar, too familiar, and definitely not Anna’s, whose nu to the porch doors, she hit the button to send the call to voiceher suspicions weren’t correct Because there was no way they could be She’d finally changed her number after the last tiiven it to hih and it was just four words Four words she didn’t want to see

It’s Ada her eyes, she squeezed the phone tight until her knuckles ached Daiven hiured it out, which wasn’t surprising considering what he did for a living He likely no she was no longer in Pennsylvania

There was no way she was responding

But did not responding helphi-terle part of her wanted to

Opening her eyes, she quickly deleted the text and started to put the phone dohen it rang again, from the same nu the call again This was not happening--

"Is everything okay?"

Yelping at the close sound of Lucian’s voice, she spun around and gasped He was only a few feet behind her Holy crap, how could he not aze roaood when he’d obviously just showered? His hair was daray cotton shirt he wore clung to his chest and lower abs, hinting at the taut rown bored with drying off and pulled on clothes, then cahost?"

"Maybe" He was staring at the phone she held, brows furrowed together "Is everything okay?" he repeated

"Yes" She brought the phone to her chest, screen down Her heart thudded unevenly "Of course"

"You sure of that?"

Julia forced a light laugh "Why would I--"

The phone rang again, the sound muffled only a little by her breasts It was official God hated her

He raised a brow "You going to answer that?"

Pressing her lips together, she shook her head as she slid her finger along the side and silenced the call While she was at it, she turned the ringer off

"And why not?"

"I’, which means I shouldn’t be on the phone"