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All the fear I had been battling suddenly explodes and smothers le word to say Can’t s had been so perfect for about five minutes That kiss and those touches were the kind that artists crave, like a drug addiction Thein my head

Then the cop car had pulled up to the house and everything went to shit

I followed Ayden over to his house when he ju roo My mom and dad quickly took Kale, Everson, and Fiona out of the house when they realized what the conversation was about

They found Ayden’s brother Not just found, but discovered his body in a ditch not too far away froht have been ation, and while they didn’t flat out say it¸ I got the i to do hatever happened to theo, that there were so with soe

"If you can think of anything at all," the taller of the two officers says, directing his question to Ayden as he hands a card to Lila "I know in the initial investigation you told the detective that you couldn’t re, but if you do, please call us"

"Of course," Lila replies, tucking the card in her pocket, struggling to keep it together

"And you ht want to be a bit ather more evidence," he tells Lila as she walks them to the door "It’s just a precautionary measure, but it’s better to be safe"

I try to catch Ayden’s eye as Lila finishes chatting with the officers, but he won’t look at , except the scars on his hands

Lila is sobbing by the ti room Ethan looks like he’s about to throw up And I feel as sick as Ethan looks

"I’o do my homework" Ayden abruptly stands up from the sofa and walks out of the room at a normal pace with a relaxed expression

So nor

Lila’s shoulders shake as she reaches for a tissue on the table, her eyes filled with tears, and hereverywhere "Oh o check on hiet up, but Ethan drapes an arm around her and pulls her back down "Let Lyric do it, okay? You need to calm down before you talk to hi toroom and start up the stairs, but pause when I hear the two of the

"We knew this was a possibility e took hientle tone "We knew that those people were never caught, and that soht happen one day"

"But I never expected it to happen like this" Lila sniffles "And did you see the look on his face It was the same look he had e picked hioes back to barely speaking" Tears flood her voice "I just want him to be happy"