“Left the house?”
“No. Left the entire family ecosystem. Permanently.”
“Do you still talk to Evelyn?”
“I talk to her once a month.”
“Does she know that you still blame yourself for what happened to her?”
Locke’s eyes snap back up, meeting mine with an overwhelming intensity. “Yes.”
“Why on earth do you blame yourself, Locke?” I ask softly, reaching up to lay my hand gently against his jaw. “You were the only one actually trying to help her.”
“I uncovered the hard evidence long before my father negotiated that payoff,” he says, the weight of the confession heavy in his chest. “I handed that evidence directly to my father and foolishly trusted him to handle it properly. I allowed him to decide what happened next.”
“You tried to use the system you knew.”
“I already knew precisely who
