Page 159 of Stolen Fate

Evelyn

I once again pulled out thesuitcase I had stashed underneath my bed and put it on my duvet, unzipping it.

Jace stood in the doorway, quiet and broody, but I couldn’t even think about now, not when my mind was going a million miles an hour.

Was my dad okay? He was the only parent I had left, and I didn’t want to even entertain the idea of him leaving us. He had to be okay.

Guilt hit me like a sledgehammer, and I knew it was unreasonable to think I could have prevented it somehow, had I only been there.

“What are you going to do?” Jace asked quietly.

I paused in the middle of shoving my clothes into the suitcase and turned to look at him. “I have to go home, Jace. I have to see him.”

He walked further into the room. “I know, baby. I just… tell me you’ll be back. Tell me you’ll come back home to me and Elliot again, right where you belong.”

My eyes widened as a choked sob made its way past my lips. “Elliot. I can’t leave him. Not now, not when I just found him, Jace. I just—”

“Calm down, Evelyn. I know.” He walked over to me and wrapped his strong capable arms around me, pulling me in close.

“What?”

“I know you can’t leave him. Take him with you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. I knew Elliot wasn’t the only one who experienced separation anxiety. I knew Jace didn’t like to be far away from him for long either. How could I just take Elliot with me for an indefinite amount of time?

He ran his fingers down my cheek and smiled a little, though there was a sadness in his eyes. My heart pinched, and I let out a small sigh, hoping to relieve the pressure.

No such luck.

“I won’t ask you to leave him again. I would never ask that. So take him with you. Do what you have to do. And then, come home to me, baby.”

My lips trembled and Jace leaned down, kissing the shivers away. He pulled away much too quickly, and I fisted his shirt in both my hands, keeping him to me. We didn’t have enough time.

There were still so many things I wanted to do with him, so many memories I wanted to create, and I didn’t want to walk away from this… from us.

But I didn’t want to make any decision when I was feeling like this either. I didn’t want any regrets.

“You and Elliot come back home to me and let me show you how happy I can make you. Understand me?”

“Jace.”

He shook his head, stopping me from saying anymore. “Just come back. I love you, Evelyn.”

* * *

I had a sleepingElliot cradled in my arms on our drive back to the house. I stared out the window, taking in Boston once again. Nothing had changed, and I didn’t know why I was so surprised about it.

It had been a short flight home, a little over an hour. When we touched down in Boston, Jace had arranged for a car to pick us up and drive us back to my parents’ house.

Ethan had called with an update and told me our dad was stable, so I didn’t have to go visit him right away, no matter how badly I wanted to.

But I had Elliot with me, and I just couldn’t bring him to a hospital in the middle of the night. He needed sleep, so we were going back to the house while Ethan stayed at the hospital keeping watch. He’d let me know if anything changed.

The car pulled into my parents’ driveway, and my breath caught at the sight. I had grown up in this house. It was where I had my first kiss, my first heartbreak. It was also the place I saw my brother get in a fight for the first time, when he beat up my first boyfriend for cheating on me.

So many memories in this house, and yet it felt foreign to me, especially in the dark.

The car door opened, and I looked up to Jerry.

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