Page 105 of Where Broken Wings Fly

“What?” Micah finally speaks.

“Happily married, let alone trying for another kid.” I shrug, trying hard not to let my jealousy take over. “She said they were getting divorced, for fuck’s sake.”

“From what she’s told me, I’m starting to think a lot of what happened in their marriage wasn’t consensual,” Killian utters in a terrifying voice. “Like, at all.”

Rising onto his feet, Micah casts a solemn look into Willow’s room before stalking away without another word. I watch him slide a pack of cigarettes from his pocket as he disappears outside to get away from this conversation.

He hasn’t smoked in years, but I don’t have the heart to stop him. Everything about this is royally messed up. We’re facing something far darker than any of us realised, and I fucking hate myself right now for not realising it sooner.

“Bastard,” Killian curses. “Dammit!”

“Cool it. The nurse is looking at us again.”

“How am I supposed to cool it? This asshole could have been assaulting Willow. God knows for how long. I bet she didn’t even know she was pregnant.”

“I know, alright?” I snarl at him. “But we need to be calm.”

“You be fucking calm!” His voice cracks, breaking his bubble of rage. “I promised her that I’d keep her safe. I swore nothing would hurt her, Zach. And this still happened.”

“You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“I don’t give a shit. I’ve still failed her.”

“We all did.” I gulp down the lump in my throat. “We should’ve known the story about the car accident was complete bullshit. That didn’t stop us from swallowing it though.”

“I thought that giving her time was the right thing to do,” he says reproachfully. “I was trying to respect her privacy, but we should’ve been straight up with her from the start.”

“And said what? Did your husband beat you up?”

“I don’t know,” he snaps. “Maybe.”

“You know that would have scared her away in a heartbeat.”

Before Killian can bark at me again, we’re interrupted by my phone pinging with a text message from Lola. She’s been stuck in the downstairs waiting area with Albie ever since we arrived several hours ago.

“Crap. She’s messaged again.”

Killian shrugs. “Let her wait.”

“We should update her.”

“Lola is the last thing on my damn mind right now. She’s been lying through her teeth to us all and hiding Willow’s mother from her. She can fucking wait.”

Reaching into his coat pocket, Killian pulls out the two British passports we passed around a little while ago. He showed us the names that don’t match the people we know. It’s another question mark on the list of concerns we’ve ignored.

Willow was serious about disappearing before she arrived in Briar Valley. Enough to pay for high quality false identities. After seeing them, I’m fairly confident she was the one who burned off their fingerprints. It’s all beginning to add up.

What kind of monster is she running from?

Why didn’t she tell us the truth in the first place?

We had enough sense to use the false name on Willow’s passport to check in at the hospital, rather than foil her carefully laid plans. The dawning realisation that we’re dealing with something far more sinister than we realised has us all floundering.

“She told Lola that she was married at sixteen.” Killian stares at the passports. “I think that was true. We’re dealing with a predator here, not some disgruntled ex-husband.”

“What makes you think that?”

“She’s fucking traumatised, Zach. Isn’t it obvious?”

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