I don’t answer, but I don’t argue, either.

Cassie exhales, rubbing her temple. “And with everything going on, I just—I don’t know. I got a bad feeling about it.”

I swallow. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”

Cassie’s face tightens. “Gabriel.”

My chest aches at the mention of Theo’s uncle. “What about him?”

She hesitates, then sighs. “It’s just a damn shame what happened to him.”

The way she says it sends a shiver down my spine.

“What do you mean?” Orion asks, his voice low.

Cassie shifts her bag again, glancing at the ground. “I mean the way he died. It just doesn’t sit right with me.” When neither of us says anything she continues. “He left work early that day, he said he wasn’t feeling well. The speculation is that he started driving home, but somewhere along the way, he pulled over and got sick on the side of the road. They’re saying he lost his balance, hit his head on a hard surface but didn’t say if it was a rock, a tree, or his truck.”

I stare at her, my breath catching. “Who found him?”

“Morgan.”

That cold feeling spreads through me. How horrible. I know she said he was like a father to her after her father passed. He’s the reason why she is where she is today.

Cassie presses her lips together. “But only because Aubrey called her.”

Orion stiffens. “Aubrey?”

Cassie nods grimly. “That’s his wife, Theo’s aunt. She said she tried calling him when he didn’t come home for dinner, but he never answered. So she called Morgan, thinking maybe they were working late together. But Morgan said he left hours earlier and should’ve been home already. That’s when she panicked. She left the office, sirens on, and found him unconscious next to his car.”

My pulse pounds in my ears. “Unconscious? I didn’t hear that part. He was still alive?”

Cassie nods, but her expression darkens. “Barely. He was in a coma. He never woke up.”

Silence stretches between us, heavy and suffocating.

Finally, Orion speaks, his voice even. “That doesn’t sound like an accident.”

Cassie doesn’t answer right away. Then, finally, she exhales. “No. It doesn’t.”

And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I can’t shake the feeling that Bennett—the man lurking around town with his sharp eyes and easy lies—might know more about it than we realize.

10

Theo

A knock at the door pulls me from the couch, where I’ve been since I got home from work. I’m not expecting anyone, and it’s late enough that whoever it is better have a damn good reason for showing up unannounced.