Belle huffed, shaking her head ruefully. “I wanted to check for cars in the driveway. To make sure no one was home. Once I knew the house was empty, I went up to Raven’s room, but I kept thinking about the vents. How he could hear his parents arguing back when Arianna was alive. How I’d put a pillow over his vent when we wanted privacy—” Belle broke off at the sound of the cell clattering open. A broad-shouldered woman stuck her head inside, gesturing at the girls. That was what Belle thought. But when both of them stood from the bunk, the woman held up a hand, saying, “McClain, you’re being released.”

“What?” Jack’s eyes went wide as she stumbled toward the guard. “How? Is my mom picking me up? Did she back up—”

“Not your mother,” the woman said, muttering something into a radio and getting a crackling response. “Stefan Holloway.”

18 The Secret That’s Been Crushing You

Raven Holloway was not a liar. But these were desperate times. It took about an hour to convince his father to go along with his plan, and another hour and a half before they tracked down the detective and fed him their story. By the time Raven arrived at the juvenile detention center, he felt as if winds were kicking up dust in his chest, rustling leaves and knocking down branches. He hadn’t wanted to lie to the police.

But he needed to rescue Jack.

Now he sat patiently in the passenger seat of his family’s sedan as Dr. Holloway went to check Jack out of the detention center. He couldn’t stop tapping his fingers on the dash. The clock blinked back at him, flashing 9:13 p.m., and he wondered what horrors Jack had already endured inside that hideous orange building. To curb the panic inside his chest, he slid out of the front seat, climbing into the back, where Jack could meet him. She would be exhausted from her time in the detention center. If she needed a shoulder to rest on, Raven could provide that for her, and maybe, over the course of the ride home, her hand would slide into his.

And he’d never let her go.

Seconds turned into minutes. When the door finally opened, Raven half expected an officer to duck into the car, cuffs in hand. Instead, he saw a familiar tuft of auburn curls, and the breath rushed out of him. She was here, sliding into the seat beside him, her bright green eyes filled with wonder and awe.

“How—?” she began, as Dr. Holloway opened the driver’s side door. He settled into his seat, closed the door, and turned to look at her.