26. Theo

As I drive through the ornate gates of Shadowvale, a heavy sense of melancholy follows me. The events of the past few hours weigh on my mind. Each rolling bump on the road only serves to deepen the sense of foreboding.

The streets of Havencrest had offered little in the way of a distraction, the bustling crowds and frenetic energy doing nothing to quell the turmoil raging inside. My thoughts had circled over and over back to one thing, Evangeline and her unborn child.

I head inside, slamming the door behind me, and march up the steps with purposeful strides. Lost in my own thoughts, I barely register Oliver"s approach until his voice cuts through the silence like a knife, sharp and unyielding. "Theo," he calls out, his tone laced with an edge that catches me off guard.

Turning toward him, I find myself face to face with his piercing gaze, an unspoken accusation lingering in the air between us. For a moment, neither of us speaks. But as the seconds stretch on, Oliver breaks the silence, his voice sharp.

"Where have you been?" he demands, a fire in his eyes that has me realizing he's already talked to Eva about the situation. "We need to talk," he adds, reaching out to drag me by the arm.

I yank away from him, leveling him with a stern look. "I'm not a child, Oliver," I snap. "You have something to say, say it to my face."

"You know what I want to talk about," Oliver says flatly. "You found out about the baby and you were pissed. I bet you fucking took off and caused trouble in town, didn't you?"

I shake my head, not wanting to deal with this right now. Just because Oliver seems to be able to accept this life-altering news doesn't mean the rest of us have to get on board, move on, move forward like him.

"You're really going to stand there and deny it?" Oliver asks, his voice getting louder. I hold my hand up, turning to walk away, but Oliver's hands shoot out, shoving me backward.

Fury erupts inside me as soon as his hands touch me, and I surge forward, shoving him toward the wall. "Don't fucking touch me!" I shout.

Oliver glares at me from where I have him pinned, my arm at his throat. "You're a bastard," he says, lips curled. "You're a giant fucking bastard, you know? If you hadn't been an asshole to her, she wouldn't have hidden it from you, and you know it!"

I let him go, the truth of his words hitting me like a punch to the gut, shattering the illusion of righteousness I"ve clung to for so long.

"Yeah," I admit, stepping back to let Oliver go. My voice is thick as I shove my hands in my pockets. "Yeah, you're right. It's my fault this happened."

"It's not just your fault," Oliver says, his tone dark. "It's all our fault. I was just as much a bastard to her as we all were. But I talked to her, and we worked it out. We're going to move forward," he tells me.

"Fuck." I run my hand through my hair, shaking my head. "I guess I should talk to her too."

"There's more," Oliver adds. "It's a long story, but Eva had some intel on Declan that she was scared to show us. But I took a look at it, and it's pretty concerning, Theo."

I tilt my head, brow furrowing. "Intel? On Declan?"

"The evidence is pretty damning," he says, mouth set in a grim line. "Our uncle had something to do with our father's death and the attack on the manor. I saw it with my own two eyes. He met with Sal DeLucci just days before the attack, they exchanged payment, and then the attack happened."

My mouth falls open. "You've gotta be kidding me," I mutter, this day just getting more batshit insane. "You're telling me that Declan killed our father?"

"I don't know if he did for sure," Oliver says. "I only know what I saw. And he had some kind of involvement."

I still can't wrap my head around this. Declan couldn't have done that, could he? He was Dad's most loyal lieutenant.

"Well, one thing's for certain," I say, slumping over. "Declan is damned dangerous when provoked. If we're going to go against him, if we're going to accuse him of being a traitor, we"d better tread carefully."

"You're right about that," Oliver agrees. "The only person more dangerous than Dad was Declan."

"You want to go talk to him now?" I offer. "He's probably still in his office."

"Yeah, let's go," Oliver agrees, pulling out his phone to text Eva to let her know we'd be gone. "If he's in a good mood, we can ask a few subtle questions."

"Nothing that would make him suspicious," I warn. "We don't want him catching on."

"Agreed," Oliver says with a nod.

The two of us head out immediately, tension forgotten in the wake of our mission to get the truth from our uncle.

Arriving at Declan's office, we head up to find him still working as the sun goes down.

"Boys," he says with a nod. "I'll be right with you."

We sit, sharing a silent exchange between us. Oliver is going to let me take the lead here, suss out Declan with a few pointed questions. Then Oliver will go in for the kill.

"Alright, what brings you boys to my office so late in the day?" Declan asks, sitting back in his chair as he swivels around to gaze at us.

"We were going through a few things with the insurance company with regard to the fire," I lie smoothly. "We've been doing repairs on Shadowvale, as you know."

Declan nods, pen dangling between his fingers. "What did you need from me?" he asks.

"There was some question about where everyone was at the time of the fire," I tell him.

"Thought the fire investigators already closed the case?" Declan asks, still calm as ever. If he suspects something is weird about this line of questioning, he doesn't give anything away.

"Well, because we've put in a new claim, they're doing some more investigation," I explain. "We want to replace the library, and there's a lot of valuable books that were burned. They asked us to account for everyone's whereabouts starting from two days before the fire."

"That's unusual," Declan says, letting his pen fall so it's tapping against the desk. "I don't know if I can recall. I might have had a meeting that day."

"A meeting? With whom?" Oliver asks.

"I'm not sure. I can look it up," Declan offers. I sit back and wait while he pulls out his leather planner, flipping through the pages.

He shakes his head and sighs. "Looks like I was trying to meet with Sal DeLucci to bargain with him about the waterfront development," he notes. "I'd forgotten that. I hoped that we could avoid bloodshed if I bribed him to look the other way while we put in for a deal on the property. I guess it didn't work."

Despite the explanation, something still feels off about it. I nod, though, along with Oliver.

"You two sure came a long way to ask me a single question," Declan says, frowning.

"That's because we also came to tell you that we're going to start seeing Evangeline," Oliver jumps in. "I know you don't approve, but she's no longer a maid. She works for Aunt Bridget now. I just wanted you to hear it from us, in person."

Declan purses his lips. "All three of you?"

"We don't mind sharing," I tell him. "The three of us are close, especially after losing Dad. If anyone were to come between us, we'd have no problem cutting them out of our lives."

"That's right," Oliver adds. "You hurt one of us, you hurt us all."

Declan shrugs. "As long as you don't let it interfere with your work, I couldn't care less who you have in your bed."

"Good," I say, nodding. "Good. We'll be going now. We just wanted to tell you."

"Thanks," Declan says, sounding confused and a little annoyed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Theo. We're still on for our meeting, right? Or are you going to be busy with your little maid?"

I ignore his comment about Eva. "I'll be here bright and early," I tell him.

Declan points a finger-gun at me and winks as the two of us leave. An unsettled feeling settles in my gut as we take the elevator down. Silence stretches between us until we're nearly at the ground floor.

"You don't think he suspects anything, do you?" Oliver asks as we exit, speaking in a low tone.

I shrug. "He did seem to think our questions were odd, but I'm hoping he chalks it up to our being nervous to tell him about our situation with Eva."

"Let's hope you're right," Oliver says, a frown on his face.

My mind goes back to our meeting, and something jumps out at me. The pen that Declan was tapping was on top of something, but what was it?

I try to picture it in my mind, reforming the paper right-side-up, and let out a gasp. Was Declan writing a check to someone from the DeLucci Family?