Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Rose.” Zoe’s voice grew serious, despite the tremble in it. Hearing it caused me to lose a bit of the coldness. “I know you guys aren’t as close anymore but . . . I don’t know who else to call or ask about this. It isn’t like Eve to not respond to me. She knows how bad my anxiety gets when she takes too long to answer.”
I sighed, closing my eyes and lowering my defenses. As much as this conversation was annoying me, she was right. Even though Eve could be a reckless woman, she never missed out on her sister’s calls or texts. Zoey was all she had—the only family left. It was because of their parents that Zoey suffered bouts of anxiety and depression. Their parents were awful to them, and it wasn’t until my dad, a social worker, intervened that their lives changed. They were immediately moved in with their grandmother. She and Zoey had been inseparable up until Zoey started college.
“Look, I’m sorry, Zoey,” I murmured. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll swing by Eve’s place after work and see if she’s around. Okay?”
Zoe sniffled. “Thank you, Rose.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it. I’ll call you when I’m there.”
“Okay.” She sniffled again. “Thanks. I have to go before I miss my next class. But please don’t forget to call me.”
“I won’t, baby girl.”
“Ew. Rose, I told you I hate that name!” She laughed.
“I know.” I smiled. “Just wanna hear you cheer up before letting you go.”
She giggled. “Thanks. Talk later.”
As soon as the call was over, I drew in a deep breath and released it. Then I picked up my phone and scrolled through it until I found the name I hadn’t tapped in months—Eve. I called but it went straight to her voicemail. That in itself was unusual. Eve never turned her phone off, like, ever.
She freaked out whenever she had to put her phone on airplane mode during a flight, which I always thought was dramatic, seeing as she was a travel vlogger . . . and since most airlines had free Wi-Fi.
Airline Wi-Fi just doesn’t hit the same, Rose, she’d said one time.
“So? What do you think?” Herbert’s head popped in through a gap in the door, a big smile on his face. “It’s crazy, right? I knew that motherfucker was guilty.” He pushed the door open a bit and walked in, sitting in the chair on the other side of my desk. “By the way, you look official up in here! Sitting behind your big desk in your big comfy chair.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
“You’re moving up in the world, lady,” he said.
“Well, I won’t be moving up quick enough with Eve always doing something ridiculous.”
“Oh Lord.” Herbert rolled his eyes. “I swear that girl is always getting into hot water.”
He wasn’t lying there.
I stood and collected the statement as well as my laptop and a few folders. “That was Zoey on the phone. I told her I’d check on Eve, see what’s up with her. In the meantime, can you have Nico politely hack into Melissa Cowan’s social media? I want to see if she might’ve DM’d some of her friends on there about her issues with Robert.”
“Politely hack?” Herbert busted out laughing. “There is nothing polite about hacking a rich person’s socials. And you know that’s illegal, right? You probably shouldn’t be saying that out loud.”
“Well, it’s a good thing Nico is good at covering his tracks, huh?” I walked around the desk and wrapped one arm around his neck to give him an awkward sideways embrace. “Call you when I’m home. And kiss Dozer for me!”
Eve Castillo journal entry
I woke up this morning feeling a little . . . off. Like there’s been a change . . . or that a change will come soon. That’s the only way I can describe it. It doesn’t feel good at all.
There’s this ache in my chest, like a thick knot is forming. When I swallow, it hurts. When I breathe, the pain intensifies.
Some days I feel like I’m losing touch with reality. I do things and don’t know why I do them. Rose says I need to see someone, that maybe something mental is at play and I need a diagnosis.
I can’t take meds like Zoey. I don’t need them. If I take them, I’ll be weak, then who will Zoey look up to?
God. It was so much easier when we lived with Abuela. I wish she was still here. I wish there was someone around who understood me the way she did.
CHAPTER FOUR
Eve’s car wasn’t parked in the designated spot in front of her townhouse. I was currently parked there, staring at her front door. It was painted pale yellow with a wide glass arch at the top. Orchids were on either side of her small porch, wind chimes hanging from above.