The spin-off/Jacen's story, Wildest Dreams, is now posted.
You can get to it by clicking the external link, if you're on a computer.
If you're on the app, just go to my profile, and find the story titled Wildest Dreams.
-- â¡ --
"I think that's everything," I announced, sealing the last cardboard box with a thick piece of packing tape.
"You better hope all of this fits in our apartment," Ashton teased. He was standing in the middle of my room, amidst a mess of cardboard boxes and half-finished rolls of packing tape.
Aside from the boxes, the room was pretty bare. There was still the furniture, of course, but I was taking everything else with me. "You have just as much, if not more."
"I think you missed something," he told me, pulling out a photo frame from behind his back. "Did you want to take it with you?"
I flipped it over to see a picture of Blake and in his arms, Avril. "Raine gave this to me when I first came to live with her and Kaden. I guess I should ask if she wants it back."
"It's Blake and Avril, right?" Ashton asked hesitantly.
"Yeah." I had told him that they had been my parents before the accident and Raine and Kaden took me in, when he saw a picture of them once, but not much more than that.
"When did they..." he trailed off.
"It'll be six years in three weeks," I answered quietly.
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," I said, leaning into his embrace. "I just hope Kaden finishes their case soon."
"Kaden's building a case for them?"
I nodded. "He said he's working on it." I had asked him a while back, but he had said he was still building evidence. I hadn't really asked since then, because I trusted Kaden, and I was trying to stop butting into his work. Especially since I ended up deciding not to pursue law.
Ashton hesitated. "Against who?"
"Mr. Merrick," I replied, glancing back down at the picture in my hands.
"Vanessa's dad did it?"
I nodded, then glanced up when he didn't respond. "What's wrong?"
He shook his head. "It's nothing."
"No, just tell me." It had to be something important with how confused he looked and how reluctant he seemed about telling me.
"It's probably nothing..." he protested.
I didn't respond, instead just stared up at him pointedly.
Ashton sighed. "Vanessa's dad got stranded on a remote island a couple years back-"
That sounds familiar... "I think Nate mentioned this a while ago," I said, a sense of unease creeping in.
"Somehow he managed to survive the two weeks it took for them to find him, but he had no contact to the rest of the world..." he trailed off, but I already knew where he was going with this. If Vanessa's Dad had been stranded on a remote island, there was no way he could've orchestrated Blake and Avril's death.
"He could've hired someone to do it," I suggest weakly.
"Yeah," he agreed, though it was obvious he was unconvinced.
"That's not like him, is it?"
Ashton winced. "From what I know he's a bit of a control freak," he admitted. "I would think he would want to be there to see it happen."
"Kaden didn't tell me I was wrong when I asked him." But he didn't say I was right either.
"I think you should talk to him," Ashton told me.
"I promised I wouldn't bother him about his work anymore, though." Not after I had been horribly wrong when it came to everything that had happened with Vanessa.
"Hey," he said, sliding a finger under my chin and tilting my head up so I was looking at him. "You have the right to know. They were your parents."
I gave him a feeble smile, then stretched up on my tip toes to brush a quick kiss across his lips. "Thanks."
He gave me a confused look. "For what?"
"Telling me even though you didn't want to," I replied.
"I'm working on the whole keeping things from people because I assume it'll be better for them thing," he admitted, with a slight flush. "You should go ask him now."
I hesitated. "Do you want to come?"
He shook his head. "This is between you and Kaden."
I'm lucky to have Ashton Sinclair. "I'll be back soon." I gave him another quick kiss, then made my way out of the room. I descended the stairs then burst into Kaden's office without knocking.
He looked up from his iPad and gave me an amused look. "Can I help you, Lena?"
"Who killed Blake and Avril?" I asked bluntly.
He sobered immediately. "I'm working on it."
"It wasn't Vanessa's dad," I said, sounding more confident than I felt.
Kaden stared at me. "What brought this on?"
"Ashton told me he was stranded on an island the same week they died," I admitted. "He couldn't have done it."
He sighed. "It wasn't Mr. Merrick. What happened with Vanessa was surprisingly completely unrelated to Blake and Avril."
"Why did you let me believe it was?" I asked unable to keep the hurt out of my voice.
"I don't want to get you involved in another shitstorm, Lena," he said. "Not after what happened last time."
Okay, that's understandable.
"Who did kill them then?" It had to still be a family in the Elite. He had only ever failed Blake and Avril's case, and he had admitted the last case he had tried to build against the Elite had failed.
"You're going to university-" he started.
"I trust you to deal with it," I interrupted, already knowing where he was going with this. "I just want to know who."
"Blake was investigating one of the families. They didn't appreciate him looking into their business," Kaden said.
I gulped. "Which family?"
"The Winston's."
-- â¡ --
So we finally found out who killed Blake and Avril!
But as for everything else... Read the spin-off to find out.
Just as a reminder of how to find Wildest Dreams:
Click the 'External Link' on the side if you're on a computer.
Go to my profile and click 'Works', if you're using the app.
Hope to see you all there!
~JJ