Page 83 of Vicious Desire (Fallen Royals 4)

I shudder, and Dad hugs me. He keeps my head against his chest and backs away.

Maybe he doesn’t want me to see, but I can still hear.

The orderlies and EMTs transfer Noah to the stretcher and strap him down. They wheel my brother out of the house, lift him down the porch steps, and put him in the ambulance. Everyone piles back into the vehicles.

Their doors shut.

I back away from my dad and run out onto the porch, watching the ambulance lights flick back on and back out. The van follows.

The red and white lights are seared into my eyes, and it’s only when the darkness creeps back in do I realize I’m crying. Everything is blurry.

My brother is gone.

20

Eli

She’s crushed.

But when she tells us what’s been going on under the surface, I’m crushed. And so is Margo, judging from her shocked expression.

Her brother was sent to rehab for a drug problem, and none of us knew.

“How did you keep that secret?” I demand. “Why?”

I want to punch something. I can just imagine how it ripped them apart.

She looks away, guilty as fuck, and I grab her chin. I force her head in my direction and wait for her gaze to meet mine.

“You should’ve told me,” I tell her softly.

She shrugs.

“And your mom,” Margo says.

Riley’s body locks up. I might not have noticed if I wasn’t this close. If I wasn’t achingly familiar with it.

I tilt my head, and for the first time in too long, concern for her family threads through me. I was there when they brought her mom home from the hospital for what they hoped was the last time. She was in good spirits. And even when we dated, in the beginning of last year, she was… around.

It’s then that it clicks: her son is missing and she’s nowhere to be found.

“I don’t want to talk about her,” Riley says. “We need to find Noah.”

She steps out of my grasp. I hadn’t realized I was still holding her chin, still keeping her so close to me.

I step back, too, and rub the back of my neck.

“We split up,” Caleb says. “We have Eli’s truck, Jake’s car, and Theo’s. Riley, I don’t think you should drive.”

She scowls. “I’m fine to drive.”

He waves his hand, dismissive. “Go with Eli. Margo with me. Liam and Theo, Jake and Parker.” He gives us neighborhoods, and we all head out.

I cast one look back at Riley’s house. There’s a light on in her parents’ bedroom, and a shadow against the window.

Shivers run down my back.

“Come on,” Riley snaps, tugging on the door handle.