Chapter Thirty-Two
MILA
Iheard the knock just after ten—loud and deliberate against the quiet of the house. We had been outside for a while, the fire crackling low as Mom insisted on making s’mores like things were normal again. At some point, she told me to text Luke and have him come over. So I did.
Luke: I’m at your place.
Mom and Edwardo were out back by the fire pit, their voices low and steady through the screen door. I crossed the living room and pulled the front door open.
Luke stood on the porch beneath the soft yellow glow of the overhead light, his posture relaxed but alert, hands shoved into his pockets as his gaze flicked briefly past me before settling back on my face. I went to him without hesitation, the familiar pull stronger than anything else. “Hey.”
His gaze held mine for a second, steady and controlled before it shifted past me toward the backyard, where the firelight flickered. “So, s’mores.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk.
I rolled my eyes then grabbed his hand. “Come on.”
We walked through the living room then out the kitchen door, the glow of the fire growing stronger with each step. The low murmur of conversation carried through the night, calm and unguarded in a way that felt unfamiliar after everything that’d happened.
Mom looked up first when we came into view. “Luke.”
Edwardo’s attention shifted immediately, his posture aligning as his gaze moved between us.
Luke gave a short nod. “Evening.”
I dropped onto the chair beside the fire, tucking my legs in as the warmth brushed against my skin. Luke took the chair to my left, and I passed him a skewer then a marshmallow.
Edwardo rotated a marshmallow slowly over the flame. “You picked a good night for this.”
Mom smiled faintly, watching the fire. “It’s been a while since things felt calm.”
Luke’s phone buzzed. He pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced down at the screen. The shift in him was immediate—subtle enough that no one else would notice, but I felt it in the way his body stilled beside me.
I leaned slightly toward him, and he passed me his skewer. The fire crackled softly, sending a brief spray of sparks into the night. “What is it?”
“Drew,” he answered. He scrolled down. “He said I need to watch this—it’s about Lorne. There’s a video.” He glanced up, met my gaze, then Mom and Edwardo’s too. “Probably all of us.”
I shifted closer, angling my body so I could see the screen as Mom and Edwardo moved closer. Luke hesitated for only a moment before tapping the video. The screen lit up with a news broadcast.
“…breaking developments tonight in a missing persons case that has remained unsolved for over a year…”
My breath caught as the words registered.
“…the body of Darren Langley was recovered earlier this week, and authorities have confirmed that evidence now directly connects his death to Lorne Hawthorne, who is already in custody on unrelated charges. Officials are expected to release further details as the investigation develops.”
Luke’s hand reached out and closed around mine.
“They found Darren.”
The world tilted.
For a second, my brain struggled to understand what he meant. Then I caught up, and the air left my lungs in a whoosh. My fingers curled around Luke’s hand automatically as the ground beneath my feet went wobbly.
The man lying on the pavement that night. Blood spreading across the concrete. The memory flashed so vividly, my stomach turned.
Luke’s arm wrapped around my back instantly, steadying me before I even realized I’d started to sway.
“Mila.” His voice stayed calm, grounding.
I tried to breathe. Darren Langley’s name hadn’t been spoken without tension attached to it. For over a year, he’d existed as something unfinished—an unanswered question hanging over my mom’s past, and to an extent, mine.
“I can’t believe they found his body.” My voice barely worked.
“Yes.”
The night seemed to go quieter around us. I forced myself to stand upright. He stood with me.
The video ended. Silence fell over the yard.
“So that means it’s real. If lawyers were notified… then Lorne’s been charged?”
“Yeah. It seems that way.”
I leaned into him without thinking, my shoulder pressing against his chest as if my body had already decided where safety was.
Behind me, Mom moved closer. I turned toward her slowly. I understood the relief in her face. It had been a constant shadow in our lives. The fear attached to the King name shifted—less immediate but not gone. “Are you okay?”
Edwardo wrapped his arms around her waist, studying Luke from behind her with the careful attention he always carried when something serious unfolded. “What else did you find out?”
Luke stayed calm beside me. “We found some documents of Darren’s, and my PI turned them over to Adriana’s FBI contact.”
Edwardo stilled. “You gave them to Nick?”
“I wasn’t taking chances with Lorne,” Luke said evenly. “Those records were too dangerous to keep. If Lorne decided to go after Mila or Adriana… I wanted the evidence somewhere he couldn’t bury it.”
Edwardo shifted slightly. “What kind of documents?”
“Financial records. Connected to King Enterprises,” Luke continued, “and Dunn Industries.”
Mom leaned back against Edwardo, her expression shaken but relieved. I wanted this over and behind us too. It was a constant shadow in our lives.
The fear attached to the name King loosened for the first time since we ran.
We’d been right to fear Lorne. And with what was likely ahead for him, that threat diminished considerably.
He was already behind bars. And if his sentence altered with Darren’s body unearthed, then we likely didn’t have anything more to worry about. I wanted to believe that.
Luke’s shoulder brushed mine again as he shifted closer.
I could stand on my own. But the way he kept showing up for me—without hesitation—broke something open deep inside my chest. Safe. And I loved him even more for it.
Edwardo’s hand flexed lightly against Mom’s waist while he absorbed the news. “That explains more than it should.”
I looked between them. “What do you mean?”
Before Edwardo could answer, Mom spoke quietly, “Darren used to talk to me about King Enterprises.”
Her fingers traced over Edwardo’s forearm, like she was following the memory through the quiet night.
“At first it was normal things. Long hours. Financial reports. Meetings with people he didn’t entirely trust.” She paused. “But toward the end… he worried about some things he’d come across.”
My stomach swirled. “What kind of things?”
Mom lifted her eyes to mine. “He said some of the numbers didn’t make sense. Money moving through places it shouldn’t. Accounts that didn’t match the reports being sent to the board.”
Luke’s shoulders tensed.
Mom continued. “He told me King Enterprises wasn’t the only company involved. That Dunn Industries had ties to some of the same financial channels.”
Edwardo nodded slightly. “That’s the part you told me about.”
I turned toward him. “You knew?”
“Only pieces,” Edwardo said carefully. “Adriana shared Darren’s concerns with me after she left Blackwood.
I passed what little information she had to Dominick, my stepbrother.
He has people who look into things when questions like that arise.
And he’s even shared some with her FBI contact.
One piece of information in particular.”
The night air seemed to grow heavier. “And that is?” I asked quietly.
“Dominick discovered a connection between Dunn Industries and a man named Victor Langley.”
Luke’s head lifted slightly. “Langley?”
Mr. Langley. I remembered overhearing Elise on the phone once when I’d been stuck serving on the gala fundraiser committee after school.
The way her voice had changed when she spoke to him.
The way she’d gone quiet afterward and done exactly what he told her—keeping me on the committee and making sure I didn’t make waves.
Edwardo gave a slight incline of his head. “He’s related to Darren. Distantly. But more importantly… he’s believed to be a silent partner behind portions of Dunn’s financial structure.”
Luke’s expression darkened beside me. “Like Lorne.”
Edwardo met his gaze. “Very much like Lorne.”
Mom’s gaze fixated on the flickering flames of the firepit. “Darren trusted his family.”
Luke spoke quietly beside me. “My guess was that he realized something wasn’t right.”
Mom’s hand tightened at her side. “He started digging.”
My stomach twisted. “And that’s why they killed him.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Mom lifted her eyes slowly to mine, something fierce burning behind them now. “He was going to try to do the right thing.”
“And that would have made him extremely dangerous to the wrong people.” Edwardo’s tone didn’t shift.
Luke’s arm came around my shoulders then. The movement came naturally—steady and grounding. I leaned into him without thinking. His palm brushed slowly against my arm, a quiet reminder that we were in this together.
The silence stretched around us.
Darren hadn’t died because of bad luck. He’d died from getting too close to the truth. And now that truth was surfacing.