Chapter 9: Who Held the Phone

Ingrid's POV

I came downstairs at six and found my daughter giving the Alpha of Hollowbrook orders.

"Not like that," Hazel said.

She stood on a kitchen chair in her pajamas with a spatula in her fist.

"You hit it on the flat part. If you hit it on the corner, it makes a mess."

Torin looked at the egg in his hand.

He had a black shirt on, with the sleeves pushed up, and the bowl in front of him already held more shell than egg.

"The flat part," he said.

"Yes. Do it again."

He hit the next one on the flat of the counter.

It cracked cleanly, and the yolk slid into the bowl whole.

Hazel gave a small nod.

"Better," she said.

"He uses too much hand," Orin said from the table, where he had already decided what he thought of the man.

"Orin."

"I'm just saying."

"You can say it quieter," I said.

Torin glanced at me.

I stood in the doorway with my arms crossed, and my hands, which are always cold, were warm again.

I put them in my sleeves.

He saw me do it.

He did not say anything, and he kept the width of the counter between us.

That had been the first rule, and he kept it.

I hated how much I noticed.

When the eggs were done, I sent the twins out to the porch with toast and a blanket.

There were four of Torin's men in the yard, and I could see the children through the window the whole time.

Then Torin wiped his hands, took a thick folder from a drawer, and set it on the counter between us.

"Read it," he said.

"Everything is in there. I did not touch a page after I printed it."

The first sheet was a carrier log.

It had one line marked in yellow.

At 5:41 a.m., on the morning after the party, a text had gone from his handset to my number.

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