Chapter 13

A hoarse voice crackled through the carelessly tossed phone on the table, distorted yet clear enough to stop both Aspen and Nora in their tracks. Buried memories suddenly burst forth, flipping through pages of recollection until they settled on that photograph they had only seen once. That slightly yellowed, aged picture showed two people, their eyes filled with love and tenderness as they gazed at each other. Aspen and Nora remembered it vividly now: Quill's wistful expression as he reminisced about returning to them in three days, the gentle way his fingers caressed the photo, and how he had snatched it back whenever they pressed too hard. Thinking back, it was hard to believe the bond captured in that photo could belong to a man who was supposedly just a long-lost friend. Corey was standing nearby and saw how they froze in place. A twisted smile of satisfaction crept across his face. He had been tormented for three years—why should they get to live peacefully while he suffer