Page 129 of What Comes Around

Poor Evan. He was just a child.

“...DNA confirmed it this afternoon,” he continued.

I didn’t say anything.

The bedroom door opened softly. Knox walked in. He didn’t interrupt. He just sat on the edge of the bed, close enough that the mattress dipped under his weight.

“I thought you should know,” my father said. “Before you heard it somewhere else.”

“Do they have a suspect?” I asked.

Knox’s hand stilled slightly, but he stayed silent.

There was a pause on the line.

“They’re investigating,” my father said carefully. “No arrests yet.”

I swallowed. “I see.”

Another silence stretched, thinner this time.

“There’s something else,” he added. “I filed for divorce from Marissa.”

That pulled my attention back fully.

“It’s done,” he continued. “I should have done it a long time ago.”

I didn’t respond.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. “For everything. I know I can’t fix the past. But I… I want to try to do better.”

Too late.

“I’m tired,” I said, cutting through it before he could say more.

A quiet exhale. “…Alright,” he said. “Rest. We can talk another time.”

“Goodnight,” I said, ending the call before he could respond.

For a moment, I stayed still, the phone resting loosely in my hand as the silence settled around us. Then Knox’s hand moved, covering mine.

“Who’s dead?” he asked quietly.

I stared at the dark screen for a second before answering. “Elena.”

His brows drew together. “Evan’s mom?”

I nodded. “They found her in the woods. She’s been dead for weeks.”

He didn’t respond right away. He shifted closer instead, his shoulder brushing mine, his thumb moving slowly over the back of my hand in a quiet, grounding rhythm. His gaze dipped to my wrist, lingering on the bracelet as his fingers traced the delicate metal, slow and deliberate.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment, his thumb brushing once over the clasp before returning to my hand.

I swallowed. “Yeah.”

The silence returned, heavier now, and I let my gaze drop to our hands, his fingers still wrapped around mine.

“We should talk about this,” he said.