Chapter 43

VALERIA. The realization hits all of us like a rushing train. We all sit back, shocked by the discovery. It’s as though Stefano and I dropped a bomb in the room and now all of us are dealing with the damage. It seems to specifically affect Auric too, being someone who Jake was close to. “But he couldn’t have done it on purpose. Right?” “I don’t think he could have,” I say, and Stefano nods. “Poor Eden.” “We should have asked her to come here,” Celeste says, but then she pauses. “Is Jake even alive? The way Eden reacted to my question before…” “Well, there’s one way to find out,” Stefano puts in, flipping another page in his notebook and showing us a list of contacts. “These are the contact details of every asylum in the Society and close by. We have to call each of them and check if Jake is in any of them.” I look at him, impressed. “You’ve really been doing all this work on your own, huh?” His cheeks go red. “It’s just good to be prepared.” Celeste smiles knowingly, but she do