Actually, before Hull came back, Susanna had really wanted to ask Barnaby about


    it.


    But Barnaby was glued to his phone, scrolling through TikToks, barely


    acknowledging she existed.


    So when Hull finally came home, he walked right into Susanna shooting daggers at Barnaby, her face a picture of pure exasperation.


    Now, hearing Susanna say she had questions for him, Hull frowned. "About your mom?"


    "Yeah, and about my mom. Didn''t you say you had a lead on her? What happened?"


    It wasn''t just about herself-her mom was always at the back of her mind.


    Every time she thought about how the Murray family had treated her and her mom, Susanna''s worry only grew.


    Growing up, all she really knew was that her mother was always busy with work. She was hardly ever home.


    Susanna had barely ever felt what real family warmth was like.


    She''d always longed for her mother''s love, sometimes even daydreamed about what it''d be like if her dad had been around.


    What was it her mom had said back then? Something like, "Susie, your dad''s been gone a long time."


    Hearing that as a kid had crushed her.


    But looking at things now, sometimes she wondered if being gone was better. At least the dead didn''t drag you into all this mess. Being alive just seemed to make things moreplicated.


    Hull said, "Your mom''s okay. She''s with Lincoln."


    "So where are they?"


    "That... I''m not sure."


    Hull was pretty certain, though-Lacey and Lincoln were together, wherever they''d gone. And they were okay.


    Susanna frowned. "If you don''t even know where they are, how can you be so sure they''re fine?"


    "Lincoln left a sign."


    A sign only Hull could read, meaning "All''s well."


    All''s well...


    That could only mean one thing: the two of them had left for some other business rted to ck Gate.


    So, their job was to stay here and


    ack Gat


    Gate distractiet


    Lacey and Lincoln


    and Lincoln enough t to de whatever they needed to do.  s


    "Really?" Susanna still sounded skeptical.


    Hull reached out and gently pinched her cheek, his eyes soft. "Really."


    With Hull saying it like that, Susanna couldn''t help but nod, though her heart still fluttered with worry.<fn4b08> Find the newest release on ?ovelFind</fn4b08>


    She hadn''t seen her mom in so long.


    "Oh, right—look what we found near Lincoln''s stuff."


    Hull dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small object.


    Susanna took it, and the furrow in her brow finally eased as soon as she saw it.


    Hull asked, "What is it?"


    Susanna smiled a little. "She''s okay."


    She remembered this thing-her mom had shown her it together with another item years ago.


    Back then, her mom had exined: if she ever had to leave, she''d leave one or the other for Susanna. This one meant she was safe and


    Susana should stay put. The other one well if she ever saw that it meant danger, and she needed to hide.  s


    "So, can we finally go grab something to eat?" Hull asked, noticing she looked more rxed.


    "Wait-one more thing," Susanna said, stopping him.


    "Yeah?"


    "Howe Yvonne didn''t know you took me with you? Didn''t you say she knew?" That day, when she''d tried to call Yvonne, Hull had insisted Yvonne was in on it. Hull hesitated. "..."


    Susanna narrowed her eyes. "Don''t lie. I know everything now."


    And that was the problem-knowing everything just made her head hurt even


    more.


    Life had gotten soplicatedtely, her brain felt like scrambled


    yet


    And after calling Ste earlier,


    she was even more confier,


    s


    Hull finally admitted, "She really didn''t know."


    Susanna blinked, incredulous. "What?"