Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem ( Elysia and Tarquin)

"You... you need to get up."

Evan stayed on the floor, shaking his head. "Uncle, Bernard told me about everything that happened between the two of you the bad blood, the tough choices. I don't agree with what Bernard did, just like you. But I get where he's coming from."

He took a breath, voice steady. "My mom always says life is like a giant test sheet, full of tricky multiple-choice questions. You only get to pick one answer every time. It's never perfect, but that's life."

"Bernard didn't go after revenge for your wife. He chose to save you instead. I don't think that makes him wrong."

He glanced up, earnest. "But I understand you too. If anyone ever hurt my mom, I'd do anything—I'd rather die than let it go. I'd want revenge too. I wouldn't want to live with that pain."

"So you're not wrong, and Bernard's not wrong either. The ones really at fault are the people who started all this in the first place."

He remembered what his big brother, Elliot, had told him last night. "Elliot says this world is full of impossible choices. You can't win them all. You have to look at things from different angles, not just get stuck on one thing."

He looked his uncle in the eye. "You're angry at Bernard, but deep down, you're angry at yourself too. You blame Bernard for not avenging your wife, but you're also mad at yourself for not doing it for your own mom. You've got to let Bernard go. And you've got to let yourself off the hook, too."

Those words echoed in his mind. Elliot always gave the best advice, and Evan believed him completely.

His uncle glared at him, eyes red, brow furrowed, silent for a long moment.

Evan spoke up again. "There's something else you should know. Bernard didn't go after revenge, not just because of you. It's also because he never found out who the real killer was."

His uncle's eyes flew wide open in disbelief. "He... he doesn't know?!"

Evan nodded, completely serious. "He really doesn't. When Bernard gave up on revenge and faked his death, it was partly to protect you. But after you could take care of yourself, he still didn't go after the killer-because he just didn't know who it was."

He shrugged. "He's good, but he's not some kind of superhero. He can't do everything. Sometimes, even he's powerless."

Elliot had been clear: at sixty years old, his uncle deserved the truth. No more secrets.

Evan nodded again. "Bernard told me himself. He's still investigating. He just didn't want to tell you because he was afraid it would break you. But I think you're Stronger than that."

He looked his uncle straight in the eye, voice steady. "The real revenge hasn't happened yet. You can't fall apart now. You have to be even stronger. We need to find the killer. We need to get justice."

He gave a small, encouraging smile. "And I'll be with you every step of the way."

His uncle was trembling, lips quivering. Evan's eyes were full of conviction.

"Your loss is my loss," he said. "This is a family thing. My dad, my mom, big

brother Elijah—we're all in this together. We'll help you.”noveldrama

His uncle could only tremble in silence, overcome by emotion.

...

Meanwhile, Tarquin and Bernard had used the GPS tracker on the wristband to track down the survivors.

Out of over a hundred people, only about twenty were left.

And even those twenty weren't whole anymore.

Some were missing arms or legs-their bodies broken. Others, after a night of horror, had minds that were just as shattered. But they still remembered to run down the mountain, desperate to survive.

Bernard and Tarquin hid in the shadows. Bernard narrowed his eyes at Tarquin and whispered, "So, what do you plan to do with the rest of them? Are we just going to kill them all?"