All Chapters of Little Dark Secrets : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Chapter 172 IvyWe sat out there long enough that my legs went numb from the cold concrete under me, and eventually Daniel stood up and held his hand out, not pulling me, just offering it in case I wanted it. I didn’t take it right away. I just looked at it for a second, then up at him, then finally let him help me to my feet because my knees felt like they’d forgotten how to work on their own.“You don’t have to go back in there tonight,” he said. “There’s a diner two streets over. Bad coffee, worse pie, but nobody in there is going to ask you what your last name means.”I almost laughed. “You’re trying to get me away from my own family.”“I’m trying to get you somewhere you can breathe. Different thing.”I looked back at the house. Through the window I could see the shape of Jade sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up, and somewhere past her, out of sight, Ava was probably still on the floor where I left her, and Jax was probably still standing there not knowing what to do w

Chapter 174 IvyDaniel drove so fast back to the house that I stopped looking at the speedometer after the second red light he ran, because every time I looked at it my stomach dropped even lower than it already was, and it was already somewhere near my shoes.“Call her again,” he said without taking his eyes off the road.“I’ve called her four times.”“Call her five.”I called. It rang and rang and rang and I was about to throw the phone at the dashboard when Jade finally picked up, breathing so hard I could barely understand her.“Ivy? Ivy, somebody tried the back door. I heard the handle. It went down and up and down again and I didn’t move, I swear I didn’t move, and then it stopped and I don’t know if they’re gone or if they’re just standing out there…”“Where are you right now?”“In the kitchen. On the floor. Mum’s with me. Jax went to check the back and I told him not to but he did it anyway because apparently nobody in this family listens to anybody.”“We’re two minutes away.

Chapter 176AvaI was lying upstairs with the curtains shut when I heard Ivy scream Daniel’s name into her phone, and I was down the stairs so fast I nearly went down the last three on my back.She was standing in the hallway by the front door holding an envelope in one hand and a photo in the other. Jax was right behind her. Jade was halfway out of the kitchen with a spoon still in her hand. Ivy saw me and her whole face changed, and she shoved the photo back into the envelope so fast she bent it.“Go back upstairs, Mum.”“What is that?”“Nothing. Go back upstairs.”“Ivy, you just screamed like somebody was dying. What is it?”“It’s mine. It’s my problem. I’m handling it.”“Handling it how? By hiding it behind your back while you shake?”She was shaking. Her hands, her lip, all of her. Jade came closer and Ivy turned her body away from her sister so fast it was almost a flinch.“Jade, go in the kitchen.”“Why?”“Because I said so.”“You’re not my mum.”“Well, today I am. Kitchen. Now

Chapter 178IvyMorales looked at the phone in my hand, then at me, then at the phone again, and for a second I honestly thought she was going to arrest me too.“Did you just…”“Yes.”“On a suspect’s phone.”“Yes.”“Which is evidence.”“You said that already. Well, Daniel said it. Same thing.”Daniel took the phone out of my hand, gently, and read the message. He didn’t say anything. He just breathed out slowly through his nose, which I was starting to learn was what he did instead of yelling.“Ivy,” he said. “You can’t walk into a room with that man.”“I’m not walking in alone. You’re all coming. That’s the point.”“That’s not how this works.”“Then tell me how it works, because from where I’m standing, he has had people following me for weeks, he paid your boss, he paid Lena, he paid Kai’s lawyers, he walked through my mum’s garden at midnight, and every single time, we find out after. I’m done finding out after. For once I want to know where he is before he knows where I am.”Lena

Chapter 180JadeIn my defense, I only went out for a phone charger.Morales’s secret flat had one plug in the kitchen that worked, one plug in the bathroom that sparked when you touched it, and zero chargers that fit my phone, and my phone was on four percent, and everybody in that flat was acting like the world was ending, which, okay, it kind of was, but I still needed my phone.“There’s a shop on the corner,” I said to Jax. “I’ll be two minutes.”“No.”“It’s literally on the corner. You can see it from the window.”“We’re not supposed to open the curtains.”“Then you can see it from the window if you open the curtains a tiny bit.”“Jade. No.”Mum was asleep in the bedroom. She’d finally taken the pills the doctor gave her last month and she was out cold. Ivy and Daniel were gone with Morales somewhere, doing something with Kai, which was a sentence I never wanted to say. So it was just me and Jax and Jax’s stupid knife.“You’re not my dad,” I said.“I know I’m not your dad.”“You’