The night was unusually quiet. Ella sat on the sofa in the living room, staring out the window at an ocean that continued to cover and uncover the sand, but the hypnotizing crashes she’d grown used to hearing seemed absent. Only an occasional rogue wave, larger than the others, would meet the shore with such velocity that the resulting sound would hit her ears.
Her phone sat on the coffee table in front of her, the blank screen looking up at her as a constant reminder that she had no idea what was going on. Rome had offered to leave his phone on in his pocket so
“I am very sorry for what happened to Ella Sinders. It was a tragedy,” Monty Verona began, finally setting his wine glass down to respond to Rome’s statement. “She was a beautiful young woman with her whole life in front of her. I have to say, though, son, I think it is for the better that you had disassociated with her. She clearly wasn’t stable.”Anger began to seethe below the surface, but Rome fought it. So much of what his dad had to say made him want to yell, to reach across the table and punch his own father in the mouth. &ld
Fresh air was a welcome greeting as Rome lifted his face to the sky and took in a few whiffs of the LA street. Fresh might’ve been an exaggeration, but at least the heavy floral perfume his mother wore and his father’s pungent cologne, along with the stifling weight of the conversation he’d just left, were behind him now. Bart hurried him toward the parking garage, neither of them speaking, which Rome thought was for the best since they had no idea if any of the people they were passing on the street were his father’s associates.And there was
Headlights shown through the window. Ella leaped up off of the sofa and ran over to the window to watch a sedan come up the lane. It wasn’t Bart’s vehicle, but then, he’d mentioned on the phone they’d switched cars. She held her breath, hoping this was Rome returned home and not trouble brewing.When she saw her husband step out of the passenger side, a flood of relief washed over her. Bart got out, too, though he didn’t step away from the open door. Ella couldn’t contain herself anymore and went out to greet him, flying past the se
Sleeping should’ve been easier since Rome had spoken to his parents and gotten a few things settled, but Ella had had a hard time of it and was up with the first rays of light pouring in through the bedroom window. A glance at her sleeping husband told her that she wouldn’t disturb him if she crept out of bed, so she did, stopping by the closet for a change of clothes on the way to the bathroom.Even the shower didn’t wake him. When she went back by a half hour later, he was still out cold. She smiled at how handsome he was, sleeping with one arm tuc
Breakfast was delicious, as it always was when Lenore made it. Ella ate way too many blueberry pancakes, paired with the crispiest bacon she’d ever devoured, washing it down with fresh squeezed orange juice. By the time she dropped her fork, there was no way one more bite could’ve slipped past her lips. She leaned back in her chair, one hand on her stomach, watching Rome finish off the last few bites, the look on his face telling her he was just as stuffed as she was.“Man, now that was a good breakfast,” her husband declared, placing his fork
The first bit of information she needed had been found rather quickly, once Ella settled into a seat by a large window in the hall upstairs. She had her feet up on the matching chair, her computer open on her lap, a view of the sea out the window not enough to distract her from her search.She’d learned quickly that Rome had purchased the house from a couple with the last name of Brand. While she’d been able to find the seller’s name online, the buyer was undisclosed in most places she found and listed under Rome’s lawyer’s name elsewhere
The ocean waves wet her bare toes as Ella sat on the sand, staring out at the cresting waves as they broke apart twenty feet in front of her, spilling onto the shore and gently rolling up to greet her before slowly sliding away.Above her, seagulls called to one another, arching and swirling, their white wings offset against the vivid azure sky, fading into the puffy clouds aloft as they twisted and turned without care. Ella’s mind went back to the little bird that used to visit her window sill and how she had longed to have the sort of freedom wings could bring
Days of searching online and getting nowhere brought Ella right back to the place where the adventure had begun, the attic. Rome was on set, so she was in the house alone, save the security guards and Lenore who was in the kitchen humming as she prepared to drop a stew into the crockpot for dinner. Ella stood at the top of the ladder looking around at all of the paintings, trying to imagine F. Ward here painting. Why had she left these behind?She decided to do an inventory of the paintings here. Maybe that would give her some clues. Pulling out her cell phone, Ella m