Page 113 of Catch and Release

“All I want is to apologize to?—”

“I don’t forgive you. You’re an ass. Is that all?”

Leo sighed.

Pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket.

“My wife can’t find out.”

Willa’s rage boiled over. “Is that an NDA?”

“I’ll give you $250,000 to sign it.”

Willa laughed. “You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I’m dead serious.”

Willa searched his eyes for something—anything—that reminded her of the man she was with. Was he always this cutthroat, deceiving, and manipulative?

“You’re not scared of your wife. Who are you afraid of finding out?”

Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Just sign it, Willa. And I’ll wire $250,000 to you tomorrow.”

Willa sighed, rubbing her temples. “Leo, you really are an idiot and I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”

Shawn pulled his phone out of his pocket. Still no word from Willa. He tried calling. Straight to voicemail.

And again.

And again.

She’d probably put it on do not disturb during their date, but now?

What was she doing with Leo?

Finally, he left her a voicemail.

“Willa, Grams fell. It’s bad. We’re at the hospital if you can come. Please.”

There was so much more he wanted to say: I love you and I need you chief among them. But he couldn’t find it in him to say those words, not when she asked him to leave her house after her ex showed up. So after an awkward pause, he hung up the phone.

And threw it into the wall.

“FUCK!” he screamed, his rage bubbling over into something he couldn’t control.

“Sir,” a nurse said sternly, “control yourself or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Shit.

“Sorry,” he said. “Won’t happen again.”

The nurse’s eyes softened. She was a Black woman, probably in her forties or fifties, wearing blue scrubs and sneakers.

“Is there someone I can check on for you?”

Shawn sighed. “My grandmother. Ida Gray.”

She nodded. “I’ll see if I can find anything out.”

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