Page 128 of Stolen Summer

“I promise you he did.”

Cole unzippered his bag, pulling something out. “Here. Put these on,” he said, handing me a rolled-up pair of socks. “They’re clean. I promise,” he added with a smirk, leaning back against the bench.

I took them only because my toes were starting to turn blue. It was colder outside than it had been this morning, particularly with the sun dipping closer to the horizon. “Thanks,” I mumbled, unraveling the small bundle and slipping them onto my feet. The flood of warmth was instant.

I stopped the self-pitying for a moment and looked at Cole. Really looked at him. Something in his expression bugged me, but I couldn’t figure out what. Was it a tinge of sadness I detected under the Cole smirk? “Are you okay?” I asked, sitting straight.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” He shrugged off my genuine concern.

“I don’t know. That’s why I asked. What is it? What are you hiding from me now?”

He sat on the bench beside me. “Nothing, Quinn.”

“I don’t believe you. Is it your father?” I recalled the injunction his Mr. Riley had given Crew regarding the business deal he orchestrated between his family and Gianna’s.

His shoulders dipped and a long sigh left his chest. Such grimness shone in his eyes as he turned them on me. “If you don’t stop Crew, he’ll make the biggest mistake of your lives. You’ll lose him, Quinn. We both will.”

I swallowed, forcing the words out of my throat. “You mean he is going to marry Gianna.”

Cole nodded. “If it means getting my father off my back, yeah. I can’t let him do that. Crew’s sacrificed too much for me as it is.”

“There has to be a way out of it,” I fretted, tingles of panic circling my heart at the thought of Crew with someone else, particularly someone like Gianna.

“We can’t disgrace the good Riley name,” Cole mocked in what I recognized as his father’s gruff voice. I’d met the man only once, but it was enough to leave a lasting impression. And enough to know he wasn’t someone I wanted in my life. Nothing about Rowan Riley was trustworthy. “It’s our duty to uphold the family business, to make sacrifices as my grandfather had and his before him,” Cole continued muckily, his chest puffed out. “To Rowan Riley, marriage is just another legal contract, nothing more.”

“Your parents didn’t marry for love?”

Cole scoffed. “Hardly. My mother spends more time abroad than she does under the same roof with her husband. He gives her the luxury to live her life as she chooses, and she gave him heirs. She upheld her duty.”

I couldn’t imagine having my entire future dictated for me, driven by another man’s ambition and greed. “I don’t know what you think I can do to save Crew.”

He captured my gaze for a lengthy moment. “I think you do know.”

I swallowed. “You want me to marry him?”

Cole caught a lock of my hair blowing in the wind, twirling it around his finger. “I’m betting he would give it all up for you.”

He was up to something, putting these ideas into my head, but it only confused me more. “And he could end up hating me for it.”

“Or he could be happier than he’s ever been,” Cole countered.

I shook the idea from my head, however tempting for selfish reasons. “I won’t trap him. How does it make me any better than Gianna?”

“Because he loves you.”

Why did the thought of spending the rest of my life with Crew make my heart rate skyrocket? It had been five days, and my heart still went bonkers when I considered it. I had no doubt despite everything he put me through that I loved the fucker.

I was in love with Crew Riley, and despite what Cole said, I wasn’t as positive Crew returned those feelings of love.

For days, I went back and forth on whether dropping my heart at Crew’s feet was smart. It became clear my feelings couldn’t be ignored and wouldn’t fade. Ever.

That was a problem.

Perhaps in a few years, I might feel different, but I’d never been in love before, and it scared me.

“Did you see this?” Frankie asked, surging into the bedroom with her phone clutched in her hand. Her somber expression made my stomach pitch. Whatever she wanted to show me, it wasn’t good.

I sat up on my bed, tossing the book in my lap aside. Frankie handed me her phone. I glanced at the screen, the headline from an online article popping out.

---