Page 53 of Love Over Time

I brought my knees in, while my head rested in the nook of his neck and shoulder.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his muscles tensed. “I’ve also considered the possibility that Mom killed Dad.” His voice quavered. I’d seen the doubt in his eyes before, at the manor and when we talked to the bartender. But this was the first time he’d actually said the words.

I kissed the stubble along his jawline. “It wasn’t her.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know. She loved your dad so much. I could see it in her eyes. She adored him.”

He inhaled and blew out air. “Sleep,” he whispered, planting small kisses on the side of my face. I melted into him, completely relaxed as I drifted off to sleep.

I was in the tunnel. James’s face lay on the ground with his mouth slack, eyes empty, and blood everywhere. I flinched and snapped my eyes open. I lay on my bed, a blanket over me, and a pillow under my head, but no Henry. Outside, the street lights of Main Street glowed behind the curtains. How long had I been out? I sat up.

“How do you feel?” Henry asked from the other side of the room, staring at the wall covered with his dad’s pictures.

I stuffed a hand in my hair. The onset of a headache tapped on a nerve behind my eyes. “Like I got run over by a train. What time is it?”

“Midnight.” The mattress dipped when he sat next to me. “You’re starting to remember. Aren’t you? You were talking in your sleep.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, Henry. Lately, everywhere we turn, your uncle is there. Maybe I just want him to be guilty.”

“It can’t be a coincidence that we both see him in our dreams.”

“We both hate him.”

“True.” He braced his arms on his thighs and buried his head in his hands. “I don’t even know where to start.” I squeezed his shoulders, and he turned to face me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the will.”

All we had was each other. Why couldn’t he trust me a little more? I wasn’t mad at him for not telling me about the will, though I wanted to know why he’d done it. Why had he told Dom first? What was he afraid of?

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“I don’t know. You seemed so preoccupied with money. I didn’t want things to change between us.” He cradled my face.

I met his gaze. “Are you afraid to go from boyfriend to mark?”

He glanced at the wall behind me for a second. “No.”

Bullshit.That was it.

“You want to know why I was mad at you earlier today?” He nodded, and I scooted over on the bed away from him.

I could still feel him from earlier today, his body pressed against me, with him inside me. It was easier to think if I didn’t have his hands on me. “You used sex to get something from me. You got me to agree to something I didn’t want. A taste of my own medicine, I suppose.” Something bubbled in my chest, filling the hole that my parents and Lisa had left behind. “No one has ever done that to me. No one has ever seen me for who I am, loved me for me. Even if I wanted to, there’s no conning you.”

He released a breath and let his head fall back. After a long while, he leaned over me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “I do love you, Nikki. But if you break my heart twice, I know I won’t survive it. Not this time.”

“I would never do that. You have to believe me. Trust in me.”

He kissed me, a slow I-trust-you kiss. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshole for even thinking you might be tempted to run away. You can take all the money. Just don’t leave me again.”

Tears spilled over my cheeks. “Henry, I never left you.” I threw my arms around his neck and held him tight.

And then it hit me like a bucket of ice water. The implication of Henry playing this last card—the original will—was useless. “Your uncle hired someone to roughyou up when you asked about your mom. What do you think he’s going to do to you, or your mom, when he finds out you have the original will?”

He slid a finger across his jaw. “I thought about that. If something happens to Mom, Lisa will stay in jail for another fifteen years for a murder she didn’t commit.”

“I don’t care about your stupid money. As far as I know, the Cavalier fortune is the reason why we’re all in this mess. All I care about is my family: Lisa, you, and your mom. Whether your uncle or fate had a hand in it, Lisa and your mom’s lives are linked, just like ours were since the beginning.” I took his hand. “We need to find Tessa.”

“I know, but where do we start?”

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