Page 99 of Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

"We'll find out for sure. So, what next?"

I thought for a moment. Then said, "I don't want to go back to my suite and look at Andrew's things in my bedroom closet. And I don't want to walk around the resort where there will probably be a lot of curious stares, because I'm sure the news of what happened here is already spreading. Megan will have her work cut out for her if she wants to spin all this. And no matter how hard she tries, it will all come out eventually. The Carrington dream wedding couple wasn't real at all. The groom was a con man, and the bride was an idiot. Kind of hard to sell that." I let out a breath. "I'd like to walk into town and be a nobody. I want to order a cheeseburger and fries and walk barefoot on the beach and listen to music and feel normal again."

"That sounds like a plan."

"Would you care to join me, Ethan?"

He smiled. "I would, but only if you're paying, because you now own a diamond worth about twenty million dollars, which is way above my pay grade."

"What?" I asked in astonishment. "Seriously? It's worth that much?"

"It could be even more." Ethan paused. "You could do a lot of good with that money, Lauren. I wouldn't give the diamond back to Victor. Does he really need something else to impress his friends when you could change a lot of lives? Wouldn't that be more fun?"

"That would be fun. Okay. I'll think about it. We'll put the diamond in the vault, and then I will buy you dinner. You can even order a beer if you want," I added with a smile.

"Oh, I am definitely ordering a beer. Maybe two."

"Or three," I said, meeting his warm gaze. "Because this beer-drinking girl has had more than enough champagne."

Epilogue

Four weeks later…

I stood at my mother's grave in a cemetery in west Los Angeles, holding a bouquet of blue forget-me-nots in my hand. As I gazed down at her tombstone and read the inscriptionSarah Gray, Loving Mother, my eyes filled with moisture. Kneeling down, I put the flowers in the built-in vase by the tombstone. I hadn't been to her grave since a few weeks before my wedding, and that felt like a lifetime ago.

I should have come before now, but I'd felt too emotional, too close to everything that had happened. And there had been a lot to deal with in the past few weeks as I learned more about Andrew and his friends.

Andrew, Colin, and Jay had been transferred to the county jail in Los Angeles and charged with multiple crimes. Jay had decided to talk in exchange for a lighter sentence, and it turned out the three of them had met in their early twenties and had been stealing for over a decade, their skills and ambition increasing with each passing year. Andrew's real estate company had made a few development deals in the past several years, but it was primarily a front for laundering money made through fencing stolen works of art.

Allison had worked with them on multiple occasions, but they had never really trusted her. As Andrew had told me on the island, she was too impulsive and too reckless. She and Andrew had had a sexual relationship that had lasted far longer and gone far deeper than he'd shared with me, which explained why she'd gotten so angry with him. She'd felt betrayed by his marriage to me, and his secret plan to use me against Victor for his own personal gain.

Harper had known nothing about Colin's life as a thief and had been devastated to realize she'd fallen for another bad guy. It would take her a while to trust someone again, but I hoped she would get there. I hoped we would both get there. I'd told her we couldn't let these men steal our future happiness. They'd already taken too much from us.

As for Bennett, he had been charged with murder and attempted murder and was being held without bail. Paula had apparently checked herself into some sort of luxury mental health sanctuary as she tried to deal with the fact that her son had killed someone and her husband had a bastard daughter.

According to Megan, who had also been in touch, the marketing campaign had been completely scrapped. The photos and video we had shot would never be seen, but news of my relationship to Victor had come out, creating more interest in the Carrington family. Ironically, the extensive coverage had resulted in more people booking rooms at the resort, wanting to see the lighthouse where Bennett Carrington had tried to kill his half-sister.

Over time, people would forget. But I would never forget any of it.

However, I would move on. I had a life to live, a life I had almost lost, and I wouldn't waste it. My mom wouldn't have wanted that for me.

Tracing her name with my fingers, I said, "I wish you'd told me about Victor, Mom. I'm trying to understand why you didn't want me to know who my father was. And I'm angry that you can't tell me now, that we can't discuss it. I want to hear your version of the story, not just his. How will I know if he's telling me the truth?" I sighed, feeling a futile yearning for a voice that could never come again.

"It might not be the same story your mother would tell you, but it will be true," a man said from behind me.

Shocked, I got to my feet and faced Victor Carrington. I still had trouble thinking of him as my father. We hadn't spoken since I'd seen him at the lighthouse, and I wasn't sure I was ready to do that now.

The polished veneer he usually wore had cracked. His blue eyes, normally sharp and confident, were shadowed with exhaustion and uncertainty. Silver had begun threading through the dark hair at his temples, and the perfectly tailored suit that had always seemed like armor now hung on his frame as if he'd forgotten to eat for days.

"Will you let me tell you the story, Lauren?" Victor asked, bringing me back to the present.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"I went to your apartment. A woman watering the plants out front told me you'd gone to the cemetery to see your mom."

"I'm surprised you would know which cemetery that was, or did my landlord share that information, too?"

"I knew where your mother was buried. I visited a few weeks after the funeral."

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