Page 15 of Hidden Memories

Hello,

I am an old acquaintance of Mr. Mendez’s and am enquiring as to whether there are any jobs available at Monarch Hills? I am urgently seeking work and hoping to find a position that allows my son to come along temporarily as I do not have childcare, as for the time being, he is not in school.

I know this is an unusual request.

I would very much appreciate you forwarding this message to Mr. Mendez as he is aware of my horsemanship skills and whether there is any use for them at your ranch.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Kind regards,

Katinka Petras

(555) 466-6378

Acquaintance?

Kat and I were a hell of a lot more than acquaintances.

I rub my eyes hard, willing the email not to be there when I open them again.

It’s still very much there. My heart pounds with disbelief as I read the message on my screen for a third time. The word leaves my lips like a kettle letting go of slow steam. “Shit.”

Ava, my brother’s feisty, redheaded fiancée, turns around at the nearby desk where she’s working. “Santi. What’s up with you?”

I run my fingers through my hair and tug at it like I’m pulling the edge of a stress ball. I can’t talk to Ava about this, but without saying anything, I’m going to look as unraveled as I feel. I did just cuss out loud after all.

“Well…”

It’s all I can muster because I’m still trying to make heads or tails of this email myself.

I am urgently seeking work.

My mind races to a million years ago. I’m no longer in this office but under that tree, feeling the smooth body of a woman I thought I’d marry. I was so fucking wrong.

Katinka Castellanos. Petras now. I nearly ruined my life for this woman.

Why does she need a job?Kat’s from one of the wealthiest families in all of California; why would she reach out to me? I guess this means she’s not asking Daddy for help, and her shiny, pedigree husband must not be in the picture either. She would be mighty desperate to come crawling to me.

I’ve been working on remembering to forget Kat for years but have never quite succeeded.

I gaze back at the email then swiftly pull up another window to search for her. Rarely has the name Petras turned up anything but her husband, Nicholas, and this time is no different.

The third search item tells me a lot.He’s dead.

A widow at thirty-one. It was hard for me to wish her marriage was a happy one after all that happened. The spite in me prevented that; I’m a mere mortal and a scorned man. But still… this isn’t the natural order of things. He couldn’t have been more than forty-odd, and the kid is without a father now. I’m notthatspiteful.

Damn it… sympathy softens me. There’s no way in hell I want her near me. Because of her, I nearly tipped my family upside down at the worst time in our lives. She’s not working with me… But that doesn’t mean I want her not working anywhere.

If not for Kat, then at least for her kid. I wonder how old he is. Does he have her blue eyes? No. Don’t go there.

I dig my thumbs into my eye sockets. Fucking hell. If I’m going to help her it means she’ll be in Echo Valley.

I don’t realize Ava is still staring at me, and I’m not even sure for how long I let an ellipse hang in the air between us.

“Maybe I can help?” she says, bringing me back to our discussion and hopeful I’ll give her the gossip. Ava sure does like to help. She’s a little on the nosy side, but I like that about her.

Still, if I told her about Kat for real, she’d use her investigation and hacking skills to decode my past in less than ten minutes. I like Ava, and I trust her, but I never want anyone to find out what I did just to have Kat. Or for Ava to know Kat humiliated me despite my willingness to risk it all… But I would never be enough for the rich college girl. And even with all this success, I’ve never been able to fully get over being born into the wrong class.

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