Page 99 of Shattered Dreams

“Yes, I will. It’s beautiful, and I’m honored to wear it.”

She holds out her hand—it’s shaking and you have no idea how relieved I am she can be nervous about something like this—and I push the little diamond onto her finger. Her hand is dainty, and the ring looks perfect. “I had to have it adjusted and asked Stella for your ring size. My grandma had pudgy fingers.”

Laughing, she uses the hand towel to blot the tears off her cheeks. “I have something for you, too.”

I stiffen. I never want her to think she has to give me anything but her love to keep me. “You didn’t need—”

“Yes, I did. You’ve only ever asked me for one thing, and I want to give it to you. I dropped my purse in the living room.” She holds out her arms asking me to lift her off the counter, and I set her on the floor and follow her, unable to take my eyes off her. She picks up her purse by the strap.

Pulling a stack of envelopes out of her bag, she says, “When all this was over, you asked if we could go on vacation. Glass floors?” she asks, her lips quirking, teasing me.

“I did.” She asked what she could give me and I didn’t know what else to say. I already had my heart’s desire and I didn’t need or want anything else.

“Things aren’t quite over. Rourke, Jerricka, Dr. Mallory, Dr. Pederson, even the medical examiner, they’re all under investigation, and I won’t stop until they pay for what they did to me and the other patients at Quiet Meadows. But before that starts, I want to make love while fish swim underneath us.” She hands me the envelopes, and our names are written on each one. “We’re all going. Zane and Stella, Linc and Lucille. Douglas. Baby, too, though she might need one or two shots to travelinternationally. She’s family, and I don’t want to board her while we’re gone.”

I brush my fingertips over the thick cream paper. “Is Zane going to be able to fly with us?”

Zarah laughs, and Christ, after this fucking nightmare, it’s such a sweet sound. “You got him on a helicopter to rescue me. How cool is that?”

“He’d do anything for you, Zarah, same as me.”

She steps into my arms. “I know.”

I sigh. “I want to take you to bed, but we can’t stay here. There’s too much damage.”

She pulls away and immediately my arms feel empty. “Gage, that’s my fault. When I was at Jerricka’s lake house, they were talking about Dr. Mallory’s watch. They said they planted it at the warehouse to frame him for Ingrid’s death. I told them you and Linc found it, and Dr. Pederson said that was another mess they’d have to clean up. They did that to hurt you, and I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Rourke blew up my truck because he didn’t want us together. If you hadn’t said anything, he still would have set the fire, but even if he hadn’t, you don’t belong here. Hell, I admitted to myself I should’ve moved out a long time ago. I just didn’t care enough.”

Looking around the living room, she says, “Zane and Stella are moving into the penthouse for a little while, and we’ll have the house to ourselves, if you’d like to stay there until we figure out what we’re going to do. I think Baby misses Arya and Sansa, and there’s nothing I want more than to walk in the woods and talk, get to know you all over again.” She pauses. “It would be nice if we could talk about Max and the memories I have of us at the Crowne. I know you don’t like talking about him and if it hurts we don’t have to, but it would mean a lot to me if I could share that time with you.”

“The house is fine, and I don’t mind if we talk about Max. When he was alive, I was jealous. I resented him and shunned him for belonging in a world I hated as much as I wanted to be a part of. I wasted the time we had, and it’s too late to make things right, but I can still get to know the man he was. He loved you and even after his death made sure you were looked after. I owe it to him to honor his memory.”

She smiles, and sadness shadows her eyes. “A relationship between us never would have worked. I didn’t understand it then, but he reminded me of Rourke and what he did to me. No matter how much he loved me or how much I grew to care about him, I wouldn’t have been able to put that behind me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I am, too. It hurt him, but if Max and I would have had a sexual relationship, it would have been too much for you and me, and we wouldn’t be here now.” She shivers.

“You might be right, but let’s not think about it. I’ve spent enough time imagining what my life would be like without you in it. You’re cold, and we should go. When we get to the house, I need to call Pop. I haven’t been pulling my weight at the office.”

She looks up at me, a pained expression on her face. “We’ll have to talk about that.”

“You don’t want me to be a PI anymore.” I knew in pursuing a relationship with Zarah there would be compromise. Naïvely, I hoped I could put it off a little longer.

“No, it’s not that—I still think it’s sexy. I don’t know much about investigating, but you need a certain amount of,discretion, to do your job, don’t you?”

“Of course. I can’t snoop around without it.”

“You might lose some after we’re married. The paparazzi will be very interested in what you’re doing. All the time.” She forces a smile, and she looks so comical I just have to laugh.

“Huh. I never thought of that.” I really didn’t. I was able to do my job while we dated, but yeah, I guess us being married will be a whole different thing.

“You could go to school. There are a lot of different security jobs, like cybersecurity, and you could work behind the scenes. I’m going to major in public relations and eventually help Zane run the company. What do you think?”

I take a chance. If she didn’t hate that I was a PI, maybe she won’t hate this. “What if I went into social services?”

“Social services? Really?”

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