Page 99 of Everything We Left Behind

“Jimbo, long time no chat.”

Present Day

June 30

God, we crossed paths midair.

James paces the back deck. He wants to hurl, he’s so disgusted with himself. The fear, it’s eating him alive. He hasn’t changed, as though six-plus years in a fugue state hadn’t taught him enough of a lesson. Once again, he got on a plane and chased Phil halfway across the globe, leaving his loved ones thousands of miles behind, unprotected.

After several phone calls that went straight to voice mail and even more unanswered texts, he finally gets in touch with Natalya. She’s home with the boys, thank God, not at the St.Regis where his Find My Phone app displays the location of Julian’s mobile.

“How did Phil get his phone?”

Through the phone, James hears her call for Julian. She gets back on some seconds later. “He says he left it in Claire’s room on accident. Your mother took him and Marcus up there to shower and change. We ate a late lunch at the hotel’s restaurant.”

But they’re home now. Thank God.

“Do you want me to go back and get it?”

“No,” he exclaimed, his heart racing. “Definitely not. Don’t go there tomorrow either. Come to think of it, lock your doors and windows. Promise you’ll stay there until you hear from me. Don’t let my mother come over either. Tell her you and the boys are busy all day. I don’t want her bringing Phil with her.”

“Why is he here, anyway? What does he want with you?”

“I don’t know.” James grips the back of his neck. “He’s been pretty determined to have a face-to-face since he learned I was still alive.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t he just call you? And howdidhe find out about you? You told me Thomas never told him. He didn’t want anyone to know so he could keep you safe in Mexico.”

“That’s what Thomas told me.”

“Do you believe him?”

It takes only one second for James to consider his answer. “Absolutely not.”

“Could your mother have told him?”

“She’s basically disowned him. They aren’t on speaking terms, as far as I know.”

“Well, they are now,” Natalya says, stating the obvious.

James sighs. “The only thing I can think of that he possibly wants is vengeance. Like me, he’s angry. We’ve both lost years because I was the idiot who walked into that bar after he warned me away.”

“You never would have been at that bar if Phil hadn’t abused his position at Donato. You never would have flown to Mexico if he hadn’t attacked Aimee. Yes, you were angry, but Phil’s the one at fault, not you.”

“I won’t have Phil hurting anyone that’s important to me. Not again. Just promise me you’ll stay home until you hear from me.”

“James, a man who just got out of prison and never expected to be there to begin with isn’t going to do anything that lands him back inside. And any man hung up on wanting any sort of revenge with his brothers isn’t going to run back to his momma, who happens to love those brothers you think he hates so much.”

Thomas joins him on the deck.

“I’ve got to go. Please promise you’ll stay home.”

“I promise. Be careful, James. I love you.”

He knows she wants to hear the words, but he can’t give them to her, not yet. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ve booked us on a nonstop to Kauai first thing in the morning,” Thomas says as James ends his call. “We land at ten and should be at the St.Regis by eleven, eleven thirty at the latest.”

James taps the corner of the phone on the wood railing. He runs through his conversation with Natalya. Her questions have echoed his own. Thomas had him convinced Phil despised his brothers so much he would come after James once he learned James was still alive. Thomas was adamant Phil had tried to kill James. But Phil had failed, and should James remember, it gave Thomas the evidence he needed to send Phil back to prison. It also put James at risk.

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