Page 119 of Shattered Promise

I nod, jaw grinding. “Yeah. That one. You made me swear I’d never so much as think about them.” My hands fist on the table. “I broke it, Beau. I took a sledgehammer to it and shattered that promise into a million fucking pieces, and I don’t regret it.”

“Explain,” he grits out. “Because I need more context.”

I drag my palms over my face, wishing I could peel off my skin and start over. “I’m in love with Abby,” I say, voice hoarse. “I think I’ve been in love with her for a long time, man. But I never crossed that line. Not until a few months ago. Because I thought that’s what you wanted. Thought that’s what family meant—neverstepping over that line, never fucking up what we had. But then she came back, and she was different, and so was I, and I tried—fuck, I tried so hard—but I couldn’t do it anymore.”

The words hang in the air. A slow, stunned silence settles.

For a second, I think Beau might actually hit me. His knuckles are pale where he grips the back of the kitchen chair, eyes gone narrow and dark. The muscle in his jaw ticks.

“Fuck, Mase.” The words are soft, almost gentle, which is somehow way worse than if he’d just started swinging.

I don’t look away. I can’t. “I know. I know what it means. I’ll take the hit if you need to land one. But I need you to listen first. I love your sister. And something’s wrong. She’s gone. I can’t find her anywhere. Have you seen her tonight? Heard from her?”

He stares at me so long I think maybe he’s weighing the chair like a weapon, deciding if it’s worth throwing at my head.

He holds the stare long enough that the silence starts to vibrate, then, all at once, Beau pushes off the chair, circles the table, and yanks me up and into a hug so hard I almost tip backward. My breath whooshes out, not from the impact but from the shock of it.

He squeezes the hell out of me, then pulls back, and lands a punch to my gut. “Fuckin’ idiot,” he says, but there’s humor in his tone.

He pulled his punch, but it’s still hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. I double over, hand braced on the island. “Feel better?” I choke out.

Beau exhales hard. “Not really, but all I’m saying is Peach owes me. I totally called that shit. You and I will square up later, for now, let’s go find my sister.”

He grabs his keys off the island and stalks toward the front door. I’m already in motion, adrenaline burning through the last of my hesitation.

“Where?”

He doesn’t look back. “We need our resident wizard.”

Ten minutes later,we’re inside Graham’s office on the third floor of his apartment next door to Beau’s. It’s more like acommand center, with a wall full of curved monitors, each one alive with data, code, or grainy security feeds.

“Start from the beginning,” Graham says, leaning against his desk with his arms folded.

Panic claws at my throat, an invisible countdown ticking away inside my body. “I don’t have time to go over everything again?—”

“Mason fell in love with our sister, said something stupid most likely, she stormed off in a very un-Abby-like way, and now he can’t find her. Since you’re the Almighty Oz, we need you to do your thing and find her,” Beau says like he’s listing things on a grocery list.

“Almighty Oz?” Graham asks, arching his brow.

“That’s all you got from that?” I snap, squeezing my hand into a fist.

Graham pins me with a look. “You want my help or not?”

“Yeah,” I grit out.

“Where was the last place you saw her?” He drops into his chair, fingers flying over the keyboard.

I palm the back of my neck. “Uh, my house. But she was heading to her cabin.”

“She has acabin?” Beau cuts in, eyebrows up.

I exhale sharply, worried I’m giving away her secrets. “She inherited it from Nana Jo. It’s not far from my house, it’s how we ran into one another back in the spring.”

Beau slides Graham a pointed look. “Did you know about this cabin?”

Graham doesn’t even blink. “Don’t insult me, brother.”

Beau exhales and shakes his head. “And let me guess, you knew she’s been back for months?”

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