Page 111 of A Game of Deception
Standing at the water’s edge, hands shoved in the pockets of his shorts, staring out at the horizon. Xander. For a dizzying second,I saw them both—the haunted ghost boy from my memories and the impossibly real man who had become the center of my universe.
He turned as I approached, a slow smile spreading across his face that was warmer than the sunrise itself.
“You came,” he said.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t?” My voice was tight, betraying the fear churning in my gut.
He shook his head. “No. But I was afraid you’d think…” He trailed off, gesturing vaguely.
“That you brought me to our spot at sunrise to dump me after we just burned down my father’s empire?” I asked, a hint of bitter humor in my tone. “The thought might have crossed my mind.”
He winced, and the tension in my shoulders eased a fraction. “Fair. That’s on me.” He took a step closer, his green eyes serious and searching. “That’s not what this is. But I do need to talk. Walk with me?”
We fell into step, the wet sand cool beneath our feet. The silence between us wasn’t comfortable; it was heavy with unspoken words, with the weight of our entire future.
“I’ve been thinking about Jimmy,” he said finally, his voice soft. “Really thinking. Not just about the accident, but about him. The pressure he was under to be the perfect son.”
“We should have seen it,” I whispered, my throat tight. “How did we not see it?”
“Because he didn’t want us to,” Xander said gently. “He was always protecting everyone. Especially you.”
“I don’t know anymore. I keep thinking about my father,” I said, the words tasting like poison. “About what he said. The real reason my father covered up the suicide.”
Xander stopped walking, turning to face me. “Tara…”
“No, I need to say it,” I insisted, the awful words tumbling out. “He said he did it to protect me. To save me from a lifetime of… of wondering why I wasn’t enough to make Jimmy stay.” The last part came out as a broken whisper, the deepest, most secret fear of my life laid bare in the morning light.
Xander’s expression hardened, a flash of pure hatred for my father in his eyes. He took my other hand, holding me gently but firmly. “Don’t you dare,” he said, his voice low and fierce. “Don’t you dare let him plant that poison in you. That was a lie. A cruel, calculated lie from a man who wanted to keep you broken so he could control you.”
“But what if?—”
“No.” He cut me off, his gaze intense. “There is no ‘what if.’ I have proof.”
I stared at him, confused. “Proof of what?”
His voice dropped, becoming soft, almost reverent. “I remember now, Tara. His last words. In the car, after the crash… he made me promise something.” He took a deep breath, his eyes locked on mine. “He told me to take care of Tara-bean.”
The world stopped.
The sound of the waves, the cry of a distant gull, the very air in my lungs—it all just ceased to exist. My mind snagged on the name, a relic from a life I thought was buried forever.
“How…” My voice was a strangled whisper. “How do you know that name?”
“He told me,” Xander said gently, watching me, letting me process the impossibility of it.
“No one knew that name,” I breathed, the realization hitting me with the force of a physical blow. “Not my parents. Not Chloe. Not you.Only Jimmy called me that.”
And there it was. The final, unbreakable truth. This wasn’t a memory Xander could have invented or misremembered. It was a secret code between a brother and sister, a name whispered in the dark of his final moments. It was proof that Xander was there, that he held my brother, and that Jimmy’s last thoughts on this earth… were of me. Not with anger, not with blame, but with love. A love so strong it transcended death itself.
A sob tore from my chest, a sound of twelve years of pain and misplaced guilt being ripped out by the roots. Tears streamed down my face, but they weren’t tears of grief. They were tears of release. My father hadn't been protecting me from the truth; he had been shielding me from the one thing that could have healed me all along.
Xander’s arms came around me, pulling me into a fierce, protective embrace, and I buried my face in his chest and let it all go.
When the storm finally passed, I looked up at him, my vision blurry.
“He loved me,” I whispered.
“More than anything,” Xander confirmed, his voice thick with emotion. But he wasn’t the only one.”
