Page 87 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

I leaned away from him. “What game?”

His eyes peered into my own while the snow began to pick up and swirl around us. “A game that my father intends to end. It’s why I’ve been gone so much this year. My father is selling Holland Industries. It’s the case I’ve been working on. We just finalized the deal.”

I faltered, almost falling off the swing. That was huge, huge news.

Brant steadied me. “I couldn’t tell you about it because of all the nondisclosures we put in place, all in the hopes of keeping it from the Copelands. I was trying to protect you.”

“I don’t understand. What do they have to do with it?”

Brant let out a huge breath that played in the cold air. “Everything.” He closed his eyes. “Kinsley, there is a good chance my father will be going to prison. And he—”

I held up my hand. “Prison? Why?”

Brant took my red hand, which stung from being so cold, and held it between his own, trying to warm it up. “It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you everything, but for now let’s just say Edward has owned my family for a long time. But no more,” he said with conviction. “I’ll be damned if he takes anything else from my family, including you.”

“Brant,” I stuttered out of emotion and because I was shivering so hard. “I don’t know if I can be with you. I don’t think I’m meant to be with anyone.” I could only take so much.

“That’s not true. We can work through this. We are so damn close,” he lamented.

“You should have told me about Dani and the baby.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I was going to after this deal was done. It’s why I tried to stay away from you as much as possible. I knew you deserved the truth, but the best way to keep you safe was to keep it from you until my father was ready to lay out all of his cards. But I could see how much I was hurting you. That night in your kitchen . . .” He kissed my cheek. “I knew if I didn’t act, I was going to lose you. I couldn’t bear the thought.”

He leaned away and grabbed my face, his thumbs brushing my cold cheeks. “Kinsley, this past year has been hell for me, watching you be with Tristan, knowing he could never make you happy the way I could. The way you deserve to be. Worse, I’ve had to live with knowing that even if you didn’t end up with him, I couldn’t have you because of what I had done with Dani. But when Tristan broke up with you, it was as if the sun shone for the first time in a year. I felt alive, and I thought maybe if my brother could forgive me, you could forgive me too. Please,” he pleaded.

When I was unable to respond right away, he added, “Everything I’ve already lost would pale in comparison if I lost you too.”

The knife in my heart twisted a bit more while Brant searched my eyes as if he were looking for any spark of hope. Meanwhile, my head and heart were at war, and I wasn’t sure who I was rooting for. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want Brant. He was the love of my life. But how did I reconcile the fact that he had slept with my sister and gotten her pregnant? This was a plotline used in every soap opera I’d ever watched. Admittedly, I loved those shows, but I’d never wanted to have a starring role in one.

“Brant, I’m going to need some time to process all of this. A few days ago, I was daydreaming about building a life together. And then your psycho ex-fiancée showed up with pictures of me and an unbelievable story. But that story was true . . . well, mostly true,” I stammered, hardly able to say it. “I’m afraid to go home and be alone for fear I’m being watched. And now you’re telling me your father is going to prison. As if that weren’t enough, all I can think about is you sleeping with my sister. It’s almost more than I can take.” I sounded like I might lose it at any moment.

He pulled me to him and gathered me in his arms. His damp suit coat smelled like peppermint and rain. His touch was reminiscent of the sun, although a dark cloud shrouded it. Regardless, my head fell onto his shoulder for what could possibly be the last time, and I convulsed in sobs as I felt the weight of everything I could lose. Why did life have to be so unfair? Why did Prince Charming have a not-so-charming past? And why, oh why, did every man I love have to break my heart?

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