Page 89 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

She would rather call a cab and go get Evie, go home and forget any of this ever happened. She needed Evie more than ever. But she’d have to wait.

Chapter 15

Callum woke late the next morning. Having to give statements on two criminal incidents had taken time. He reached over to feel for Hazel and then remembered she had insisted on sleeping in her own room. He’d had a bad feeling about that the previous night, but the hour had been so late and both of them so tired he hadn’t argued.

Now, with a clear head, he realized all of the adrenaline and his baggage with Annabel had taken their toll.

Hoping against hope, he flung the covers off and went across the hall. The room was immaculate. No trace of Hazel. The bed was made and all her things, and Evie’s, were gone.

He ran his hand through his hair. He needed his sister.

After quickly showering, he raced to Marlowe’s office, pacing outside until the worker she had a meeting with left. Then he went inside and closed the door.

“I heard you captured two criminals in one night. Nice going, brother.”

“I need to tell you something.” He could not believe he was going to do this.

He paced her office, one side to the other, three times.

“Okay, you’re worrying me,” Marlowe said.

He stopped and put his hands on the back of one of the chairs facing her desk and looked at her, still struggling with how to begin.

She angled her head. “This whole...” she twirled her pen a few times “...weak man thing isn’t the twin I grew up with.”

Callum lowered his head with a sigh. She had a way of reaching him he could never explain to anyone. He lifted his head. “There’s something I haven’t told almost anyone.”

Marlowe lifted her eyebrows. “Go on. Don’t stop now.”

She knew him so well. He would have stopped, in this fragile state. Pushing off the chair, he straightened. “Annabel and I didn’t break up.”

Marlowe didn’t move or blink. She just waited.

“She died.”

His sister’s mouth formed an O on an indrawn breath. “You lied?”

“I’m sorry.” He opened his arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“Stop being so weak. What happened?” she demanded.

Lowering his arms and taking a chair, he explained everything, the witness and Annabel’s pregnancy—and her death.

&nb

sp; “We knew all of that, Callum. What happened?”

“I was protecting a witness and was in court a lot. The drug cartel must have had me followed and the leader sent someone to assassinate her. I wasn’t there to protect her.”

Marlowe took several seconds to absorb that and, Callum knew, piece together what he hadn’t said.

“Oh, Cal.” She shook her head gently, full of empathy. And then she grew stern. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t.” He had no way of explaining.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to. His sister knew him like no other. “You blamed yourself but because you met Hazel, you can face it now.”

Well, that he hadn’t expected. His sister knew how to get to the point, but that was...he would have thought harsh but he checked himself. Her honesty, like Hazel’s, showed him not only the brutality of the truth but also the healing power of facing it.

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