Page 246 of The Billion Heirs Boxed Set
I watch as she tosses a sock in the dryer.
“Jarvis and I finished up the report quicker than expected, so here I am. I’m taking you and Grady out to dinner.”
She smiles and studies me. “You look good, honey.”
“Thanks. I feel good.” Then I bite my lip. I don’t keep things from this woman. We’ve been through so much together. “Sort of. I solved the case. Chance is innocent. We found the person who killed that poor guy and threw him onto Bridger land.”
“I knew you would.” Mom inhales. Then again as she looks away. “Sweetheart, you and I need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About Chance Bridger.”
I smile. Then I frown. Is she worried he was mean to me? That I saw him and he talked to me like he had in the letter? “I… I’m home, Mom. I’m not going back to Montana.”
Those words are hard to get past my lips. I ache for Chance, but going back? I don’t know how to make that work.
“He didn’t write you that letter.” Mom slams the dryer door shut.
“I know.” I blink, process. “I— Wait. You knew about that?”
She won’t meet my gaze. Mom takes my hand, but I yank it away from her.
“Avery…”
She knew?
She knew?
“What the hell, Mom? All these years, and you knew?” I pace the concrete floor. “You let me think that Chance could write those words? They were so mean, and that’s not Chance. It’s not what he would ever say to me.”
“Avery.” She closes the dryer door, pushes the start button, and gestures to a patio chair. “Sit down. We need to talk. Now.”
20
CHANCE
Pop!
Austin opens a bottle of Veuve Cliquot and pours five glasses of the sparkling wine.
“Seems like we’re missing a glass,” Miles says. “Where’s Avery?”
“Phoenix.” I run my hand over my face. I hate saying that because it’s really fucking far away. I just got her back and I had to let her go again. “She had to get back to do her report, and she has a debriefing tomorrow.”
“Seems like she should be here to celebrate with us,” Austin says. “After all, she solved the case. Proved your innocence.”
“I was always innocent.”
“We all know that.” Carly takes a glass of champagne from Austin. “None of us ever doubted you.”
Sadie nods. She was on the case but stepped back when her family’s involvement became clear. “Even though we were estranged, I miss my brother, and I’m glad to know he was one of the good guys. And my dad, too. If he didn’t have brain damage from that accident, maybe he wouldn’t have pulled a gun on me.”
Miles doesn’t look like he has the same generous thoughts about the man. I don’t either. I can’t imagine pulling a gun on my own child. At least, I figure that’s how I’ll feel when I actually have a child, with Avery as the mother. Curt Hopkins should never have done that. But if thinking her father wasn’t all bad helps Sadie sleep better at night, I’m not going to argue.
She sighs. “I’d like to think that’s the case, anyway.”
“You never knew about the construction accident?” Carly asks her, wrapping her arm around Austin’s waist.
