Page 86 of A Secret to Die For

“He died in a hunting accident three months after the crash. One detective working at the time recalls an order coming from the top to wrap up the case quickly.”

“Sara was right?”

I nodded. “She was right.”

Too late, I realised we weren’t alone in the room. Too late, I realised I’d screwed up again.

“And I was also wrong.”

The shaky voice came from the doorway, and when I spun, there she was, tears already rolling down her cheeks.

“I trusted you. I trusted you with my secrets, and this is what you did? You went behind my back and started digging into things that didn’t concern you? I could have died tonight.”

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“How much did you hear?”

“Does it matter? I heard enough. This whole time, you knew who the monster was and you didn’t tell me.”

“It did concern me. The Mandells are family friends, and the idea that Seth could have committed a cold-blooded murder… Let’s sit down and talk about this calmly.”

“We could have talked about it a month ago. Now? Now, it’s too late. Way too late.”

“Princess, I’m so sorry, I—”

“Get out. Get out of my house.”

How the hell was I meant to fix this mess? I’d never had to stop a woman kicking me out of her house before. We were in new territory.

Hostile territory.

“We’re in the middle of an investigation,” Colt tried. “We still have questions for Mr. Dorsey.”

“Fine, then I’ll leave.”

Saralisa stepped backward and bumped into Brooke, whose eyes widened at the scene unfolding in front of her.

“What happened? I only went to the bathroom.”

“This asshole nearly got me killed, that’s what happened. Can you give me a ride? My keys…my keys are still in the pool house.”

The sobs got louder, and more than anything, I wanted to wrap Saralisa up in my arms and tell her everything would be okay. But that would be a lie. And I also didn’t want to get kneed in the balls.

“Uh, sure.” Brooke looked to Luca. “Should I take her to our place?”

“I’m coming with you,” he said. “If Garrett’s right, the intruder might not have been working alone.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but what was I meant to say? Words couldn’t make this better. Time couldn’t be rewound. My girl turned around and walked out of my life, leaving me with the realisation that money could buy a lot of things in life, but it couldn’t buy love.

30

SARA

“I can’t believe he did that. Why? Why did he ignore everything I said and start asking questions?”

Brooke and Blue watched from the table as I paced the kitchen. Brooke had made waffles for breakfast, but how could I eat? I just felt sick, sick, sick.

“Because sometimes, men can be real assholes,” she said.

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