Page 109 of One More Chance

I let her down. Again.

My voice is rusty and raw when I say, “As soon as you tell me where she is, I’ll fix it.”

Or fix as much as I can.

“I’m thinking about it. But it might not be a bad idea to give her some space for a few days to digest everything first.”

“That’s the last thing she needs, and you know it.” Anger, desperation, regret, grief simmer in my veins. Some of the anger is directed at Zara for making things difficult.

Mostly it’s aimed at me.

“I don’t know what she needs…beyond time to think. And that’s exactly why she went away. You two got married for the wrong reasons, Lucas.” Zara has the same look on her face that Mom had when I was ten years old and broke her favorite vase. “Yes, I know the real reason for the wedding and short engagement.”

Emily sits up straighter. Shock and confusion flicker on her face before she settles on disappointment. “What do you mean?”

Zara is kind enough to give her a quick summary of the reasons we got married. The business arrangement between two former lovers.

“What? You two don’t even love each other?”

Emily is wrong. I do love Simone. I’ve been in love with her since college. But until recently, I’d been too much of an idiot to admit it to myself that what I felt for her back then has never changed.

“Tell your brothers what you wanted to talk to them about, and I’ll decide if I should tell you today or wait until tomorrow to tell you where she went.” Zara has the stubborn expression I know only too well. The protective lioness in her—all impatience and claws—is getting ready to strike.

“You might as well tell us,” Garrett says from the armchair next to where she’s standing, his knee bouncing. “You know you won’t get anywhere with her until you do.” That lands him a smack in the arm from Zara. “Hey, what was that for?”

She lifts her chin. “You know very well why.”

He gives a small nod, even though it’s clear he has no idea what she’s talking about.

“All right, if it means you’ll tell me where Simone went…” I explain about the phone call from Blake a few hours ago.

“Sebastian really is dead?” Troy’s gaze is locked on mine, his brow creasing.

“Would seem so.”

“His poor parents.” Em’s distress for them bleeds into her tone. “Simone told me he had a twin sister who died when they were teens. And now he’s gone, too.”

Troy leans forward on the couch. “Do you think his death has anything to do with the Wakefields’ property?”

“I have no idea. Blake didn’t have any more details.”

“You said Sebastian was recently seen with a Kincaid Timber employee.” Kellan’s lack of surprise at how fucked things have gotten is clear on his scowling face.

“It would help if we knew who it was and how far up the chain of command he is. Blake didn’t know, but he was going to see if he could get more information from the Eugene police on the grounds it might be linked to my case.”

Zara releases a weighted sigh. “And we’re back to square one. Waiting for them to figure out what’s going on. Does Simone know any of this?”

“Blake called me after I left the house. I never had a chance to tell her.”

Zara throws a look my way. A look that says so many things, I’m an idiot being first on the list. She sits on the armrest of Garrett’s chair. “I don’t get why you had to be an asshole after she told you about the baby.”

“I screwed up. Big-time.” The air in my lungs rushes out in a hard breath, leaving shame and guilt and dread to torment me. “Not to justify what I did, but she picked the worst possible time to tell me. I just spent the last four days searching for a lost boy, only for it to turn into a recovery mission.”

The fucked-up timing was my fault. She wanted to delay telling me. I hadn’t let her. If I had known she’d planned to drop a nuclear bomb, I wouldn’t have pushed her.

“What were you and Simone talking about when I found you both sitting on the hallway floor?” My question is directed at Kellan. “Did she tell you about the baby?”

“No. She told me she couldn’t have babies, but she never mentioned she’d been pregnant or what happened. But she did ask if I knew what catfish meant.”

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