Page 14 of The Grand Rise

Lance

When your word is all you have left, it’s important to keep it. That’s what I tell myself anyway as I round the circular drive at Lowerwick Estate.

There’s no way of ever winning Scarlet back regardless of what my friends think. It’s not why I’m here today either. The pain I put her through, along with all that she’s endured in life, is enough for me to stay the hell away.

I’ll make sure she’s okay. Ask her if she’s okay this time—instead of just staring at her like an idiot, telling her I want closure.

I came across as a dick, but seeing her again after so much time, having her so damn close I could touch her, it upended all rational thought. Everything I thought, everything I planned to say, it all seemed stupid, pointless compared to her.

It’s late, and a dark veil slowly falls over the grounds, making the house and the two headstones nestled in the small garden on the west side of the house seem even more morbid than normal.

I wonder what Anthony must be thinking, watching me turn up here now. He’d likely hate me. He definitely wouldn’t have given me his blessing all those years ago if he knew what was to come.

If he knew what I was capable of.

I sigh and pull my helmet from my head, shaking out my hair. As I ease back, ready to climb off, Scarlet steps from the house, firmly closing the door behind her.

She stares at me for a moment, her face expressionless. And tired—she looks completely shattered.

I swallow and go to speak.

“Walk with me,” she says. No grit, no anger, no nothing.

Walk with me.

I ease my leg over my bike and place my helmet on the seat. When she gets to the bottom of the steps, I take my place beside her, keeping a good space between our shoulders.

She starts toward the lane, directing us away from the house.

“Mason’s here.” I tip my head toward the Bentley on the drive, his private plate letting me know it’s his.

She wraps her cardigan around her, her gaze trained on the horizon. “He lives here.”

Surprise flashes on my face, but she doesn’t catch it. She doesn’t acknowledge me. “He moved home?” My brow quirks.I knew it. “You must love having them here.”

She nods. “It’s been what we all needed.”

Silence stretches between us, and it’s not until I notice her hands shaking slightly as she pulls her cardigan even tighter, that I decide I need to talk.

“I’ll be honest, Scarlet, I don’t know where to start.” I stare at the side of her head, willing her to look at me. “It’s hard having to do this with you. To have these conversations as if I never knew you at all.”

She finally looks up at me, a fire burning behind her dark eyes. “If you wanted to know where to start, you should’ve read my letters.”

I shake my head without even meaning to, knowing deep down in my gut that what she’s saying is impossible. “I couldn’t. If I did…” I stare at her, her lavender hair tied in a messy knot on her head. Her eyes, big and brown and glassy. I wonder if her skin is as soft as I remember. If it would still pebble under my touch. “If I read those letters, I’d never have let you go. It would’ve killed me. Your words to me.”

She comes to a stop, barely out of the driveway. “And it didn’t matter what I wanted? What I needed? You just thought you’d decide what was best for you, and that was that?”

“It wasn’t like that at all. It was better foryouthis way. I couldn’t—”

“That’s exactly how it was. Don’t you dare stand there and moan about feeling awkward over questions you’d never need to ask if you’d just read the letters. You don’t get to presume how this has been for me.” Her voice rises with her anger, but she softens it when she adds, “Or how you did it for me. If anything, that’s worse than doing it for yourself.”

“It wasn’t for myself. Nothing was for me. I understand you didn’t want that, and you don’t accept it now, but I can’t change it. I did what I thought was best at the time for all of you.”

She stares at me, readying herself to go again, to unleash everything she’s not been able to say for the last seven years.

And I’m ready for it.

I need it—maybe as much as she does.

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