Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
I don’t realize I’ve moved closer until I look up, and right there, over my grandfather’s shoulders and through the small crack of the door, hazel eyes find mine.
I don’t know if I expected anything, but I certainly didn’t expect this. His smile—wide, almost too wide—makes my breath hitch. He looks like the sun itself just rose for him, and it’s all because he sees me standing here. That’s how he’s looking at me. How I hoped he always would.
But it’s confusing. The hurt, the anger, the frustration all knot together in a ball of disbelief. Why is he looking at me like this?
He should not be here. He took the money. He picked it over me, and here he is, smiling at me like he’s been waiting weeks for this moment, the same as I have.
Like nothing in this world matters more than me when the facts tell me that isn’t true.
That smile is my undoing, and I freeze in place, the hurt choking me.
He must see it on my face. Whatever it is I’m feeling, because his entire face crumbles. The lightness fades from his eyes, and the next words out of his mouth, quiet, almost defeated, break me in ways I never thought possible.
“No,” he says, shaking his head, his voice barely a whisper. “Whatever he told you…no. Baby, you know what’s in here.” He hits his chest, eyes wide and pleading.
My insides coil in on themselves, and I grip my stomach.
His attention snaps to the movement and his whole body goes tight, new desperation in his expression when his eyes lift again. “I was at the airport today, Angel, waiting for you to come home to me.”
“That’s enough.” My grandpa tries to cut him off but he keeps going.
“I called. I called and called. I’ve been trying to reach you for days, and I was worried, but you said you’d be home today, so I was there. I will always be there.”
I feel like the earth has shifted beneath my feet.
Why did he call?
What is he saying?
It makes no sense.
“Baby, come out.” My grandfather tries to close the door on him again, but his hands slap against the wood, his eyes pleading. “Please, just let me—”
I blink hard, wiping my eyes as I speak, my voice a whisper of what I need to know. “Did you take the money?” I interrupt him.
His body physically stumbles, his face shattering, a sharp expression of devastation. “Angel. Please, baby, please…” His voice breaks.
A shaky inhale stings my lungs, and my hand slaps over my mouth. “Shut the door,” I breathe.
His face pinches, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “I’m not leaving,” Chase says, his head shaking. “I’m not leaving you, baby. I can’t. I would never.”
Tears blur my vision, and I shake my head, stepping back. This…this wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was how it was supposed to be.
The door is closed and I collapse where I stand, my palms flat on the cold floor.
My grandpa comes up, but I flinch when he reaches for me and he steps back, lowering himself into the chair not far from me.
Hours go by, and we don’t move. Apparently neither does Chase, as a little after one in the morning, blue and red lights flash against the windows and I lift my head, meeting my grandpa’s gaze.
“They’re just escorting him off the property. Sweetheart…”
I shake my head, pushing up on numb legs and climbing the stairs.
I go right to the window that overlooks the front, and there he is, shoulders slumped as he looks back at the house.
The officer says something, and Chase nods, head hanging as he makes his way down the long drive.
He disappears from sight, and it feels like my heart shatters all over again.
I can’t stand it. I can’t be here anymore.
I tear my gaze away, grab my grandpa’s keys from the counter, and slip out the door, running without another word. I know where I need to be.
I climb into my car and take myself to the only place that can give me a semblance of peace, hoping that I still find it once I get there.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Paige
I have to count as I inhale and exhale. If I don’t, I might not remember to breathe at all.
I might breathe too hard.
I very much think I would pass out.
Everything’s hitting me all at once.
The silence in the air, the ache in my chest.
The uncertainty and the absolute certainty it’s warring with.
How could I get it so wrong?
How could it be wrong when it felt so right?
Slamming my eyes shut, I swallow, blowing out a choppy breath before steeling myself and forcing my feet to carry me forward.
The sun is rising now, and I don’t want to see it, so I quicken my steps, weaving around the corner, only to come to a startling stop.