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“When I thought Elton drove you away …” His chest rose sharply as he sucked in a breath through his mouth. “I think I was honestly ready to kick him out of my life.”
“We’re talking about Oliver.”
“Oliver is the baby of the family, but Elton’s family too.” Seth shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“That’s the point,” she said. “I knew you’d be tortured with having to choose.” She cupped a hand against his face. “I didn’t want you to have to do that.”
Seth took her hand from his face and pressed it against his chest. “You have my heart, Clary. If you leave, you take it along with you.” He brushed her bangs from her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Promise me that from now on, we make our decisions together. No secrets. No just doing what we think is right. Okay?”
She nodded, and he pressed his lips to hers.
When they eventually broke their kiss, Clary gasped. “I should tell Detective Murphy to let Oliver go.”
Seth weaved his fingers into her hair and tugged her back to him. He gave her a peck on the lips. “Oliver has his fully charged Nintendo Switch.” Another peck. “He’ll be fine for a while.”
EPILOGUE
“So Holly didn’t recognize you?” Clary asked Andrea.
That had been a major unknown in Clary’s plan. She wasn’t sure exactly how much Holly knew about their life. Was she only focused on the Andersons? Did she have any photos of Andrea?
If Holly already knew Andrea was an ex-detective, then the plan of having Andrea act as a detective would fall through.
But thank God, Holly had no idea.
All of them—including Uncle David—were gathered around the dining table at the mansion, because Seth was done with secrets.
“She watched me carefully,” Andrea said with a slight squinting of her eyes.
Zane nodded. “She always does that.”
“So do you guys. Now I know why.” Andrea licked her lips. “Anyway, I introduced myself as Andrea Lowe.”
Clary laughed softly. “And you introduced yourself to Pete as Hannah. Maybe Holly hadn’t managed to access the Internet to check out your photo or something.”
“I didn’t specifically state that I was a detective, though,” she said to Zane. “So I wasn’t impersonating a cop. Holly jumped to the conclusion that I was, and I just gave her my name. I didn’t confirm that I was a detective.”
Zane laughed. “You’re more honorable than me.”
Andrea took a sip of her hot chocolate. “I told them that an Oliver Anderson had turned himself in, claiming that she had evidence of his murdering someone. She didn’t believe me, so I requested the wellness center’s employee to hold up my phone and show the feed of Oliver sitting in the interrogation room. When I pressed her for the evidence, she tried to be coy about it. Then when I told her that I wasn’t going to waste my time, that either she handed the evidence over or I’d leave and release Oliver, she got angry. She just kept saying she was going to destroy you guys. And once she lost control, I pinned her to the table before the employees came in and took over.”
Clary shifted to look at Uncle David. “And the gardener? What did he say?”
“Colin said Holly used to love recording herself on the video camera.” Uncle David scanned the Andersons’ faces, then nodded. “And when she wasn’t around, she instructed him to use it to record what you guys were up to.”
Aldric threw his hands in the air. “I knew it! I told you guys that she had someone watching us!”
“So she does have a video of what happened that night?” Oliver asked.
Uncle David nodded. “I’ve arranged for FedEx to pick it up. It should get here tomorrow.”
Oliver’s throat bobbed.
“Nothing happened.”
Clary leaned forward. “You’re sure about that?”
“Colin said he saw everything, and he was the one who told Holly what happened. Holly was telling the truth until the part about the well.”
