I plucked the pink fragment from my pocket and held it out to her. “I found this on the beach this morning. Would you like to keep it?”
She unfurled her gloved fingers, and I dropped it into her palm.
“Do you live here?” I asked as she studied the glass.
Annie shook her head. “No. This is my uncle’s house.”
Ah, the current owner. The man who took my place.
“Who’s your uncle?”
She tipped her chin back as she flashed me a grin. “Gavin Blackwood.”
My lips parted in shock, then slammed into a firm, unforgiving line. The blood roared in my ears, and I stood there, too dazed to speak.
I should have known.
Of all the wretched, diabolical, conniving schemes! Betraying me to an evil sea witch hadn’t been enough for him. No, Gavin Blackwood had gone further.
He bought my house.
No. Hestoleit!
A dark, simmering rage burned inside my chest.
“That bloody thief!” I seethed under my breath.
Annie looked up at me, her gaze innocent. “Do you know him?”
I ground my molars, then flexed my jaw, trying to loosen the tension. “You could say that.”
Swallowing the fury threatening to choke me, I smoothed my expression and let a serene smile form on my lips.
So, he had found his family.
The evidence was staring me in the face. He had a niece. And who knew what else? A brother? A sister? Children of his own—a wife!
A sharp, unexpected ache twisted through me. I shoved it away, refusing to go there. Those feelings,that dream,were dead and buried.
This proved what I’d known all along. He’d traded my life to find his. If that man thought he could send me to a watery prison and then take my home, he had another thing coming.
A deadly thing.
Murderous.
I bent down and leveled my gaze with Annie’s.
“Can you keep a secret?”
Part II
To Steal a Heart
Chapter 16
Gavin
The dream always endedwith Marin's screams. Rain lashed the deck. The wind howled, slamming me into the rail.
