"You're in New York again?" Claudia hadn't said, and I knew Nash lived in Northern California and spent most of his time there.
"I am. I've had business here over the last few months. When I talked to my mother yesterday, she mentioned that Tyler was in Newport, and planned to stay through the weekend. I think you'll be clear, but I'll come with you anyway, just in case."
"Does late this afternoon work for you?" I asked, relieved I was finally going to be able to retrieve the last of my things.
"Consider it done. I'll see you in a few hours."
"I owe you one, Nash."
"You don't owe me anything, but I'm going to collect anyway," he promised, in a voice of liquid velvet.
A shiver ran down my spine at those words. I wanted to pretend it was a shiver of worry. Maybe fear. It absolutely should not be a shiver of anticipation. Or worse, one of need.
No. Just no. Nash was my brother-in-law. He already had tension with Tyler, their rivalry of long-standing well before I came on the scene. Any relationship I had with Nash would only make everything worse.
And how would I explain it to Claudia? My feelings didn't control me. I wasn't Tyler, demanding to have everything I wanted, just because I wanted it. Nash was not for me, and he never could be. I'd shut that door the day I married Tyler.
Once this was over, I'd never see Nash again. All of a sudden I realized that while I'd see him when I was in New York, that might be the last time. We'd have no reason to cross paths again once I was done with Tyler.
That thought shouldn't have left a weight on my heart. And the weight shouldn't have lifted an hour later when I got a text from Nash asking for my flight number and arrival time.
I tried to put Nash from my mind as I set my own plans in motion, packing a light carry-on and calling my family's lawyer to let him know I'd be absent from Heartstone Manor for at least twenty-four hours. Every night spent away from Heartstone Manor had to be logged with Harvey and verified with our housekeeper, to ensure we stayed within the bounds of our father's will.
My father had been dead for four months, but he'd designed his will to control his children from the grave. We'd never been close. Pretty much everyone who met Prentice Sawyer agreed he was a bastard. I'm not going to blame my father for my decision to marry Tyler, but I couldn't deny that my desperate need to get away from Prentice had played a big part.
Compared to Prentice Sawyer, Tyler Kingsley had seemed like a prince.
My father came from a long line of wealthy and powerful men. My ancestor, Alexander Braxton Sawyer, had fought in the Revolutionary War and came out of it owning a huge chunk of Western North Carolina. Every head of the family since then had devoted himself to expanding the Sawyer empire, with moves into logging and mining, real estate, and, more recently, transforming Sawyer Enterprises into a diverse organization that had interests in corporations across the globe.
Prentice had been raised to think he was the master of the universe. Nothing that happened in the course of his life led him to think any different. Except maybe his murder. I wondered if he was looking up at us from hell, fuming that someone had finally gotten the better of him.
Not a charitable thought, but that was one thing I didn't feel guilty about. My father had spent most of his life acquiring and hoarding wealth while running through wife after wife, siring as many children as he could.
He'd also devoted a decent amount of his energy towards setting those children against one another. His idea of parenting was to isolate us, taking from one and giving to another, rewarding and punishing us for reasons only he knew.
By the time I married Tyler, most of us had moved out of the family estate, Heartstone Manor. We barely spoke, as distant as strangers. Until Prentice died, I hadn't seen Finn or Griffen in years. Now, according to the terms of his will, we were all forced to live at Heartstone for the next five years, under Griffen's authority.
As a finalscrew youto all of us, Prentice had left everything to Griffen, the eldest son he'd exiled years before. He'd set aside money in trusts for the rest of us, on the condition that we live at Heartstone Manor for the next five years. If Griffen kicked us out, or we were gone for longer than fourteen days per quarter, we lost our inheritances and were banned from family property.
Griffen got the house and the company, but no cash, though in his video will Prentice had encouraged him to help himself to the trusts left to the rest of us.
Generally, I tried not to guess what my father was thinking, but if I had to, I assumed he'd envisioned saddling Griffen with the rest of us, forcing us to watch as Griffen drained away our inheritances.
The joke was on Prentice. He'd assumed Griffen was as selfish and greedy as he himself had been. Instead, he was still the big brother I'd adored as a child. Loyal. Loving. Funny and affectionate. Instead of stealing from his siblings, he'd dedicated himself to making Heartstone Manor a home. To making us a family.
Being home with my brothers and sisters had changed everything for me. I'd watched Griffen fall in love with his childhood best friend and it hadn't taken me long to realize that I'd rather be alone with my family than anywhere with Tyler. Tyler, for his part, loved the idea of me inheriting a chunk of the Sawyer fortune but hated living in the small town of Sawyers Bend.
Well, I was done with Tyler. He could jet around the world, sponging off his friends for the rest of eternity. All I wanted was to start a new life in Sawyers Bend. I just had to tie up the loose ends of my old life first.
One last trip to New York and I'd be finished with Tyler Kingsley forever.
ChapterFive
NASH
Parker stepped to the curb at the airport, looking as coolly perfect as she always did. Not at all like a woman who'd jumped on a flight at the last minute and spent two hours trapped in a hot plane on the tarmac due to weather delays. She stood on icepick navy heels, her pale blond hair up in a neat twist, a sleek dark linen sheath skimming her slender body. She scanned the vehicles jockeying for space at the curb.
I popped open the driver's door of the car I used when I was in the city, standing and letting out a sharp whistle. The smile of welcome on Parker's face was all I needed to make this little venture worthwhile.
