“I’m not.”
“What do you meantogether?”
“They were arguing.” He shrugs and rubs along his brow. Keeping this secret has clearly been weighing on him, and he drops his head with a shake. “They were arguing, but not like strangers. It was intimate. I remember thinking at the time it was like . . .” He hesitates. “Like they were having an affair.”
Lando bursts out laughing, even though he’s as confused as we are. “You’re taking the piss, aren’t you? There’s literally no way . . .” He laughs like it’s the funniest joke we’ve ever told and pushes off the desk. “Clementine and Torres, get the fuck out of here . . . how would they even . . . ?” He stops again, his brain working too fast for him to catch up with questions that none of us have the answer to. “No, you must have been mistaken.”
“I confronted her,” Hendricks says.
“And?”
He shakes his head. “She doesn’t deny it. Every time I ask her, she tells me to go fuck myself.”
Lando rubs a hand over his face. “I can’t even imagine how she would’ve met him.”
“We’re going to find out.” I look down as Ruby squeezes my hand.
It’s so reassuring that I’m not going crazy, even though I’ve doubted it many times over the last week. It’s also not bypassed me how fucking weird it is that out of any other time, that's the weekend our paths could have crossed.
That she was there when I had my accident.
Because she was on her way to Santiago Torres.
I wonder what I would have thought of her.I’d have wanted to fuck her, that’s for sure.My thoughts briefly flit to Agatha of all people, because she would say Ruby and I were saved from meeting until we were ready. I will take it to the grave that I even came close to agreeing with her on something.
My eldest brother shakes his head again, still grappling with what none of us can wrap our heads around. Yet I believe Hendricks.
“We were here, Milo . . . me, Al, and Clem. We looked after Max, while Hen and Mum flew to you.”
I still. Visions flash through my brain of the only things I remember in those twenty-four hours while the doctors assessedthe damage. The first thing I saw when I was brought out of the coma was Hendricks. He never left my side.
“Something's going on, and I intend to get to the bottom of it.”
Hendricks suddenly cranes his neck toward the study windows. “Shit. There she is.”
We all rush to see Clementine walking across the back lawn carrying a basket of eggs. I’m already moving before anyone else reacts, but the rest of the group is hot on my heels. It’s an unintentional ambush as we grind to a halt in the great hall just as she steps through the doors.
“Oh hey—” She scans the four of us, and the color drains from her face.
And IknowHendricks is telling the truth. What’s more, she knows that I know.
“You bastard,” she snarls at him, pulling the metaphorical gloves off.
She wants a fight? She’s got one.
“Don’t blame Hendricks,” I roar. “He kept your dirty little secret for months. How could you, Clem?”
Her eyes narrow and her chest heaves while she tries to come up with a satisfactory answer to explain this away. Spoiler: She can’t.
Before I can continue, Lando cuts in, his tone far gentler than mine. And it sets her bottom lip in a tremble.
“Clementine. Is it true? You and Santiago Torres?”
She peers around at the four of us, her cheeks flush, and her eyes grow so wide that tears spill over. “I didn’t know, Miles.”
It’s a sucker punch. My worst nightmare come true, not that I could have ever conceived of this as a reality. “You’d better start talking.”
“I didn’t know who he was when I met him.”
