“Oh, you messed up all right.” He let that statement hang in the air for several seconds, the gaze of his light-green eyes so shockingly cold that I shivered. “I have absolutely nothing to say to you. Where’s your brother?”
My hands were shaking so hard, and I released the desk and clasped them together in my lap. My thoughts were all over the place; I couldn’t distinguish which direction I wanted to go in. I just knew I had to say something. I had to save this—whatever this was.
“Colson”—I drew in some air—“please?—”
“Where’s your brother, Sophie?” His icy stare turned to a glare. “If you don’t tell me, someone else will, but I’m not going to keep standing here, waiting for you to answer.”
Oh God, what have I done?
When the realization hit me that I’d lost him, that there was nothing I could say that would change this, I whispered, “He’s in Callum’s office, but?—”
He was gone before I even finished the sentence.
Fuck.
My hands covered my face, and I hunched forward, resting my head on the desk as my mind replayed the last few minutes.
How had things turned into this? How had his hatred grown to this extreme?
Had something?—
“Mommy!”
My fingers fell at the sound of Abbi’s voice.
She ran into the office, clinging to my arm. “Can Igo to breakfast with Uncle Callum? Please?” Her bright blue eyes were pleading her case.
Callum was in the doorway, the same spot Colson had just been. Their appearances were nothing alike, but their sizes were similar, built frames that filled the whole space.
My heart was beating so hard that I couldn’t breathe.
Abbi shook my arm. “Please, Mommy?”
“Hold on a second, baby.” I looked at Callum, his light-brown eyes as tender as always. But that gentleness didn’t help. I was so far from calm, I could hear the quiver in my voice. “Are Hayden and Colson still in your office?”
“They just left.” He pointed behind me.
I turned around. With Hayden’s blinds open, I could see my brother and Colson walking along the dock behind the building, boarding one of the yachts parked there.
“Mommy?”
I faced Abbi again, reminding myself of the question she’d asked. “Yes, baby, of course you can go to breakfast with Uncle Callum.”
“Thank you!” She kissed my cheek and rushed over to Callum, hugging his leg.
“Do you want me to bring her back here or to your condo?”
Would I be here?
Shouldn’t I leave and go home?
I couldn’t think.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Text me.”
Callum picked up Abbi and held her to his chest. She looked even tinier when one of her uncles held her, her frame so small and lost against theirs.
“Are you ready, princess?”
