Page 186 of No Headlines Please

And now, he was being cagey about it.

He took a slow sip, watching me over the rim like he was waffling between a pretty lie and the stone-cold truth.

I just waited. I had plenty of time. Barely a minute had passed since the two sisters had walked out the front door, leaving me and Ryder alone in the kitchen. They'd be gone for at least an hour, maybe longer.

Finally, Ryder said, "Fine. She hates you."

No kidding. I didn't bother asking why. "Alright. Scale of one to ten. Give me a number."

He took another long sip. "Do you mean before you showed up with her sister? Or after?"

I gave him a look. "Does it matter?"

"Hell, yeah, it matters." He snorted. "You've seen the stories, right?"

He didn't say which stories. He didn't have to. By now, Sloane's disappearance was the number-one news story in the country and was making the rounds worldwide. My mouth tightened. "Everyone's seen the stories."

"Right. So look at it from Tessa's point of view. Your former fiancée dies in this tragic accident, and you don't seem to care."

I refused to lie. "Yeah, because I don't."

"Which is why the whole world thinks you're an asshole."

My fingers flexed around the handle of the cup. "Including you?"

He looked almost offended. "Hell no. If that were the case, you wouldn't be here."

I studied his face. "So you believe me."

"That Sloane is fine?" He shrugged. "I believe you believe it."

I knew a hedge when I heard it. "But…?"

"But it seems to me, she would've surfaced by now."

He was right, which was why I wasn't just ignoring it and hoping it would go away. Sure, it might look like that on the surface, but all over the globe, threads were being pulled. One way or another, Sloane would eventually be found.

I was betting on alive – and hoping for it, too. Hey, I wasn't a complete asshole. If something had truly happened to her, I'd feel like a total shit, in spite of how she'd been hammering me in the press.

But my gut told me I was right – even if the whole world thought I was wrong.

Then again, it's not like I'd shared my theory with anyone but Ryder.

I was keeping quiet for a reason. Why give anyone a heads-up?

I shrugged with a casualness I didn't feel. "I guess we'll find out eventually."

His eyebrows lifted. "And how long is that?"

I wasn't following. "What do you mean?"

"How long does Sloane have to be missing before you admit the second part?"

"The second part?"

He gave me a look. "Missing and…?"

I recalled all those headlines. "Presumed dead."