Page 165 of What Started In Deception

He clenched his jaw as he swallowed, absorbing the painful blow to his heart as he read between the lines easily enough—Lyd’s gentle way of telling him to fuck off. She was officially done with him.

Will came back with his key fob and his phone in his hand, still dressed in his crappy T-shirt and shorts. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” he said as he stood, trying to grasp that the best part of his life was truly gone.

Lydia lay curled under a pile of blankets in her cozy living room, blinking her groggy eyes in the bright morning sunshine. During the final three hours of her endless drive home, she’d craved nothing but her bed. When she finally walked through her front door and went upstairs, she’d smelled Ty’s aftershave in the air, so she’d settled on the couch instead.

It felt odd to be there—at the place that had always been her absolute favorite. But for the first time since she bought her dream home, something felt like it was missing.

Exhaling a shaky breath, she blinked back her tears as she pressed her hand to her achy heart, unable to deny what it was.

It was still sinking in that she would most likely never see Ty again. He’d been a vital part of her life for weeks. They’d been together nearly every moment. And now he was simply gone.

She’d known Ty for a mere month and a half, yet she knew in her depths that nothing would ever be quite the same again.

When Andy had left for Europe, she’d been sad but never devastated. Watching Ty walk away had destroyed her heart. And yet she could only blame herself for falling for him.

Their days together had been numbered from the beginning. Their entire relationship had been contrived. He’d told her that he had feelings for her, and she’d let herself believe it.

Ty lived in a world of half-truths and make-believe. She imagined that he did feel something for her, but he certainly wasn’t desperately in love. His bosses had told him to end things between them, and that’s exactly what he’d done.

Her phone alerted her to a text. She stared at it on the coffee table, hesitating before she picked it up, wanting to be available to Mac if she needed her.

She sighed as she shook her head, reading Ty’s message.

Will mentioned that you’re back in Virginia. Please talk to me, Lyd.

It was tempting to do just that, but what would be the point? He lived in DC or wherever his job would take him next, and she had a life in a sweet little town that no longer included him.

Let’s just leave things the way that we left them. We can always say that we knew each other one summer.

Closing her eyes, she let her tears fall as she sent it. “It’s better this way,” she whispered, knowing that it was true.

She and Ty wanted entirely different things. He had told her himself that he didn’t have room in his life for a partner and children, and that’s exactly what she planned to have. Ty was a man who loved his career, not her.

Wiping at her cheeks, she put her phone down, knowing that stewing in regrets never did her any good. She needed to do what she’d done after her family had passed. After Andy had left. She needed to pick up the pieces and keep going.

It was time to get back to what she’d been building for herself—the great life she’d had all along. She’d been happy—thriving, even—all on her own.

There was a patio to plan for and gardens to plant in her backyard. There was a classroom to ready and lesson plans to create for a brand-new school year. She had friends who would be happy to have her call and a book club that she wanted to enjoy again.

When she could make herself get off the couch, it would all be hers for the taking. Yet she stayed where she was, staring out the window, not quite ready to move on.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Ty sat next to Will on the living room couch, listening to Mason’s play-by-play of the storage unit operation that was officially underway on speakerphone. It was two fifteen a.m., and he was absolutely wired. Adrenaline and exhaustion left him jittery while his heart raced.

“The team just picked up the truck’s tail. They’ve exited the interstate and are heading down 3A,” Mason informed them.

Ty bobbed his leg up and down—double time. “Where’s Russo?”

“We haven’t seen him yet.”

He clenched his jaw as he moved his leg faster, glancing at the time. If Russo didn’t show, they were going to have big problems. The DEA would only be able to stall for so long before they would be forced to have the local boys make a traffic stop and ultimately seize the narcotics in the truck. If that happened, Russo would be in the clear, and Will would look suspicious. “Where’s our decoy?”

“Parked half a mile down the road behind a diner,” Mason said.

“Maybe I should have my guy call Russo and make sure he’s still coming,” Ty suggested.