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Because I loved him.
Someone had to love the fucking villain.
Two weeks later
“Okay, yes. I think so too. K, bye.”
I raised a brow at my sister’s sheepish smile.
“That was Nina’s brother, Aaron.”
I hid my smile. “I know his name.”
“Uh, right. Well, he says he has a golf buddy with a little boy Joseph’s age. He wants to come pick us up this Friday.” She smiled sheepishly and then looked over at Joseph, who was playing on the carpet in the living room. “Can I make a confession?”
I nodded, knowing that she would tell me they had been seeing each other for over a month. Nina had spilled after their first date. I wanted Amber to come to me with the information freely.
“I’ve been on a few dates with him. I’m crazy about him.”
“Really?”
“He’s so different. He’s so nice to me, so good to Joseph. Taylor, I’ve never had a man kiss me like he does.”
Every part of me that could feel happiness felt it for her. Despite what happened, she was still a picture of health, and Joseph had adjusted smoothly. I knew she was still mourning Laz in some form, the sporadic appearance of red eyes a sure sign of her grief. We would be forced to keep his death to ourselves indefinitely. I knew the guilt would eat her alive if she let it. But she was a fighter, and somewhere inside her, she knew the outcome would have been worse had Laz taken her from Charleston.
My sister had created her own skeletons, and they’d mingled with mine. And with Cedric’s quick cleanup, we both helped to bury them. Cedric had made certain Laz was found in Tennessee in the motel he’d spend half his life in. Laz’s mother had called to give us the news. It was open-and-shut shitty Dyer police work that saved us in the end, and Cedric assured me from the buzz in Dyer the pointed finger was nowhere in our direction. They’d found the body of Laz’s right-hand man a few counties away. Cedric had only stopped by once since that night and spent only a few minutes with me, prepping me for the phone call from his mother. When I mentioned Daniello, he cut the conversation short.
“What happened?”
“We had more in common than we thought.”
“That’s all?” I demanded.
“That’s all you need to know.” My refusal to drop it led to a closed door with Cedric behind it. He knew his slight hurt me, but refused to tell me anything further. Even so, I texted him an hour later with a curt “Thank you.” Amber and I owed him our life, and I couldn’t let my involvement with Daniello affect our friendship or the fact that he had cleared the way for us to finally be a family.
Laz’s voice haunted me at night. His shrieks and bloodied face, his love, his hate. It was etched inside, and I could only pray it faded with time. My days at the
office were the only things that kept me going. Nina could see the distance in me but refused to grill me about it. I threw myself into cultivating new deals and succeeded. It’s what I did. Order and excellence had been restored.
And in my idle time, aside from the battle with my conscience, I had to beg my heart to keep beating.
“You sure you want us to take this place?” Amber said as she looked around the condo with appreciative eyes.
“Yes. There’s a room for you both.”
“You bought that penthouse?”
I nodded as she whistled. “Good for you. You deserve it.”
I felt the sting of her words as she looked over to Joseph and then back to me. Her guilt took a back seat at that moment to her hopes of a new future.
“Thank you, Taylor.” I shook my head as a lone tear slipped down my face. “I know you don’t want me to thank you. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I don’t think there was a soul in that situation that didn’t love you.”
My head snapped up.
She gave me a sardonic grin. “You, sister, make the men in your life insane with love.”
I chuckled ironically. “I’ve never had love, Amber.”
