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“Things moved fast. We all felt that. Have you poured your darkest secrets to her? No. Me neither.” Theo paused at the desk before Jax poured himself another drink.
I had to admit, he had a point. Jax remained silent, indicating his disgruntled agreement.
“Right then. I don’t know about you, but I never saw any sign of Summer being on drugs. Not around us or the kids so I’m likely to believe she’s telling the truth there. We’re agreed?” He looks at the two of us and we nod. “So that just leaves how the drugs got here and how Marina even knew where to plant them, never mind what drugs Summer was even partial to.”
“It’s not on her file,” Jax says, reading through the pages. “Maybe she stumbled upon Summer’s room.”
“Maybe,” Theo mused, “but she barely knew Summer. Certainly not enough to know what clothes she wore. Besides, some of Flora’s old stuff is still here right and they have similar styles.”
“What are you saying?” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and balancing the glass on my fingertips.
“I’msayingthose details aren’t something Marina could get from a file. She either spoke to Summer or someone that knows her,” Theo mused. “And if Summer wouldn’t confess that to us, there’s no way she’d confess it to Marina.”
“She doesn’t have family,” Jax said, draining his glass. “Doesn’t seem to have many friends either.”
“That leaves…” Theo paused by the bookshelf and turned back to us. “Felix.”
“Released on good behavior six months ago,” Jax recited from the files. “You think Marina somehow got ahold of Felix?”
“Wouldn’t be too hard, given her money and her reach,” Theo mused. “He’d know enough about Summer to have the info on the drugs, he’d know her style, and since they dated, he’d be familiar enough with her to pick her room out and not Flora’s.”
“That’s insane,” I breathed. “You think Marina somehow got in touch with Felix, they had a nice chat, and Marina got enough information tosomehowplant drugs on Summer in order to frame Jax for being a terrible parent—all to win a custody battle?” It sounded insane and yet once I said it out loud, it didn’t sound that impossible.
The longer I thought about it, the more plausible it became.
“We know Summer,” Theo said. “I know emotions are running high, but if we peel that back and look at what we know and love about her, she wouldn’t endanger those kids. Not for a second.”
Silence fell as we mused over Theo’s conclusion, then Jax took an audibly deep breath. “Okay, so how did the drugs get in here?”
“She lost her key,” I said, thinking back to earlier. “That’s why she was looking for it. Maybe she didn’t admit that because it would make her look forgetful, but… that’s got to be it. Anyone with that key would be able to get in here and plant the drugs.”
“Okay, when?” Jax asked. “It’s a tight window of opportunity to sneak in here and do that.”
“Helix.” Theo snapped his fingers. “We’re so fuckingstupid.” Adry laugh escaped him. “So distracted by Summer and Marina—we need to check Helix. The security logs will tell us when and where Summer’s key was used. If it was activated here at a time when she was clearly somewhere else, then we’re on the right track!”
“Alright.” I pushed out of my chair. “Let me make a call.”
34
SUMMER
Ihadn’t believed Felix would go this far. Famously unable to commit to things, his threats seemed for show more than anything else; something to try and scare me into obedience or into going back to him. But I was stronger now.
I thought I was stronger.
Sitting in the resort holding cell, surrounded by cold, beige walls, and with only a stainless steel toilet and bars for company, I now knew different. I wasn’t stronger than Felix. All that work I had done to better myself from those days, to put distance between myself and who I was back then was just an illusion. At my core, I was still that scared little girl, just a puppet at Felix’s command. He’d made good on his threats, and my dreamlike life lay scattered in ashes at my feet.
It was over.
The guys surely hated me. I’d never see those kids again.
A cavernous ache opened up in my chest when I was placed in this cell, and the reality of my situation echoed around the chamber like the constant ringing of a bell that deafened all other feelings except for pain.
Drawing my legs up to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them, pressed my face into my knees, and sobbed.
Jax’s horrified face swam around my mind, mingling with Luke’s angry words.Drugs. Drugs in my room. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know how they got there, their very presence had surely destroyed Jax’s attempts at sole custody of Bonnie, and it wasmyfault. If he lost her, that was on me.
I cried until my throat was raw and my eyes were swollen, and even then the tears kept coming. Every spiraling thought lingered on either the pain I caused or the family I lost—if I could even call them that. They had welcomed me in, opened up to me, anddotedon me, giving me the best Christmas I had ever experienced. Now, it was all in tatters. On top of that, I couldn’t work out what would happen to me. Would I be arrested and tried here? Would they deport me back to the States and charge me there?
