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Lifting my hand that’s been resting on her hip, I brush her hair out of her eyes. “What did you hear, baby?” I keep calm and try not to show my unease on my face, but there’s something deep inside my soul that’s telling me her next words are going to knock me on my ass.
She’s worried.
No, that’s not the right word.
She’s scared, and whatever she heard that night upset her.
“Not that night.”
“But you heard something?”
“Yeah. Jeremy, he, uh, he was in a car accident a week later. He didn’t make it.”
“Oh, sweets.” I pull her into my chest and press my lips to the top of her head. “I’m sorry.”
She eases back and wipes at her cheeks. “I was sent to my room a lot after the accident. My mother’s words were, ‘I don’t have time to deal with you. Go to your room.’ I did as I was told, but I also snuck out to sit at the top of the steps.”
“You heard something that spooked you?”
“My parents were talking. I remember thinking it was weird that they were calm. No crying or yelling when all I wanted to do was cry and scream for my big brother. Anyway, I heard my mother say that it wasn’t supposed to be him.”
Oh, fuck. I think I know where this is going.
“As I listened, I learned she hired a guy to scare Holly. To make her leave Jeremy. However, it wasn’t Holly driving her car that day. It was my brother. The windows were tinted, and the guy Mom hired either couldn’t tell or wasn’t smart enough to see it was my six-foot-two brother, not his petite girlfriend behind the wheel.”
She sucks in a ragged breath and slowly exhales. “Jeremy caught on that someone was following him and tried to lose them. The guy Mother hired sped up, and when Jeremy lost control, he couldn’t stop in time, and when Jeremy’s car turned, the guy hit the driver's side door, ultimately taking both of their lives.”
“Son of a bitch,” I mutter under my breath.
Jordyn holds my stare. “She killed him, Ryder. My brother. Her son. Her flesh and blood. She wasn’t even upset about it. She’s evil. They’re both evil, detached, and capable of ending lives.”
My head is spinning as I try to make sense of what she’s just told me. “We’ll figure it out.”
“We can’t. My mom informed me before I left for Paris that when I got back, they’d have a respectable man for me to marry, who they can leave the law firm to. Not me. To the man they choose for me to marry to bring into the family so Dad can pass the torch.”
“Fuck that. They can’t make you do that.”
“They can,” she says sadly. “I’d do it a thousand times over if it protects you and your family.”
“No. No. Jordyn, we will figure this out. You—” My voice cracks. “This is where you belong.” I hold her as tightly as humanly possible. She probably can’t breathe, but I need her in my arms right now.
“We have this weekend. I have to be at the airport at eleven on Monday. My flight is set to land at noon, so I want to be sure to be there when the car arrives to pick me up.”
“The car?”
“My parents do not pick me up from the airport. That’s beneath them. They have staff for that. There’s a chance they’re going to find out that I came back early to see you, and well, she’s going to be pissed. We have this weekend, Ryder,” she says again.
How is it that life kicks you when you’re down? I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around everything that she’s told me. It’s not that I don’t believe her. It’s that the people she described tonight are nothing like the ones I’ve met.
Over the last two years, I stopped by her parents’ place a handful of times. Her mother was always polite and gracious, the perfect Southern Belle, if you will. She pretended to sympathize with me and how much I missed and loved her daughter. She played me. She knew why Jordyn left me and that she was behind it. I fell for her fake act hook, line, and sinker.
Fuck, I feel like such a fool.
She’s home, she’s here with me, where she was always meant to be, where she wants to be, but we have this huge fucking obstacle in our way. I need to talk to my brothers, but I’m not leaving this room until I have to. I don’t know when I’ll get to see her again.
I will see her again.
CHAPTER FOUR
Jordyn
I’m exhausted. My eyes burn from lack of sleep, but I refuse to close my eyes. Ryder slumbers peacefully next to me, but all I can do is stare at the shadows dancing across the ceiling of this hotel room. Oh, and the clock. The red numbers are like a beacon of light during a tropical storm. As time passes, the heaviness in my chest grows.
