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“I wanted to atone for what I did to both of you when we were young. I caused your breakup intentionally. I knew Beau would walk away. I sought to inflict the pain I had carried for so many years.” The pained expression on his face bears the weight of sincerity as he shifts his gaze from Vanessa to me.
“I sent a couple of other notes to make sure you stayed on as her bodyguard in hopes that you would reconcile. I guess it worked.” Beckett forces a smile and winces in pain.
Vanessa flies off the bed and hugs him until he winces. “Thank you.” She kisses his cheek.
“You kidnapped her dad to get us back together?” I ask, incredulously.
Suspicion punches me in the gut. “Wait. How did you know about this?”
“I’ve been following you since you became her bodyguard. Then his ass swoops in, threatening to mess up my plan. He’s obsessed with her, so I was making sure the two of you stayed together. I had nothing to do with having her dad kidnapped.”
Vanessa puts her smooth hands on my face. “Beckett’s telling the truth. He wouldn’t lie to me.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Hopefully, it’s on the video. Is there audio?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say, wanting nothing more than to believe my brother. But why would Rome Lennox want to sabotage Vanessa when he was going to be the exclusive club provider of her new bourbon? He would have gotten free advertising being mentioned in Vanessa’s commercials.
I thread my fingers through Vanessa’s tendrils that have come out of her rhinestone bobby pins, pressing my lips to hers. “If anything would have happened to you… if the rug was pulled from us again, I don’t know if I could survive.”
Then she whispers against my lips. “Thank God, Beckett was here. I hate to think of what Rome might have done.”
“Don’t think about it. I’ll never be able to repay Beckett for saving you,” I say, peering into her green discs and kissing the corners of her lips before taking them in mine.
Beckett clears his throat. “She saved me a long time ago.”
Beckett is sagging against the bed frame. A flurry of activity sounds behind us. Suddenly, I can hear all the chatter, but something still doesn’t add up.
I’m missing something.
ChapterThirty-Three
VANESSA
The ambulance takes Rome to the hospital under police escort. I explain that Rome admitted to helping another bourbon distiller, Mr. Fitch, to Beau and Ben’s team “He showed me a video of burning the warehouse where the Barron’s 12 was being stored. He said they would kill my dad if I didn’t step down.”
The police clear us out of the room and after Beckett was treated for a surface wound, he joins us down in the lobby. Ben’s team is helping the police interview the party goers to confirm, but the main evidence is taking up space in Beau’s phone—the video.
Hayes plops down beside us and says, “Well, that’s the first time I’ve been upstaged,” which garners a few chuckles.
Our friends surround us as I repeat the same story I told the police. Sitting on a couch, I glance at the large crystal chandelier overhead. I love how it glimmers as the light shines against it creating an oil slick of colors for a brief moment. That’s how I feel about life, that even in trouble, it gives you a brief moment of beauty. When Beau and Beckett embraced, and I saw tears rolling down both of their cheeks—it was beautiful.
“What Mr. Fitch doesn’t know is that I have thousands of barrels in a different location. Since The Velvetere and the rest of Rome’s clubs won’t be selling it, the distillery won’t be that far behind. It will just make it more exclusive.”
Wynter snuggles up to Beckett on the couch. “I’m so happy to see you. I’ve missed you.”
Jessie says, “I second that. Remember when we were ten and used to play two handed touch between the baseball fields?”
Beckett and Beau nod.
“It’s good to be home,” Beckett claims. “But this isn’t home. We’re in Nashville. I need to get on my bike and get back home to Louisville.”
“You’re in Louisville. So itwasyou at The Velvetere? And you on the motorcycle in Kissing Springs?” Beau asks.
Beckett bites his lip. “Rome was getting too close to messing up your reunion. I was trying to scare him. I thought that if he thought it was dangerous to be around Vanessa then he would give up. I had no idea he was involved in this scheme to make Vanessa resign and set fire to her property.”
“I believe you. But what am I missing?” Beau asks as he pulls out his phone.
