“Get the hell out of here before I kill you,” he snarls.
“I miss her too,” Neil says.
“Go!” Denver thunders, reaching for his gun.
“I was there the day they died.”
I snap my head up from Denver’s chest. “What?”
“I was there,” Neil says. “I flew to Cape Town after her. It was my last attempt to get her to leave with me. I’m sorry, Sinclair, but I loved your mother, and I wasn’t prepared to let her go without a fight. We talked at the marina, I begged her to leave with me, but she wouldn’t. Then she…” He drags a hand down his face, blowing out a breath as his eyes fill with tears. “Then she… she was gone.” He clamps a hand over his mouth as he lets out a strange, muffled cry.
“Did you hurt her?” Denver asks slowly, his voice low and commanding.
“No,” Neil splutters. “Of course not, I loved her! But that’s why I came back. I saw your father’s engagement announced. He’s moving on, but I… I can’t. Not until I know what happened to her.”
Every nerve in my body tingles as I stare at him.
“She died in the fire. No one knows how it started, except that the yacht must have had a fault. A fuel leak or something.” My voice comes out shaky as images of flames and thick gray smoke rush to the front of my memory.
“No.” Neil shakes his head. “I saw a man getting off the yacht. He walked away a few minutes before your brother ran onboard. Then it… Oh God,” Neil chokes up.
“My brotherranonboard?” I reel back. “No, he was on there with Mom and?—”
“I saw him run onboard before it exploded.”
“Who was this man you saw?” Denver snaps.
Neil’s chest deflates like an old balloon. “I couldn’t tell you. I was too far away at that point to get a good look. It was a man, that’s all I know. Dressed smart. I don’t even know how old he was. Nothing.”
“If you think you can come back here and even suggest that Sterling?—”
“No!” Neil throws his hands back up as Denver pulls his gun on him again. “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. It wasn’t your father.” He glances at me, then looks straight at Denver again. “Sterling ran onboard after the yacht exploded. He came from another direction. It couldn’t have been him.”
“Denver,” I whisper, my chest turning in on itself until breathing is difficult. I just want to get out of here. I squeeze my eyes shut hoping that the memory of the smell of burning leaves me as fast as it’s arrived.
“You go back to where you’re staying, and you don’t move until we come to you,” Denver instructs Neil.
“Okay, okay… I’m?—”
“I know where to find you,” he growls, making Neil’s face pale. “Now, get the hell out of my sight.”
Neil takes a couple of steps backward, his eyes darting to me. “I’m sorry, Sinclair. I loved your mother. I would never have asked her to leave you if I didn’t. But she chose you. She loved you too much to leave.”
“Now! Before I shoot you!” Denver barks.
Neil spins and rushes off, and I turn into Denver’s embrace, sinking my face into his chest.
“Denver,” I whimper.
“It’s okay, Princess,” he soothes. “It’ll be okay.”
His lips meet my forehead, and I desperately want to believe him.
33
SINCLAIR
“He only playslike this when he’s stressed,” I say as we walk inside the bar area of Seasons to the melody of piano music.
