A curse escaped under her breath.
“Well, we need to find him,” Sebastian said as he lifted a few sheets of paper from the desk and waved them at Ava.
She grabbed them, her eyes growing wide as she read. “I’m sorry to say that I stand in front of you today to confess my role in the death of Ava Collins? Oh great. He’s going to tell everyone at the funeral.”
“Yep. And Edgar Malone isn’t going to stand for that. We need to get there as soon as possible.”
Ava slid her eyes closed, trying to push down the rising panic. How long did they have? An hour? Less? Every second they wasted brought Chris closer to his doom, and she could practically feel time slipping through her fingers. If they didn’t reach him before the funeral, he would be a dead man—if not by his own confession, then by The Board’s hand. She needed to move, now.
CHAPTER 27
ALEX
Alex huffed out a sigh as tears stung his eyes again. He yanked the tie from around his neck and tossed it down as he gripped the island in the middle of his walk-in closet.
For this only being a fake funeral, too many things about it seemed real.
He’d struggled through the details, relying on Kyle for help. Planning a funeral for Ava had hit him hard even though he knew it wasn’t real.
They only needed to guilt Chris into getting out of their way so they could move forward.
His knuckles turned white as he gripped the marble counter covering a stack of tennis shoes and track suits as he fought back the emotions swirling inside him as they threatened to spill over.
He wanted Ava safe in this house again, not hopping fromlocation to location with Sebastian Bancroft, a man he wasn’t certain they could trust.
With trembling fingers, he picked up the tie again, swallowing hard as he slid it under his collar.
As he tried to knot the fabric again, his eyes drifted to the row of shoes beneath the counter. Each pair was meticulously lined up, a stark contrast to the chaotic mess of emotions within him. The emptiness of the closet, usually filled with the comforting presence of Ava's belongings, now felt like a void threatening to swallow him whole. The silence of the house, broken only by the distant murmur of voices, pressed in on him, amplifying his loneliness.
A knock sounded at his door, and he ignored it, unprepared to deal with anyone. The silk slid through his fingers as he failed to properly tie the knot again. With a disgusted sigh, he ripped it from his neck.
The knock sounded again, this time louder and accompanied by a voice. “Alex?” Julia called.
He squeezed his eyes closed. Of all the people in this house, only one of them would have been a welcome addition to his party of one. And it wasn’t Julia.
“I’m fine,” he answered, clearing his throat and trying the tie again.
“Are you dressed?” she asked.
“Almost. Just a minute.”
“I’m coming in,” she announced. The door creaked open and a few seconds later, Julia, shielding her eyes, inched into the closet. “Are you decent?”
“Yeah,” he said, his heart aching on multiple levels.
Poor Julia was trying to be so supportive of him as he buried his wife. But she was alive. Alex struggled between playing the grieving widower and keeping the secret that Ava was cooling her heels in Cold Springs Harbor as she waited for it to be safe to return.
Julia pulled her hand from her brow and studied him, offering a soft smile. “Having trouble with the tie?”
“Yeah,” Alex said, raising his hand to let it dangle from his fingers. “I don’t normally wear ties. And if I did, Ava probably–”
He licked his lips as he failed to finish the statement.
Julia crossed to him, taking the silk tie from his hand and sliding it under his collar. “This is going to be a tough day, Alex. No one is going to fault you for breaking down.”
“Yeah,” he answered, recalling the moments when he’d assumed Ava had actually been gone.
Julia flicked her gaze up to him as she worked with the fabric. “I’m serious, Alex. You’re saying goodbye to Ava. This is going to be hard forme, and she wasn’t my wife. I didn’t share a life with her. You two were far closer.”
