“They waited until after the charges against her were dismissed.” It hadn’t taken long. Dad had indeed recovered a USB stick from inside the necklace Gabriel gave me. I was quite proud of myself for sleuthing that one out. Fyfe had looked over its contents and there was a wealth of evidence on it against Gabriel’s old precinct and the top brass in the police there. Bribery, racism, sexual assault, harassment, blackmail … The list was endless. No wonder Gabriel had been so despondent and distant those last few months of our relationship.
Lewis went with me to Paris for Gabriel’s funeral, and I learned more about Gabriel in that one day than in our entire relationship. His sister was there, a sister I didn’t even know he had, though she’d known about me. It turned out that Gabriel’s mother was killed in a home invasion and that was what had inspired him to go into policing. He wanted to help people, only to discover the people he was working for were abusing their power.
We now knew he and a colleague had gone to a journalist at a Parisian newspaper. His colleague was killed, and Gabriel had fled Paris. He’d left the evidence he’d stolen with me and told the journalist where he could find it. They’d tapped the journalist’s phone, however, leading them to me.
At first, themajor de policeand thebrigadier-chef de policeresponsible for Gabriel’s unit and all the corruption didn’t want to cause an international scene, so that’s why they were careful with the break-ins. That’s why they hadn’t come directly for me at first. But as the journalist gathered more evidence against them, especially with Gabriel’s death making national news, they’d gotten desperate—and that’s when they’d sent those men after me.
It and the USB were the final death knell for them.
The men in question were awaiting trial. Paris was in an uproar about corruption within their police ranks. And Carianne and I had been cleared of any charges. While the man I’d slammed into the glass counter survived, I faced assault charges. But once the Highlands police reviewed all the CCTV footage, plus the evidence on the USB, they dropped the charges against me and Carianne.
And miraculously, Carianne had found love amidst it all.
“They’re in Mexico for the holidays,” I continued. “All loved up.”
“Good for her.”
I frowned, studying Eilidh. There were dark circles under her eyes but more worryingly, she’d lost that sparkle in them. “What’s wrong, Eils?”
“Nothing.” She forced a smile and then placed a hand on my bump. “My wee niece is growing in there, so I’m nothing but happy.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Eilidh glanced at the others to make sure they weren’t listening. They weren’t. The living room was a cacophony of multiple conversations going on at once, while Halsey played in the background. My soon-to-be sister-in-law gave me a sharkish grin. “What do you want to hear, Callie? That I’m wildly fucking unhappy when I should be the happiest girl in the world?”
My stomach dropped. “Eilidh?—”
“I’m kidding.” She gulped down the rest of her champagne and wiped her mouth. “I’m going to be an aunt, two of my favorite people are getting married next year, I have five million followers on Instagram, a quarter of whom just come there to hate me becausethey think my uncles got me where I am, a quarter whom come to love on me, a quarter of them come to sexually harass me, and a quarter of them because they think I’m really the character I played on the show. I have offers for work coming out of my ears when most of my friends can’t get an audition, so I am grateful, and I am happy. My life is what dreams are made of. Where is the champagne?” Eilidh marched into the kitchen, in search of more alcohol.
When I turned back from watching her, I met Aunt Allegra’s gaze. She came over. “Everything okay with Eilidh?”
“Do you think she’s drinking a bit too much?” I worried my lip.
“Is there a reason she would be?”
“I think she’s miserable.” I shrugged sadly. “And too proud to let anyone help.”
“Maybe I can try.” Allegra gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Go enjoy your party.”
I tried, but the nagging worry over Eilidh wouldn’t leave me.
I said as much when Lewis came to pick me up. At twenty-nine weeks pregnant, I still had a pretty neat bump, but there was a noticeable difference in the size of the bump from two weeks ago. The tight, full feeling in my stomach was weird, but the whooping sensation I felt anytime our baby girl moved was the strangest, most wonderful thing. When she kicked, I’d grab anybody in the vicinity to feel it, too, like no one else had ever experienced pregnancy before. Thankfully, everyone so far had been happy to indulge me.
Lewis had gotten more careful with me the bigger my bump grew.
Even as I explained my worries about Eilidh, I could see it took him a second to process it because he was making sure I was safe and comfortable in the car, the back of which was overflowing with gifts.We’d have to make a second trip to collect the rest because everyone had spoiled us.
As he started the engine, Lewis asked, “What makes you think Eilidh’s unhappy?”
“She literally said ‘I’m wildly fucking unhappy.’”
Her brother shot me an alarmed look.
“Then she went ‘Just kidding’ before downing her third glass of champagne.”
Lewis sighed heavily. “I’ll talk to Mum and Dad. Did it put a damper on your baby shower?”
I shrugged. “I’m always going to care more about Eilidh than a party.”
