“Hey, Vivienne,” he starts this time.
“Yes, Nate,” I answer in a similar manner.
“If you had the information about your parents’ death, would you want to know?”
A couple of years ago, the answer to that question would have been an easy yes, but now…I’m not so sure.
I lived with the chains of my past for so long—let it hold me back from loving others and experiencing life to its fullest. Now that I’m slowly overcoming these fears, it feels like a chapter of my life I want to leave behind. The good memories I’ll keep, revel in them in times of need, but the ones who tarnished my spirit, I’ll reject.
“No,” I say with confidence.
Nate doesn’t answer, just simply tightens his hold and pulls me closer.
His warmth slows my spiraling mind, and eventually, my eyes flutter shut, overtaken by a heaviness. Aside from thesound of our inhales and exhales, silence wraps all around us. My mind drifts into a semi-conscious state, and I’m ready to be overtaken by sleep when a low whisper enters my ear.
“No matter what happens, I want you to know I’ll always love you.”
A singular tear streaks its way down my face, and before I know it, they’re multiplying, soaking the pillow beneath me. The dampness makes my hair cling to my neck, but I don’t dare move. I can’t. Not when he’d know I’ve heard.
We promised each other that no one would catch feelings. And if we did, we wouldn’t admit them until the arrangement was over. I'm not sure if any of it still applied—we'd broken so many rules along the way—but thewords are unspoken.
This was the end.
The end of something that never truly got to bloom.
I love you too,I think to myself before drifting into a dream state.
A part of me wishes I could say it out loud. That he’d hear the words I so badly want to tell him, hoping they might change the outcome of our situation.
But for the first time on these trips away from the prying eyes of the media, I’m not sure what will be left of Nate and me when we return to real life.
I’m proven right when the only man I’ve ever loved seems to vanish the second we touch down in New York City.
CHAPTER 32
NATE
I slam the manila envelope on the table in front of Grayson, who jerks back in shock. The piece of sushi that was making its way to his mouth falls from between his chopsticks, landing on the table in a sad plop.
“What are you doing here, you little fuck?”
There’s a teasing tone to his voice—surprisingly, given I just ruined the last bite of his lunch. But I think his attitude has more to do with the fact that I’venevertracked him down at his place of work—noteven when we were commotion-causing teenagers.
I could have waited for our next weekly boxing session to get this out of my system, but my patience was on thin ice.
I did the workout thing, beating my body up at least once a day. I threw myself into work, getting into the nitty-gritty of all the projects at Archer Aviation. I even drove the extra miles to see my family three times this week, rather than my usual one.
Yet no matter how physically and mentally drained I was, my mind always circled back to one thing.
Vivienne Brown.
Her parents.
Our last goodbyes.
“Read.” The word grits through my teeth.
Grayson’s eyebrows furrow in surprise, taken aback by my harsh tone. And with one last questionable look in my direction, he reads the words that have brought me into this rabbit hole.
