He’s not at all what I expected him to be. A doctor, living happily with his wife and two perfect kids.
Zane Knox does government work—whatever that means—and lives on his father’s old boat all by himself.
How much of his current situation is because of what I did?
Guilt crushes down on me, and my father’s voice as he’d stood over me, my blood on his fist, echoes through my mind. “You’ll never be good enough for a boy like that. He’s too smart, and you’re just a stupid, worthless girl. He’ll get bored of you and then throw you out like the trash you are.”
The tears come faster now, so I angrily wipe them away, then step in to turn on the shower.
Stupid.
Useless.
I’d reached for the stars with Zane Knox. Went after a crown that glittered like gold. He was my ticket to a better life. My hope for a future where I wouldn’t end up married to a man like my father or become the type of woman my mother was.
But he was more than that. He was my everything. My calm in the midst of a storm.
Then, just like my father said I would, I lost him. Because I couldn’t understand why someone like him would ever love someone like me. And now he’s insisting on helping me. Should I do as I said I would and let him?
Or is his best chance if I leave and never look back?
Zane may have been my calm all those years ago, but I’m still the hurricane that will rip his quiet life apart. And I want no part in destroying what he has. Not even if it means facing down my own death.
Chapter 11
Zane
“She okay?” I ask when Anastasia steps into the main cabin and closes the door behind her. My team is waiting on the deck since I’d gotten the sense that Tessa was already overwhelmed enough.
“Sure. I brought her clothes and some toiletries just like you asked. I need to go now. I’m meeting Mom for—” She starts to push past me, so I reach out and gently grip her arm.
“Anastasia.”
“What?” She whirls on me, tears in her eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not the one who nearly died last night, am I?” she snaps. All the guys go silent, their gazes trained anywhere but on us. Except Sawyer—he’s watching Anastasia with his heart on his sleeve.
“I didn’t nearly die,” I tell her. “It was a scratch.”
“Let’s go get some sun,” Weston says as he stands. Ryker and Garrison follow, with Sawyer hesitating just a moment before doing the same. He offers me a tight smile in support before closing the door behind them.
“Are you kidding me, Zane?” she yells as soon as the door closes. “One more centimeter and it would have taken off part of your face! You keep throwing yourself in these situations, and one of these days, you’re not going to walk away.” Anastasia wipes her cheeks. “Look, Jon showed me pictures of the trailer when he came in this morning. The fact that you survived?—”
“I know.” I make a mental note to tell Jon that, next time, he needs to keep things like that to himself. Never mind the fact that it’s an active crime scene and he had no business being out there. “I’m okay, Anastasia.”
She takes a deep breath. “This time. But what about next time? Can’t you just let the police handle this?”
“Who says I’m not?”
She glares at me as she crosses her arms. “Oh, I don’t know, the nine hundred pounds of muscle sitting behind me?”
I laugh and pull my sister in for a hug as I sense some of her anger dissipating. “We’re not diving headfirst into anything, but I’m not going to send her out on her own.”
“I can’t lose you,” Anastasia says. “Mom and I already lost Dad. Please don’t make us bury you, too.”
A lump forms in my throat, and I swallow hard. “I can’t let her fend for herself.”
