Lily’s door opened. Rhodes, Micah, and I were up and across the room before Mrs. Zeller stepped a foot out the door.
“Goodbye, Lily, it was very nice to meet you.”
Our sweet girl waved heartily, smiling her wide, missing-tooth grin. “Nice to meet you.”
I dropped down in front of Lily, making her giggle when I pulled her in for a tight hug. Peering over her shoulder at Alex, he met our eyes... and shook his head.
“Oh, thank goodness,” I cried, peppering her face with kisses. I didn’t notice I was crying until my own tears coated my mouth.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Lily hugged me tight—trying to comfort me like the precious girl she was.
“Nothing’s wrong, baby,” I hiccupped. “I just love you so much.”
“I love you too.” Twisting around, she pecked my cheek, then patted my forehead. “There, there. Everything’s going to be okay.”
I swear my heart burst into confetti.
Micah squeezed in and threw his arms around her. Then, Rhodes was at my back—pressing his warmth and solidity against me as he rested his forehead against Lily’s, and right behind him was Alex, throwing his arms around us all.
A very confused Lily became the jelly center of our donut, but we couldn’t let her go.
I couldn’t let her go.
Courtney was right about one thing. These men and this little girl were my family, and for once, family was going to be the thing I clung on to, not the boogeyman I ran away from.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“That’s why I’m not going to run away,” I whispered as I stepped inside the manor. “No more lies.”
The arrival of the detectives, the psychologist, and the news they brought with them pushed aside everything Courtney told me and the fears that came with them.
I made up an excuse to the guys about Courtney’s mom driving Taylor home, so she didn’t need me anymore. We then spent the rest of the night showering a bemused but happy Lily in love and attention—letting her choose the games, show me funny videos on her phone, and then draw each of us portraits that weren’t half bad for a six-year-old.
It wasn’t until she and the guys were sleeping soundly in their beds and pullout couches did I slip out of the hotel room and into the night. That’s how I found myself in my childhood home at three in the morning.
Slowly, I moved from room to room, flicking the lights on as I went. Memories tumbled into my head one after the other.
“We can’t get sucked back into her spinning, swirling vortex of psycho,”Alex said so long ago.“Not when we’re so close to being rid of her for good.”
I thought they were talking about me, but when I confronted Rhodes, he said no. He claimed they were talking about an investor... who turned out to be my mother backed by the estate.
I stepped into the kitchen, brushing my hands across the countertop as another memory assaulted me.
“So why would you want to throw a lavish and obscenely expensive party to celebrate a marriage that’s dead?”
Alex looked in my eyes, and smirked. “Dead? It’s not dead yet, baby.”
“Hell no,” Micah breezed. “The old girl’s still got some kick in her.”
“That’s right,” Rhodes threw in, sharing a grin with his fellow brother-husbands that stood my neck hairs on end. “Can’t tap out before they call T.O.D. That would be wrong.”
“But when it is dead,” Alex whispered, his smile widening as he turned away. “That’ll really be something to celebrate. I promise you, my dear wife, that’s going to be the party you care about.”
The guys were so weird about it when I wanted to cancel the party, but again, Rhodes had an explanation ready to go. They needed our anniversary to lure big clients to the firm—get us on a healthy financial track again.
But what if not?
What if everything they told me was bullshit? What if Detectives Kaplan and Balogun had onlymaybesandwe believeswhen talking about Layton because he didn’t have a thing to do with Mrs. Prado or my mother? What if, like Courtney suggested, there was a reason Alex flip-flopped so suddenly after the party?
