If it looks this bad on the outside, how bad is it on the inside?Another, harsher, thought occurred to me.It must be falling apart inside too. That’s why Sue didn’t care that Omma left me all her furniture and the manor’s contents.
The real wealth is in the building and in the land. Why would she be jealous when she knew when it came to the inheritance game, she still won?
The thought crossed my mind, then I shoved it out. What did it matter now? Any games she may or may not have been trying to win? Any manipulations she thought she was running on me? None of that mattered.
Sue was gone.
She was more than gone. Because of me, she was a battered corpse on the ocean floor. I robbed her of a proper burial. I was erasing her from her own life. The least I could do was think more charitably of her now, and let the past finally be the past.
“Ms. Kim?” Davis looked at me like he’d been trying to get my attention for a while. “Your key?”
“Oh, right.” I fumbled in my bag, fishing out Sue’s housekey.
Passing it over, he pushed inside and helped me in.
Our eyes locked immediately.
Time slowed, then ground to a screeching halt—trapping me in this single moment. With a single thought.
I know you...
The man paused on the staircase, clearly in the middle of descending them when we burst inside.
Curly hair that was a cheek-tickling, dusky brown. Glinting, melty hazel eyes, and that tight, muscled body that somehow got tighter and musclier. His handsome, angular face crumpled in a frown—stealing the breath from my lungs before he, or I, even got a chance to speak.
“Sue?” He fixed on Davis. “What’s going on?”
“Excuse me, sir,” Davis said. “May I ask who you are?”
His frown deepened. He came the rest of the way down the stairs, stepping from the shadows into the light of the early morning. “Who am I?”
“No...” I whispered. “Please, no...”
“Who do you think I am? I’m her—”
Don’t say it.
“Husband,” Alexander finished, pulverizing my heart into dust. “What happened to her—? Sue, what happened to you?”
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.
“—in a car accident...” Davis’s voice reached me from far away. “...hit a deer... wanted to come home instead of the hospital—”
“What? And that didn’t seem like a bad idea to you?” Alex rushed me, taking me stiff and unmoving into his arms. “Sue, are you okay? Why would you refuse to go to the hospital? You know how serious head injuries are.” He twisted around. “Guys? Guys, get in here!”
Sounds muted—smothered under the roaring in my ears. The thundering of rushing footfalls tried to penetrate, but it did not do so as successfully as the sight of two other handsome, dazzling men rushing into the front room.
Long, raven hair, and razor-sharp cheekbones. Eyes that weren’t laughing at the moment but were still tantalizing lady-trappers.
“Sue, you okay, baby?” Micah dropped a kiss on my lips before I could squeak. “What happened to your head?”
Coiled, tight brown curls rose over Micah’s head like an umber-drenched sunrise. Dark, almost black ink stole all the color from his iris, but not the concern in his eyes.
I did get out a squeak when he reached around Micah and kissed me too.
“Is this why you didn’t come home last night?” Rhodes asked. “Are you hurt?”
My lips parted—to say what, I wasn’t sure—
