“You’re alive.”
The words come out hoarse, as though I’ve been holding them in since I walked into the penthouse and discovered she was gone.
“Of course I am. I’m not the one that psycho over here used his knife on.”
Connor grins, jerking his thumb in her direction. “Look, Dallas. Your girl gave me a nickname of his own.”
Haven snickers, and I look at the three of them, having the time of their lives when I was seconds away from losing my fucking mind—if I didn’t already, which, if you ask Adrian, is debatable.
I guess I should be glad that Lucy had a sanctuary she could run to. Just like I should be grateful that she told Connor thatshe was ready to talk to me. Delusional fool that I am, I wanted to believe that she forgave me for how I treated her. For the lies, for the accusations…
Tony Wright killed my mom. In true Connor fashion, when he called me, he gave me the ‘good news, bad news’ routine. He asked which one I wanted, and I thoughthehad lost his damn mind. He had to have known I was losing my fucking shit because Lucy left me, and that’s when I realized that he would’ve offered to put Haven under and helped me search for my Dandelion… if he didn’t already know where she was.
So I played along. I asked for the bad news first, and got one of the biggest whammies of my life.
All along, I knew that Mom didn’t jump. She wouldn’t have. No Reese Collins. She was too brave, too strong to let Jack whittle her down to nothing like that. No matter how hard he tried to break her, he couldn’t, and in the end he took the coward’s way out and decided to kill her.
But he was a true coward. I hate what Julian did, but he at least had the balls to look Lucy in the eye before he orchestrated her ‘fall’. My old man did everything he could to have a strong alibi, then enlisted Lucy’s dad to kill my mom.
I knew it. I knew it all along. If I could dig him up, resurrect him, and kill him with my bare hands, I would. Still, having that closure… knowing that Mom wouldn’t have left me if it wasn’t for Jack… I told Connor that wasgoodnews.
That’s when he told me that he made the executive decision to execute Tony as soon as he confessed and I understood. In Connor’s twisted mind, he thought it only fair that I got the honor of killing my mother’s murderer, but he was so offended that the man who caused so much hurt in one of his brother’s lives was sitting on his couch, who couldn’t help himself. He just had to do it.
That was fine with me. And, yeah, I would’ve been glad to do it myself—professional killer here and all—but sometimes it’s a good idea for Connor to let off a little stream. Plus, he was instantly forgiven when he mentioned the little tidbit that he discovered that it was Tony Wright who killed Mom because he confessed toLucy.
Because Connor has Lucy.
Because she called Haven when she needed rescue fromme…
But she decided that she was ready to hear me out now and she asked Connor to let me know and, well, here I am.
“Are you okay?”
She looks surprised that I asked. “Yeah. I am. You?”
“You vanished for two days.” I drag a hand through my hair. “What do you think, Dandelion?”
Connor nudges Haven. “Look. He gave her a nickname, too.”
I haven’t heard Haven’s soft voice in so long, it’s one hell of a surprise when she murmurs, “I like that better than ‘sunshine’.”
“What about?—”
I let out a snarl. There’s no other way to describe the animalistic sound that escapes me. I fucking snarl, and Connor snaps his head my way. He gets a glimpse at the look on my face, almost chokes, then pats Haven’s knee.
“C’mon, sweetheart. I think we should let these two have a little privacy.”
Lucy mutters something under her breath. I swear I hear her say something like, “with the cameras,” but when I tilt my head, she shakes hers.
Connor takes Haven by her hand, leading her out of the room. They close the door, and I sink down to my knees in front of Lucy.
“You didn’t have to run. Not from me, Luce.”
Never from me.
“I know.” She reaches out, brushing her fingers along the dandelion tattoo on my neck. “I’m sorry, Dallas, but I told you. I needed space. I needed time to think.”
“You could’ve told me you were leaving the penthouse.”
