Because he most definitely recognized me. I saw it in his stunned expression. And I saw the way he hugged his kids tighter.
And if he knew who I was, it meant Phoenix did too.
Fear speared through me and I took several steps back. “I have to go,” I said and then I turned and began walking towards my car. Within a few steps, I was running.
“Reese, don’t,” I heard someone, Seth probably, say, “Let him go.”
I no longer felt the pain in my shoulder as I sprinted to my car. All I could think about was one thing.
And it wasn’t that Seth Nichols knew who I was.
It was that Phoenix had lied to me.
I’d only been sittingin the church for about twenty minutes before I heard the door behind me open. I knew it wasn’t Father O, since he’d mentioned going to the hospice this afternoon to visit patients there and wouldn’t be back for a while yet. Since I’d told him I was going to the rehab center to check on Phoenix, he’d said he’d have Patrick and Sherry come in early to prepare the meal so Phoenix could focus on his daughter and I could focus on Phoenix.
Phoenix, who’d lied to me.
From day one.
Though I had no idea why.
And in truth, I didn’t care why. I wanted to know how.
After everything he’d said to me…after last night…
My eyes burned, even though I hadn’t shed a single tear since leaving the rehab center. Probably because my body had nothing left to give.Ihad nothing left to give. Which was why when I turned around and saw a dark-haired man standing just inside the church doors, I felt only relief.
Not because he wasn’t Phoenix.
But because I knew who he was. His picture had been right next to Seth’s in the article I’d read about Seth’s wedding to a trauma surgeon named Ronan Grisham.
The gun hanging loosely in the man’s hand at his side had me guessing he wasn’t just a trauma surgeon. Another piece clicked into place for me as I remembered Phoenix telling me he worked in security. Perhaps that was his link to Seth.
It didn’t matter.
I stood and turned around, but didn’t step out of the pew, mostly because I didn’t know how these things were done. Would he shoot me right here? Was he going to take me somewhere and get rid of me so my body would never be found?
Not that anyone would look too hard.
“Do you know who I am?” Ronan asked as he stepped forward.
I nodded. “You’re Seth’s husband.”
Ronan’s jaw tightened and I wondered how my simple statement could have caused the reaction.
“Are you going to do it here? Or someplace else?” I asked. “Father O doesn’t deserve to have it happen in his church,” I said, though I knew this man wouldn’t give a shit about that.
“So you know why I’m here?”
I nodded.
“You don’t deny it?”
“No,” I said. “I did it.”
“I knew giving you a second chance was a mistake,” Ronan murmured. “I told Seth as much, but he was adamant that people can change…that you could change.”
His comment confused me, but I kept quiet. What did he expect me to say? Did he expect me to defend myself? Beg for mercy?
