End. Of. Story.
Chapter 32
Butthosestonewallsshook the next morning. The ache in Seb’s chest increased tenfold as if he’d already been buried in the rubble. It was hard to breathe, impossible to sleep, or eat, or do anything except think about Helen.
At the final Get Living event, he was sitting alone in his trailer, in a private car park backstage, fighting the urge to call her. So fucked up and exhausted after his trip to Ottawa, he’d done his classic shutdown thing. But after a rough night’s sleep and some distance,feelingsandemotionswere beginning to eat away at Seb’s self-preservation.
Come back and talk to me.
He hadn’t wanted to go back yesterday—expecting bullshit but also the possibility that he’d been wrong to have assumed the worst.
Wrong not to trust her.
Wrong to fear his love for her.
Holy shit!
He was in love with Helen.
And he’d turned that love into anger the second doubts had crept in.
Come back and talk to me.
His fingers poised to text her, but then that pile of money came back to mind. Where the hell had she gotten it from? No one legit paid in cash like that. Would she really be that foolish—that reckless—to accept money from a man still wanted by the police?
“Sebastian?” It was Brenda, knocking on his door.
Seb’s head spun, his neat and tidy mind full of chaos.
But he had a job to do.
He opened the door.
“Good morning, I wanted to—” Brenda halted, stared. Then hauled a smile onto her face. “You look … tired.”
Actually, he looked like shit and felt a thousand times worse.
“Nadine has just texted me,” he said roughly, wanting to get down to business. “She and Ashley will be here in twenty minutes.”
“That’s great. Where’s Helen?”
“She won’t be here today.”
But eagle-eyed Brenda wasn’t stupid. “Have you two fallen out?”
“Yes.” Seb’s stomach twisted. Just as well he hadn’t been able to eat breakfast, he’d have hurled it all over his feet by now. “When today’s over, I’ll tell you everything.”
Brenda needed to know so they could protect the campaign, in case Helen … in case she got arrested again.
Would it really come to that?
But there’d be no chance of her getting away with working for Jaxon Bates again. Helen had been under surveillance and the police would’ve crawled all over her banking records. A million triggers would go off the second she’d try to deposit that cash. Surely, she’d know that?
Seb’s stomach gripped tighter. “The official line for now is that Helen is unwell and sends her sincere apologies.”
“All right.” Brenda watched him closely with that school-principal gaze. “Let’s go through today’s revised schedule, then.”
“When Nadine and Ashley arrive, they’ll take Helen’s place in the walk-round with me.”
