Hope bloomed horribly in her chest, though she knew she had no right to it.
He’d come for her.
After everything she’d said—everything she’d done—he’d come.
Just like he’d promised.
She bounded out of bed and toward the door in a single leap, prying it open. A harried-looking Philip shoved into her room, sleeves cuffed and smelling of tobacco. Her mother followed, ghostlike in her robe and slippers.
Where is he?Vivienne signed.
“I hope you’re happy,” snapped Philip, in lieu of an answer. “Do you have any idea what kind of danger you’ve put us in? What kind of favors I had to call in to ensure you came back to your mother in one piece?”
Her mother stood by the door, her lower lip wobbling. “Don’t act like you did this for me. You did it for you. For your precious career.”
“Forus,” shouted Philip. “Mother of God, woman—look at yourself. What do you think pays for all that plastic in your face? Who fronts the money for your shopping sprees and your tennis lessons and your nice, cozy spot at the country club? Me and myprecious career, that’s who.”
Molly was barking wildly now, her hackles raised. Behind her, Judd slinked across the floor, his hindquarters trembling.
“You should be on your knees with gratitude,” said Philip, raising his voice to be heard over the dogs. “Another man would have cast the two of you out. Another mandid.”
“Don’t bring him into this,” snapped Amelia.
“Yourdaughterbrought him into this,” roared Philip. “The very moment she ran off with that godforsaken club of his. Do you know the risks I took, phoning that sociopath? How exposed I’ve left us? How— For the love of God, shut that dog up!”
Vivienne let Molly bark, reaching instead for a bottle of cologne on her vanity. With just enough force to shatter, she lobbed the perfume at the adjacent wall. Glass exploded, tinkling across the hardwood. Both Amelia and Philip looked up at her in surprise.
Where is T-h-o-m-a-s?she signed.
Amelia cleared her throat. “She wants to know—”
“I know perfectly well what she wants,” bit out Philip. “I have no goddamned idea where Thomas Walsh has gone. It was a bluff. I didn’t want to go to the trouble of breaking down your door.”
Hope extinguished like a wick, leaving the taste of ash in her mouth.
“If that boy has any brains,” said Philip, “he won’t show his face around here again.”
Because you’ll kill him, she signed, and her mother translated.
Philip’s smile was thin. “No, because I paid him well for his time, and he knows better than to compromise that. He has an infatuation, but futures can’t be built on infatuations. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll collect his final paycheck and go home.”
Vivienne stared, hurt creeping into all the dark spaces.
“You don’t believe me,” said Philip. Reaching into his back pocket, he procured a rolled file, foisting it between them. “You think I’d lie to you? You think Walsh was at the cathedral that day of his own accord? You werea jobto him, and he came to collect you at my bidding. The night of the gala, he signed a hefty NDA in exchange for the biggest severance package he’ll ever see in his life.”
Vivienne took the file, flipping through it until she came to the end.
There, signed and dated, was Thomas’s signature.
Vivienne took a step back, sinking into the chair by her vanity. She thought of Thomas in the confessional, his profile broken up by the lattice divider. Thomas in the reconciliatory room, his heart beating into the palm of her hand.I’ll always come for you.
She’d believed every word he said, but then maybe she shouldn’t have. All she’d done from the start of the summer was deceive him. Betray him. Leave him.
Why shouldn’t he deceive her right back?
A tear slid unchecked down her cheek. Beneath her bones, her heart sat in tatters.
Funny, she’d thought she’d left it behind.
