Breathe. Try to breathe.
“Well, that went well.” Callum’s sarcasm is thick.
Evan doesn’t laugh. Neither do I. I drop my hands and stare at the floor.
We are going to inherit our fortune. We got the girl.
But we lost our best friend. And I don’t know how to calculate that cost.
CHAPTER 19
Evan
The penthouse is too quiet.
Callum is sprawled on the couch, legs stretched out, staring at the ceiling. Silas sits across from him, elbows braced on his knees, hands clasped. Tania is curled into the armchair, knees pulled to her chest.
Nobody has said anything in the past ten minutes.
My instinct is to make a joke to ease the uncomfortable situation. Except nothing feels light right now.
Tania’s phone sits face-up on the coffee table. She keeps glancing at it as if it might suddenly ring with Ben’s forgiveness. It won’t.
I cross to the armchair and sit on the arm, close enough that my thigh brushes her shoulder. She doesn’t pull away, but she doesn’t lean in either.
“Are you going to call him?” Callum asks without moving his gaze from the ceiling.
Tania picks up her phone and stares at the screen.
“No. But I should text him.” She types fast, thumbs moving across the glass. “I will just let him know that I want to talk, whenever he is ready.”
She hits send and flips the phone face-down.
Callum sits up. “What if he’s not ready for a while?”
“Then I wait.” She pulls her knees tighter. “I’m not forcing it.”
Silas lifts his head. “He’ll come around.”
“You don’t know that.” Her hands are shaking. She notices and tucks them under her thighs.
“I do.” Silas holds her gaze. “He’s pissed. He has every right to be. But Ben wants you to be happy.”
“We lied to him,” she reminds us.
“We did.” Silas doesn’t look away. “And he’ll have to get past that. But once he does? He’ll see we make you happy.”
Tania’s lips twitch. Almost a smile but not quite there. “You do.”
Callum drops his feet to the floor. “Good. Because I’m not giving you up.”
Tania looks down. “Nobody asked you to.”
“I know.” He leans forward, forearms on his thighs. “But I’m saying it anyway.”
The silence that follows feels different. Less suffocating.
I nudge Tania’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
