“Sounds serious.”
“Nah, I think it sounds wonderful.”
FORTY-EIGHT
Grayden
It was almostmidnight when we piled into a small conference room. Apparently, Callum had gotten to know several nurses when Zandra’s grandfather had been hospitalized last year. My youngest brother could charm his way into or out of pretty much anything.
But Ashford wasn’t here.
I stood up. “I’ll look for him.”
“No, I will,” Teller said. “I’ll be right back.”
But that same moment, Ashford stepped into the doorway. “I’m here. Was planning to spend the night at the hospital anyway for Piper, so we might as well do this.”
I nodded at him. Ashford avoided my eyes, leaning against a wall instead of taking a seat.
But that was fine. He was here, and that was all that mattered.
Piper sat next to me, a hand on my thigh beneath the table. Teller took the seat beside her. Grace and Callum were right across from us.
I finally had the chance, after all these years, to tell them the truth about everything. Fuck, I was dreading it.
This had been a long, painful day for all of us. And it wasn’t over yet.
I knew I was a strong person. I’d had to be to survive all I’d been through. But Piper’s presence beside me gave me a whole new kind of strength.
She made me feel like the hero she believed I was. A man who made mistakes, but those mistakes didn’t have to define me.
“I had a friend named Aaron Drummond in the Army.”
I started there, and I told them everything. Every brutal detail. All the things I was ashamed of, like throwing the first punch in that bar fight.
Grace gasped, covering her mouth when I described finding Aaron covered in blood, standing over an unconscious Private Ricker.
She cried when I told them about my impulsive confession of guilt. Callum had an agonized look on his face.
Ashford… It was impossible to tell what he was feeling.
The funny thing was, my voice got stronger as I kept going. With every ugly detail I shared, the weight on my soul got lighter. They would know exactly who I was, and if any of them decided it was too much, it would hurt. But at least I’d be living fully in the open.
By the time I got to Aaron’s lawyer father and his threats, Grace hammered her fist on the table. She was just as furious as Piper had been. Callum got up and paced across the tiny room, hands digging into his hair.
“This is fucked,” Callum said.
Ashford shifted his weight, still leaning against the wall. “So this lawyer guy threatened us if you didn’t take the fall? You really think he could’ve done something?”
I nodded. “Silas Drummond worked in Washington. He knew generals and congressmen. I looked him up online once. He was golf buddies with the Secretary of Defense. You and Cal were both in the service. There’s no telling what he could’ve done. And even if I changed my story, I would’ve struggled to prove my innocence at the trial. I thought your lives would be better if I played along.”
“Better without you?” Ashford said. “How the hell could you think that?”
“Because Drummond promised he couldhelpyou if I kept my mouth shut.”
Everyone in the room went quiet. Piper’s hand tightened on my thigh. I hadn’t told her this part.
For my sister, it might be the hardest of all.
