White beams cut through the dark, the lights along the grounds washing over the lawns and the house beyond.
Fog climbs from the Hudson River. Orange, wilted leaves skitter across the drive, caught in the wind before disappearing.
My groundskeeper and his team will be here tomorrow to rake them.
Meanwhile, I’ll be spending the entire day locked in my bedroom.
With the woman I love.
The woman who loves me back.
Fuck.
“I love him.”
My lungs expand as I turn the sentence over in my head.
Once.
Twice.
A dozen times.
Then, like a bucket of ice water thrown at my face, I remember why I cut the meeting in Boston short today.
She was on the phone with Barclay. The man who’d been hurting her for years.
Normally, I stay as long as the client wants. Restoration makes people emotional. They forget the mask. They talk.
Stories turn into information, and information is power. That power is how I got Elowyn back. How I keep her safe.
I don’t walk away from that lightly.
Today, I did.
“Her brother found out. He sounded remorseful. He tricked me, but that’s no excuse. I’m so sorry, Mr. Rourke.”Herbert’s voice still echoes in my head. “I failed you and Miss Montgomery. I should’ve known better.”
While he talked, rage flared through me, locking my jaw. My hand curled around a knife that wasn’t there. I told my client I was leaving and stormed out without waiting for an answer.
The second I got into my SUV, I pulled up the call recording and hit play.
I didn’t doubt Elowyn’s innocence. She would’ve never plotted against me with Barclay. Her eyes, her words, she’d been honest throughout the time we’d spent together.
Barclay was the problem.
I needed to hear every word. Maybe catch something in his voice that would give his plans away. Something that no one but his former best friend would notice.
Thankfully, other than a petulantthis isn’t overthat sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, there was no hint of future retribution.
Still, goddamn him.
The way he talked to her. How he tried to make her feel small enough to crawl back to him.
Loathing burned hot in my chest, only until Elowyn fought back. My queen stood up to him and me.
Yes, I hated myself for not being there.
At the same time, pride burned through me so fiercely it hurt.
