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I just keep glaring, the silence heavy between us.
Sebastian sighs, rolling his eyes as he grabs his bags. “Fine. I’ll see you when I come back home to visit… if I come back home to visit.”
Don’t do me any favors.
He gets into his car and drives away.
Later that evening, the doorbell rings. I open the door to find Shelly standing on the porch, tears streaming down her blotchy face.
“Sam.” She sobs, throwing her arms around my neck. “Sebastian broke up with me. He said he wanted a clean break before going away to college.”
She’s hysterical, clinging to me desperately on the porch. Her hands grip my shirt as she cries on my shoulder. I’m caught in the messy aftermath of grief and anger, relating to her agony more than I can bear to say out loud.
How had everything in my life fallen apart in the blink of an eye?
A Few Months Later
I’m completely miserable. I’m trying my absolute best to move on with my life without Alexis in it. But I miss her dumb face every single second of the day. Every time I catch a glimpse of her big blue eyes across the school hallway, I completely crumble inside. When I’m seated behind her in class, I find any pathetic excuse to lean forward. To be close to her.
It’s killing me.
Slowly, agonizingly killing me.
In a desperate moment of weakness, I walk out into the vineyard fields and hand-pick a bouquet of her favorite wildflowers. Binding them together with a piece of twine, I decide right then and there that I’m going to confront her. I’ll tell her the truth. That I plan to build a successful, proud life right here on this vineyard. That I’ll go to college, work my fingers to the bone, and do whatever it takes. I might not be a successful doctor like Sebastian, but I can make her happy.
I’ll do anything for her.
I rehearse the words over and over on the long walk from my family’s property to hers, my heart hammering, hope stirring to life for the first time in months. As I round the bend, her house appears in the distance.
My footsteps stop in their tracks.
Parked right in her driveway is a sleek black pickup truck. And standing on her front porch, with his arms wrapped tightly around Alexis, is Chad Lewis. I watch from the road as she hugs him back, and the wildflowers slip right out of my numb fingers, scattering onto the dirt.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sam
I blink my eyes open, disoriented. What the hell just happened? The taste of copper hits my tongue, my skull throbbing in rhythm with my pulse. Before I can fully push myself up, Sebastian is on top of me, grabbing me hard by the neck. His fingers dig into my throat. His face is contorted in a mix of fury and anguish as he pins me back against the wall.
“Sebastian, stop! Get off him,” Lexi yells.
She runs over to try to intervene, her hands clawing at Sebastian’s arms to haul him off.
“Fuck, man. What is wrong with you?” my voice sounds broken as I fight against his grip.
Lex is staring up in horror at Sebastian. Her breath hitches as she tries to push him back. Sebastian finally lets go of my neck, but he doesn’t step away. Instead, he reaches into his jacket, pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, and snaps it open in the air between us.
“The DNA results are back,” Sebastian announces, his voice ringing out cold and trembling. “Turns out Gavin’s features aren’t similar to mine.”
“I don’t—”
“Because he’s not my son. He’s yours.”
Alexis gasps, her hands flying to her mouth. Her face appearing horrified.
I freeze, my eyes going wide.
What?
