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My throat is thick when Dolores returns with a tray of steaming mugs. Her movements are easy despite the tension crackling through the air. She’s about to pull out her order pad when the bell above the door chimes.

The entire restaurant goes silent like someone just ripped the needle off of a record. The quiet is unexpected and so abrupt it slams into me.

Trina steps through the doorway, her uniform crisp and her expression unreadable. Everyone’s attention bounces between her and our table, anticipation thick in the air. This is probably the most action half these people have seen in years. Trina notices us from across the diner, and she starts walking over. Each step closer sends my heart racing. This is it. This is where they slap the cuffs on us and drag us out in front of half the town.

“Trina.” Knox’s voice is steady, controlled. He dips his head in acknowledgment, but I can see the tension in the set of his shoulders.

She stops beside our table, and for a moment, nobody breathes.

“I thought I ought to let you all know that we’ve been working with the FBI.” Her voice carries clearly through the diner, and I know every single person in here is straining to catch every word. Someone is probably scribbling notes on a napkin so they can talk about this later.

“Turns out you were right, Callie. Theo was being threatened.”

I knew it. “So does that mean the guys aren’t suspects?” My voice comes out smaller than I’d like. I don’t like thinking about losing time with them.

Trina nods. “The suspects are in custody and one has already confessed.”

Relief crashes over me. Without thinking, I jump up and throw my arms around Trina. She goes stiff as a board, and reality slams back into me.

“Oh shit.” I jerk back like she’s on fire. I basically just tackle hugged a cop. Hopefully that won’t count as assault. “Sorry.” I drop back into my seat and clasp my hands in my lap so she knows I won’t touch her again.

She shakes her head, a ghost of a smile flickering across her features as she glances around our little group. “Anyway, enjoy your breakfast.” She turns to leave, but something makes her pause and look back at us. “For the record, I’m glad it wasn’t you guys.”

“Yeah, no shit, us too.” Jax’s deadpan delivery breaks the tension like a hammer through glass.

Laughter erupts from the eavesdroppers around us. Even the people who were firing questions at us look a little sheepish as they turn back to their food. Trina grins, probably knowing exactly what we were going through before she came in, and heads for the door.

“Always knew those Williams boys were good kids,” a guy announces to his buddy, like he wasn’t assuming we were guilty five minutes ago.

I bite back an eye roll, but warmth spreads through my chest anyway. This place drives me absolutely insane with its gossip mill and small-town bullshit.

But it’s home. The words whisper through my mind as Dolores appears with her order pad, ready to pretend the last ten minutes never happened.

And as annoying as it can be, I love Big Ridge.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

CALLIE

The glass facade of the building stretches twenty stories above me, all shiny surfaces and modern angles that used to make me feel sophisticated. Now it looks cold. Empty. Like the life I tried to build here.

My fingers fiddle with the strap of my purse as I crane my neck back, counting floors until I find the fourth-floor corner loft that used to be mine and Theo’s. The windows are dark, and I wonder who will move in now. After speaking with the management company and learning that they were clearing out the loft in two weeks, I knew I had to come gather the things I couldn’t in my rush to escape.

“You don’t have to do this today.” Knox’s voice rumbles from behind me, closer than I expected. When I glance over my shoulder, all three Williams brothers are watching me with identical expressions of concern etched across their features.

Brax shifts his weight from foot to foot. “We could come back another time.”

“Or never,” Jax deadpans.

A laugh bubbles up despite the knot in my stomach. “I need my paintbrushes and the blanket Mom gave me for my eighteenth birthday.” I turn back to face the building, squaring my shoulders. “Besides, it’s just a place. It can’t hurt me.”

But even as I say it, my chest flutters with unease. The space itself can’t harm me. The memories though? Those can still cut through the defenses I’ve built. The last time I was in that apartment, I was throwing clothes into a duffle bag with shaking hands while Theo screamed at me. Bruises blooming on my biceps. He was calling me crazy, delusional, a talentless hack who should be grateful anyone wanted to buy my work.

“You know he called me delusional? Said I was lucky he let me watch him work, that I should be flattered he found my amateur techniques worth stealing.” I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly cold. “He said I should be thankful.”

They know everything that happened between me and Theo, but it’s still hard to talk about the weeks that led up to me leaving NYC.

The silence stretches between us until Brax clears his throat. “Well, the joke’s on him now. The whole art world knows he was a fraud.”