I stumble back on the heels of my boots, tension draining so fast from my body I feel a thousand pounds lighter. Vaughn’s going to be okay. Now I can focus on what’s ahead for me in court. Whatever that may be. “Thank you for telling about Vaughn. Thank you so much.” My voice breaks over every word.
Chloe looks at the building behind me with a thoughtful expression and takes a deep breath. “My mother is the one that paid for your bail release. She’s also the one who is willing to pay for your lawyer and hand over our security footage of the incident.”
“Security footage?” I’m stunned. My skin tingles with electric sparks. The Montgomerys have something that can get me out of this mess?
Chloe tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and nods. “There are security cameras all over the estate, inside and out.” She reaches out and grabs one of my hands and holds it in hers, “Claire, it shows everything. You’d be cleared of all the charges.”
“But not for what happened to Mr. Luger,” I murmur.
“The footage has sound, and Matteo says a lot of things that prove you’re innocent and he’s the one fully responsible. And like I said, Claire, my mother is offering her lawyer’s services, free of charge.”
My heart feels like it’s sinking through my stomach. I know this will all come with a cost. “What is she asking for in return?”
Chloe looks down.
I start to cry. It’s not a far stretch to wonder what she’s going to ask of me.
“She doesn’t want you to contact him ever,” she says with a whimper and a sniffle. “And she would like you to relocate. I’m so sorry, Claire. Vaughn always…he always…”
I can’t ever contact Vaughn again? “Wait a second, what if after all of it, of me not contacting Vaughn, what if he contacts me?”
The corner of Chloe’s lip slowly curls into a smile, “I don’t think she thought about that at all. I’ll tell her you agree to her terms.” She then points to a gentleman with a briefcase sitting behind us on a park bench, waiting. “That’s your new lawyer, Mr. Barnard.”
And then she’s gone, rushing off into the parking lot and out of my line of sight.
“Ms. Radcliffe,” Mr. Barnard says in greeting, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, please come and follow me. Let’s see if we can expedite the start of this process for you.”
Then we’re standing in line with other defendants and their families and lawyers. One by one we walk through the X-ray machine and metal detector and proceed through the building.
Minutes pass.
Hours pass.
Days pass.
Weeks pass.
My case is finally dismissed and all the charges against me are dropped.
The whole mess is anticlimactic, I walk out of the courthouse free, without anyone to run to or celebrate with.
My landlady let me stay an extra month, well, really until she found a tenant to replace me. I wish I had some extra money to send her, but I’m strapped. I pack whatever clothes I can fit in a backpack and leave everything else. I stay with Maddie for a few days, but I feel uncomfortable and uneasy while I’m there.
On a cold sunny Tuesday Matteo’s trial begins, and I buy a bus ticket out of town. When it’s my turn to testify Mr. Bernard will contact me, but until then I want no part watching and reliving all of it. My bus ticket isn’t for any specific destination, just the cheapest ride out of here.
And I wait and wait.
And wait.
But there’s never anything on the news about what happened. I don’t know if Vaughn’s even okay, the hospital won’t tell me anything when I call. I just trust in the words that Chloe told me, Vaughn is okay. He’s going to fine.
I keep waiting and waiting, but Vaughn doesn’t come to look for me.
Chapter 26
Claire
The jingle of the front bell hits my ears as I stretch to wipe down the sticky table. The last group of customers is gone, and I can finally let out the yawn I’ve been stifling since the second start of my double shift began. These days are far too long for me. The arches of my feet are on fire, and I still have all the ketchup bottles to fill. I’ll count my tips when I’m home. I can’t wait to melt out of this uniform and right into bed. I hope the kitchen has some leftover chicken pot pie tonight, the delicious aroma it gave off as I was serving it made my mouth water something fierce.
I grab a few ketchup bottles and pile them in my arms. “Hey, Marty. Is there any leftover pot pie tonight?”
“There sure is,” he says, whipping one of the kitchen towels over his shoulder.
I smile to myself as I clunk all the ketchup bottles down on the counter. First few nights working here I would drop them all—everyone called me Butterfingers for a while. Now I’m a pro.
The bell chimes at the entrance again. I squeeze my eyes tight, cursing myself. Why didn’t I flip the closed sign before I started on the ketchup bottles? I straighten up to a brittle, aching spine. Thank God I have a day off tomorrow, I need to catch up on sleep.
I glance at Marty behind the counter who gives me a quick nod. He only had one shift tonight, I guess he doesn’t mind staying a bit over. “Sit anywhere you like,” I call out. God, I hope it’s not a bunch of teenagers, they leave awful tips and ask for too many straws and sugar packets.
A hush settles over the diner. Definitely not teens.
When I turn around, Vaughn Montgomery is sitting in a booth staring back at me. He’s alive.
“Vaughn?” I whisper. He found me. Four months and miles away from home, he found me.
I grab a menu from the hostess station and walk over to his table. “Hello, there,” I say, handing him a menu. “Can I start you off with something to drink?”
“Depends on what you have in your refrigerator at home,” he says in a husky deep voice.
I slide into the booth across from him. “It’s pretty empty, actually. I may have a bottle or two of water, definitely nothing like the expensive whiskey a Montgomery is used to.”
“I’d take dirty tap water if it meant going home with you tonight.”
I look over my shoulder, back at the kitchen. Marty and a few of the guys are poking their heads out of the doorway, watching our exchange. They know all about Vaughn, and about everything I’ve gone through. It’s hard trying to find a job when your background check pops up with some not-so-nice surprises. So, they’ve been waiting for Vaughn to come find me too, actually everyone in this small sleepy New Hampshire town is waiting. Our story has become a bit of an epic tale around here. I guess that’s what happens when a stranger comes into a small town crying and sniffing and babbling about lost love, murder, and scandalous love affairs. Everyone wants to hear, and everyone wants to root for the underdog.
That’s me, I’m the underdog.
I smile back at Marty and the guys and give them a thumbs-up. They all scramble out of the doorway and there’s a sudden intense banging of pots and pans.
I turn back to Vaughn. “Is everything okay?” he asks, pointing toward the kitchen.
“Yes, everything is definitely okay right now.”
“Good, can we get out of here?” he asks, scooting out of the booth to stand. He reaches out his hand and holds it between us. It’s steady and unwavering. There’s no doubt in his mind I’ll slip my hand in his, is there?
I pull up my hand from under the table and without letting me reach out he grasps it in his hand and pulls it up toward his lips. I stand with the momentum and then we’re face to face, only inches between us, looking into each other’s eyes.
He cups my face with his hands, gentle and sure. His thumbs brush over my skin and his jaw sets. “You look exhausted, Claire.”
“I don’t sleep much,” I whisper and chuckle. “Bad dreams.”
“Yeah?”
I nod, losing myself in his eyes.
“I’ve been having dreams too, Claire.” He leans closer.
My pulse beats in my throat and I’m suddenly breathless.
> “Ask me what my dreams are full of,” he says in a soft tone.
My skin tingles and all I can think of is wanting him closer.
“Go ahead, Claire, ask me what I dream of when I close my eyes every night.”
“Me?” I breathe.
Vaughn steps close and bends his head so his lips brush feather soft over mine. Heat coils deep inside me and spreads over every inch of my skin. “You, Claire. Always you. Your lips. Your skin. Your laugh. Every night I would dream of you and you got me through it all.”
His lips brush against my cheek, the corner of my lips. The lightest touch that sends shivers across my skin. His breath steals mine and I fall into him, knowing I’ll never be able to climb my way back up from him.
“I waited for you,” I say against his mouth. “I wanted you to find me. I was so scared you wouldn’t. I was afraid your mother—”
“Don’t say her name,” he growls, hushing me with a finger to my lips. “Neither of us ever did anything wrong, Claire. We fell in love at fifteen and lost each other because of all the things they did wrong. I’m not going to lose you again, and I’m not going to give up on you, on us.” The corners of his eyes glisten. It makes my heart ache. “You see, Claire, I have a problem. No matter what I try and do, I can’t shake you. No matter who I spent time with, or how I tried to forget, I couldn’t ever get you out of my dreams. Back then or now. Without even realizing it, I’ve been looking for you in every other person since we were kids, and—”
“I’m yours, you got me. Now shut up and kiss me again.”
And then his mouth is on mine and I realize I will never have enough of this man, his taste, his touch, his everything. Loving him is engrained inside me and I don’t know how to not love him.
He kisses me deeper, harder. Every part of my body melts and dissolves into his. My heart drums to the same beat as his, I feel it through his clothes and skin. I will never let this man go, ever again.
I never understood my mother’s and Silas’s affair. I never understood her willingness to be someone’s secret, living on the few crumbs of love Silas Montgomery would toss her way. All for a secret kiss, a lover’s embrace, a soft sensual touch. I think I finally know exactly how hard this feeling captures your heart, compressing it so tightly you know, without a doubt you would cease to breathe if it ever let you go.
Epilogue
Claire
Vaughn sits out on the porch, drinking his coffee. There’s a family of deer in the yard this morning, and a slow curling mist covers the grass. He smiles at me over the rim of his mug, giving me a quick wink. I sit in the porch swing across from him, my hands cupped around my own mug, breathing in the scent of hazelnut and vanilla.
We’re waiting for a call about Matteo’s sentencing, his trial is over, thank God. It was long and drawn out and horrible. Every Montgomery family secret was made public, every rock turned over and examined. Margaret Montgomery almost died of humiliation, especially the day her country club membership was revoked. But she moved on, survived the drama of it all. Fifteen billion dollars will do that for you. She even met a man, a lawyer. I think he’s way too nice for her, but Vaughn says he makes her less cold, more human. I’ve lost most of my animosity toward her, she’s warming up to me again, slowly.
Vaughn and I stayed in that small sleepy New England town I ran away to, and got married. We went and got ourselves pregnant too, twins, of course. One boy, one girl. Oliver and Olivia. We chose those names when we were fifteen on a late-night phone call just before my summer vacation. They’re asleep in their cribs now, thank God, because honestly twins are a handful. A good handful—but a handful all the same.
Chloe comes to visit us every weekend. She followed us up north and met a nice guy who’s a veterinarian. They live on a farm. Chloe Montgomery—now Probst—spends her days taking care of goats and pigs, and she loves every minute of it.
As for me and Vaughn, we’re happy. The happiest we could ever be.
Hey, that’s what fifteen billion dollars will do for you, when you let go of the past and forgive.
The End
Also by Christine Zolendz
If you want to read more of my books, below is a list of my other titles.
Mad World Series (Paranormal Romance)
Fall From Grace (FREE!)
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Scars and Songs
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Here’s To Falling
Best Man
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Suite 269
Vendetta
Behind Blue Lines Series
Resisting Love
Searching for Love
Finding Love
Ravenswood
Ravenswood
Fallen Kingdom
The Awkward Adventures of Jane Nash
Are You There, Karma? It’s me, Jane.
Happily Ever After is so Once Upon a Time
The Best Part of Breaking Up
Sci-fi Romance
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Christine Zolendz, a USA Today Bestseller, resides in New York City with her favorite NYPD detective and their two beautiful daughters. She loves reading, writing, wine, and caramel lattes.
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