by Mia Caldwell
Trevor’s tone was so fraught with anxiety, Sabela knew he wasn’t joking around or trying to manipulate her for some unknown reason. Not this time.
He spoke slowly and distinctly. “You need to come home. Right now.”
It wasn’t like Trevor to be protective. She hadn’t heard him speak like this since long before the accident. But how could she just do as he said? She knew there was some explanation for everything that would allow both Colin and Trevor to be good men.
“I’m sure you’re overreacting,” she said. “What do you mean he used to live in Brent Grove? How did you know him?”
“And of course the bastard neglected to tell you. I’m telling you, that guy is bad news. Where are you exactly, Sister? Tell me.”
Sabela’s thoughts were jumbled. She was still trying to process that Colin lived in Brent Grove. She had found the matchbook for Pinkie’s Diner, but Colin hadn’t mentioned once that he was connected to her hometown.
He said he had been passing through. Though now that she thought about it, how had he gotten a 30th anniversary matchbook when he was in town four years after the anniversary? She should have realized that.
She been so relieved that Colin wasn’t some freaky stalker, she’d overlooked a few details she should have caught.
What else wasn’t he being straight with her about?
How was it possible that she had missed this? Everything that she had thought she knew about her current situation might be wrong. Her romance with Colin might be wrong. Her stomach began to churn.
“Tell me where you are,” Trevor repeated, more demanding this time.
“At his home outside of Andermatt, Switzerland,” she mumbled. “It’s called Haberlin Chalet.”
“Can you get someone to take you the airport? You need to come home now, Sister. I mean it,” Trevor persisted. “Listen, this guy and Blanca. It’s … complicated.”
Sabela didn’t know what to do or how to process everything that Trevor had told her. She needed time to think things through without anyone pressuring her one way or the other.
“I have to go,” she said softly.
“Don’t hang up on me! This could be —”
She ended the call and shut off her phone. She couldn’t handle any more surprises. She needed time to think.
She collapsed into the nearby chair and lowered her head into her hands. Why hadn’t Colin told her that he had lived in Brent Grove? And that he’d known Trevor? It was no simple oversight, of that she was certain.
What did Trevor’s dead girlfriend have to do with Colin? They didn’t talk about the poor girl anymore, though she was once an important part of her brother’s life.
The accident. Everything had changed on that day. Trevor had been driving a girl to Pinkie’s Diner, someone he’d claimed was his girlfriend. Sabela had never heard Trevor talk about her before the accident. He talked about her plenty afterward.
He claimed she was the only thing that had made his life worth living.
Blanca was her name, Sabela remembered well. Trevor insisted that a former friend of his had been trying to steal Blanca away before the crash, but he’d never said the name of the friend. She hadn’t asked for more information at the time because Trevor was on heavy pain medication, and she couldn’t know how much of what he ranted about was real and how much was drug induced.
Could that girlfriend-stealing former friend have been Colin?
It had never occurred to her that the Colin in Haberlin Chalet was somehow tied to her and Trevor, but evidence was mounting.
The Pinkie’s matchbook, the compulsion to help her out of her debt, and the way he’d been asking her about her brother …
All of it was ominous, and Sabela was no longer sure if Colin really meant the best for her.
Did he really try to steal Blanca away from Trevor? Even if so, she couldn’t imagine how he could still be obsessing over a long-dead woman who was never his to begin with. It made no sense.
Sabela pondered how secretive he’d been about his past. All he’d told her were basic things, no details, like the actual names of his businesses. He’d said that people had hurt him. She wondered what that might have to do with Blanca.
Colin was many things, but he hadn’t seemed to be a liar. Trevor, on the other hand, lied frequently and with abandon. He could be lying about Colin just to get her to come home.
She couldn’t believe it, though. Trevor had sounded genuinely worried for her safety.
She groaned. She didn’t know who to trust.
Whatever decision she would make, she had to do it quickly. Trevor had been right — she couldn’t stay at the chalet.
Tears welled in Sabela’s eyes as she stood and wondered where to look for her own clothes. They had to be around somewhere. She’d leave with only what she’d brought.
The fairytale had ended without a happily ever after.
Chapter Thirty-Four
COLIN LEANED BACK IN HIS SEAT and stretched, feeling better than he had in ages. Not even the stack of dry legal documents he was poring over could sour his mood.
Sabela was his at last, and his scheme of revenge had ended before it was completed. The bright future was worth infinitely more than his dark past. He’d leave that darkness behind, in the shadows where it belonged.
Light and happiness lived in Sabela’s beautiful eyes. He wouldn’t trade that for ugly revenge.
For the first time in more than four years, he was satisfied.
And all of it was because of a small-town waitress from a place he never wanted to go back to. All of it because of a Vaughn. Colin laughed as the stretch ended.
Fate worked in unexpected ways.
One Vaughn had smashed his heart to pieces, and now a different Vaughn had picked those pieces up and glued them back into place.
Caught up in his thoughts, when Colin returned to his legal documents his mind began to wander. He couldn’t make sense of the words.
Like it or not, he wasn’t going to get any more work done today.
Setting the papers aside, he sent an email to his executive assistant and told her to cancel the meeting scheduled for later that day, then messaged one of his lawyers to let him know that he’d be getting the approval back to him tomorrow.
Afterward, Colin considered taking Sabela into town again for dinner. There were a myriad of quaint shops that he wanted to show her that he thought she would love. He would buy her whatever she wanted, and he liked the idea of having her on his arm as they explored the town together.
The more time they spent out of the chalet, the more they’d come to be seen as a couple in public. Even if nothing was official yet, the thought appealed to him.
He wanted the world to think that she was his.
And if he was lucky, one day she would be.
Before Colin left his desk, he checked a few additional details. His business guests were still scheduled to arrive on time, and the deliveries he had planned before their arrival were still set to ship as planned.
By the time his guests arrived, maybe Sabela wouldn’t be his escort anymore. Introducing her as his girlfriend, his real girlfriend, excited him.
If only he could get his act together and figure out how he wanted to ask her.
As he shut off his computer, he heard a slight commotion coming from the direction of the front hall. Marie was typically quiet, and the other servants were likewise. Curious, Colin rose from his desk and swept out into the hall to investigate the noise.
He found Marie standing in front of the door with her hands on Sabela’s shoulders. Sabela was dressed in the clothes she’d worn the day she’d arrived.
Colin knew immediately that something was wrong.
“Dear, please! You can’t go out!” Marie insisted. “You don’t have a coat.”
“Marie, let me go!”
It sounded like Sabela was near tears. Colin’s heart shot up into his throat.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, trying not to
sound as worried as he was.
Marie turned, looking relieved that he was there. Her hands dropped from Sabela’s shoulders, and Sabela took a step back and crossed her arms, not meeting his eye.
“Ms. Vaughn requested that Bruno take her to the airport. I assured her that you would want to speak to her before she left,” Marie explained.
Colin made a mental note to give Marie a raise. He had a feeling that if she had not intercepted Sabela, she would already be halfway to the airport by now. He had no idea what had set her off, but he needed to set it straight as quickly as possible.
“Thank you, Marie. I can take it from here.”
Marie nodded and rushed away. He waited for Marie to leave before he spoke again.
“I would like to know why you want to leave,” he asked in the tone he reserved for skittish people. “Why don’t we go to the lounge and have a talk?”
Sabela shook her head and tightened her crossed arms, her eyes everywhere but on him. “No. I need to go.”
What had gone wrong? This morning everything had been perfect. Did she regret what they’d done?
Colin’s heart ached at the thought. “I’m not sure why you feel you need to leave without any explanation, but I can assure you that whatever it is, you can tell me.”
By experience, he knew that getting angry with her or losing his temper was only going to aggravate the situation.
“I need to go,” she repeated. Her voice was flat and toneless.
He reached out to touch her, but she flinched away from him. Whatever she was struggling with had to do with him. Of that, Colin had no doubt.
“Sabela, take a breath and tell me what’s happened. I saw you an hour ago and everything was fine,” he said.
To give her some space, he took a step back. The last thing Colin wanted was to be overbearing or threatening. “Tell me what happened to change your mind and make you want to leave.”
Her chin came up then, and he saw the defiant look in her eye. “I spoke to my brother. I spoke to Trevor.”
Speaking to Trevor was the reason he’d asked her to refrain from reaching out through calls or texts or email. It had been an exercise in futility, simply delaying the inevitable.
The gig was up.
“What did Trevor tell you?” Colin asked quietly. He knew it wasn’t going to be good.
How was he supposed to tell her that he’d decided to leave the past where it belonged? She’d never believe him, even though he meant it.
“He told me enough to convince me I can’t trust you,” Sabela said.
Colin clenched his jaw. “What do you mean by enough? Tell me. I want to make this right.”
“You want to make it right?” Sabela asked. Her eyes flashed. “How are you going to make this right?”
“I’d tell you if you told me,” he replied. The words were a little sharper and a little angrier than he would have liked, but his stress was suddenly through the roof.
“He told me that you’re from Brent Grove, his old friend. The same old friend that tried to steal my brother’s girlfriend, Blanca. You were stalking them, weren’t you? You caused the crash somehow, didn’t you? I’m not dumb. I can figure stuff out, no matter what you think.”
Colin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. After all this time, he had hoped that Trevor would recognize how wrong he had been to interfere in Blanca’s life and her plans for the future. Colin had even thought that after what had happened between him and Sabela, Trevor would’ve been able to set aside his hatred if Colin could return the favor.
Instead, it appeared that Trevor was just as immature as ever and trying to put the blame on everyone else.
Typical.
“Obviously I wasn’t in the car with them when the accident happened, so that can’t be true,” Colin explained.
Sabela’s brow dipped in anger, and she glared at him. “I don’t even know who you are. You’ve told me nothing but half-truths, and now I find out that you knew my brother? What would have happened if I had stayed here with you? I want to know the truth. You’re up to something with me and my brother. And it’s not anything good.”
“You’re overreacting to something that happened a long time ago,” Colin said. “And Trevor isn’t as honest as he’d have you believe.”
“This isn’t about Trevor. It’s about you, Colin. You’re not honest. Admit it.”
“I don’t owe you my life story, but we can talk it through to make sure that you understand what really happened. Come into the lounge and we’ll talk about this like adults.”
She would never understand the depths of the hurt and betrayal that Colin had felt on the day Blanca died, but he would attempt to explain nonetheless.
“No,” Sabela said. “I’m scared, and I want to go home.”
He couldn’t let her leave, not yet. The price of keeping her here was the truth. And though Colin wasn’t sure that he was prepared to face it, he would try.
Because he wanted her more than he wanted to protect himself. He’d try, for Sabela.
Chapter Thirty-Five
THERE, IT WAS OUT IN THE open now.
She admitted she was frightened of Colin, or, more accurately, she was frightened of what he was going to say.
That morning had been magical, and caught in the moment, Sabela hadn’t regretted it in the least. Now, knowing what she knew, it turned her stomach upside down.
All of it was a lie. Every moment they’d shared together.
The ties to Trevor made it more than a coincidence that she was standing in Colin’s chalet in Switzerland. If Colin had been stalking her brother and his girlfriend four years ago, he had to be up to something now. Colin didn’t care a thing for her except for how he could use her.
It was horrifying to consider.
“He’s a manipulator, and he’s not a good person. Trust me on this one.” Trevor’s words kept repeating in her mind.
She had gone over all of it while looking for her clothes, and she had started to put together the pieces.
Colin had seen her that day of the lottery at Pinkie’s Diner. He had found out who she was and that she was in financial distress. It wouldn’t have taken much digging to find out that the reason for all of that was tied back to Trevor.
Trevor and Colin had a past, and it all had to do with Blanca, the girl that both of them had wanted and who had died in the accident. Colin had stalked Blanca before, and if he was angry about her death, it wouldn’t be a stretch that he might be seeking revenge on Trevor.
She had nothing to do with any of it, but Colin might be trying to use her against her brother. She was the fly caught in Colin’s spiderweb.
She had to break free.
It was so hard to believe that what they shared last night and all through this morning was really an act. The way Colin laughed, the way he listened and replied to her thoughtfully, and the way he opened himself up couldn’t have been an act.
Unless he was so far lost to his manipulations that nothing he did in life was sincere.
Unless he was an evil monster.
It was no wonder that he hadn’t brought any other women to Haberlin Chalet. No woman wanted to love a monster.
“I want to leave. Now,” she insisted.
“We’ve had this argument before, haven’t we?” Colin asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
She could see the beast was rearing its ugly head again, and Sabela was inclined to believe that it was his true face.
How could she have been so blind?
“I don’t care if I have to pay you back in the next year,” she said. “I don’t care if you want to send me to jail for defaulting on a loan when I can’t make the payments. Take everything I have; it won’t get you much.”
“You aren’t being rational. Give me a chance to explain,” he said brusquely.
Something in her expression must have warned him off. He took a deep breath and spoke slower and with more aforethought.
“All I’m asking
for is for a few minutes to talk to you,” he said. “I think you’ve misunderstood a lot of things, and that’s understandable. There are two sides to every story, and I’d appreciate it if you could spare me a handful of minutes so I could share my side. If you still want to leave after we talk, I’ll have Bruno bring the car around, and you can go.”
Trevor had warned her about how he was a manipulator, and Sabela didn’t want to get sidelined from what she knew had to be true. His offer to explain his side of things was tempting, but she couldn’t give in.
“Why do you want to talk at all? I’ve figured it out, Colin. I’m not stupid.”
“I never said you were stupid.”
“You were using me to get to Trevor. Mission accomplished.”
Colin breathed out through his teeth and closed his eyes, collecting himself. “If you listen to what I have to say, and you still want to go, you won’t owe me a penny.”
“You can’t be serious.” Was his side of the story worth a quarter of a million dollars? Sabela set her jaw and looked him over from head to toe, assessing him.
It could be a trick … but maybe it wasn’t.
“The debt will be gone, and you’ll be free to do as you please. All I ask is that you stay long enough to let me explain myself,” he said.
Sabela searched his face. She wanted to believe that he was telling the truth. Walking out of Haberlin Chalet debt-free would change her life.
“I want it in writing,” she said after a moment’s consideration.
She wasn’t about to be suckered by Colin any longer. Determined, she dug a pad of paper out of her bag and handed it to him. The chagrin on his face was evident.
“I’m serious. I want you to write that I will not owe you any of the money you gave me, or I’ll walk into town if I have to.”
Colin scowled, but took the pad and scrawled a few sentences. A couple of pen strokes later, he tore off the top sheet and returned the pad to her.