“You lied to me.”

“Yes.”

There was no remorse in his tone or eyes. He ensured I felt guilt, and all the while, he’d been lying to me, too. “I spoke with the new detectives on the case.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “When?”

“Don’t look at me like I’m the guilty one. They cornered me at the store this morning.”

“Did they follow you?”

“Does it matter? I’m sure they know where we live.”

“It matters. If they followed you, it means they’ll keep following you.”

I wanted to take the focus off me—and quick. His stare was beginning to make me sweat. “They told me you went to see him the day before I did, but you were on a business trip.”

He shook his head and tossed his leftover apple stem in the trash. “I didn’t need to meet Jesse until the next day.”

“Why did you go if not to kill him?”

“Because I did go to kill him. I wanted him to die in the worst way. That would never change. The only thing that did was the decision not to. He wasn’t worth it. Or so I thought.”

“You did the right thing.”

“Did I? You didn’t seem to think so when you went to kill him, instead.”

“Yes, I went, but I’m not even sure I could have.”

“Q said you were ready to stab him when he stopped you.”

“I guess we’ll never know.”

He didn’t answer. He bent to pick up the sacks of food I had carelessly dropped and started putting them away, effectively ignoring me. I felt like we were back at square one, and just like that, our night and our truce was broken.

Chapter Thirteen

KEIRAN

SEVEN MONTHS AGO

Lake had left for class an hour ago, and I decided to work from home not caring for the company of our small staff or business partner. I’d been having nightmares about my mother and when I killed her, which was always sure to put me in a foul mood. I hadn’t told Lake about them and had no intention to because she’d try to psychoanalyze me.

When the numbers on the screen began to blur a few hours later, I decided to take a break. I was in the middle of fixing a sandwich when the sound of keys turning the lock stopped me in my tracks. Lake wasn’t due to be done with classes for another hour.

I waited, and when Keenan turned the corner, I relaxed, though I was surprised to see he’d traveled all this way unannounced. “Sheldon let you out to play?”

In truth, it was Keenan who rarely tolerated leaving his family. He could barely stand to be away for more than a day before he found some excuse to go crawling back to them. One time, it was because he heard Kennedy cough when he called to say goodnight.

“She didn’t put up much of a fuss. It was Ken I had to convince to let me out without kiddie supervision.”

“So why didn’t you bring her?” I offered a bottle of water and when he declined, I uncapped it and lifted to take a swig.

“Because we need to talk.”

The bottle of water stopped halfway to my lips at his tone. “About?”

“Mitch.” He waited for an opening. My silence gave him the OK to continue. “I know where he is.”

“I know.”

“You know where he is?”

“I know you know. What I didn’t know was how long it would take you to tell me.”

“I’m telling you now.”

“So?”

“He’s at a cancer rehabilitation facility called Summit Rehabilitation for Cancer Survivors. It’s about a four-hour drive from Six Forks.”

Which put him just under halfway between here and home. It was the perfect setup for his execution.

“What are you planning to do with this?”

Kill him.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Nothing?”

I shrugged, chugged the water down and tossed it in the trash. I could tell he didn’t accept my answer as he looked at me warily.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he warned.

I convinced him to stay long enough to shoot hoops since this was the longest we’d bonded alone since before he left four years ago. It was our normal, brutal match. Despite the invisible elephant standing between us, neither of us held back.

He took the winning shot, and I laughed when he did his usual gloating dance even as sweat dripped and stung my eyes.

“I have to get back to my ladies,” he said when he was done gloating.

“Before you go—” I hesitated because what was I going to say? Was I the only one who still noticed the tension between us? We never talked about the night he left or Sophia.