MONDAY AFTERNOON, AFTER Sydney was forced to wait with Lucy while Thane and Uncle Cary talked alone, she was finally officially released into Thane’s care. However, before that lovely bit of permission was given, her cousin Anson settled himself beside her on the sofa, plastering his best big brother face on, and taking her hand. He dropped his thumb onto her engagement ring and frowned.
“Antsy,” Sydney said, using his nickname and trying not to whine. She knew what was coming.
“How much do you really know about this guy, Syd?”
“Enough.”
“You met him a week ago and he’s already proposed? Something’s off, love.”
“I appreciate your concern, Anson, I really do, but your dad had him totally checked out and, I may not have known him for long, but I know him. Trust me on that.”
“But you’re vulnerable right now and I don’t think you’re thinking clearly,” he continued.
Sydney groaned and pulled her hand from his. “I love you, Antsy. I love you so much it hurts, and even sometimes so much I’d like to hurt you, but I promise you, I’m not as vulnerable as you think, and my eyes are wide open.”
Anson laughed. “Alright, cousin, I tried.”
“And I applaud your efforts.”
He leaned in and hugged her before rising to his feet and heading back from whence he came. Sydney narrowed her eyes at Lucy. “Did you put him up to that?”
She let out a loud huff. “Why are you so quick to blame me for everything? Oh my god, Syd. I set you up with Thane, I sicced Anson on you. When will it ever end?”
“You did! You totally sicced him on me.”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t sic him, sic him on you. I just wanted to see your reaction when he asked you those questions.”
Sydney sobered. “Are you worried?”
“Not anymore.” Lucy shrugged.
Sydney sighed as she stood and moved to sit beside her cousin. “I’m okay, Luce. I promise. I love Thane and we’re totally good.”
Lucy grabbed Sydney’s hand. “I just want you to be happy.”
“I want the same for you, you know.”
“I know.” Lucy smiled. “I think I may have found him.”
“I can’t wait to meet him. We’ll make that happen this week, okay?”
“You better.”
“Syd?” Thane’s voice took her focus.
Sydney turned toward the door and smiled up at him. “Everything sorted?”
“Aye, lass. We can go whenever you’d like,” he said. “Lucy, are we meeting Zach this week?”
Lucy’s face lit up. “Yes! When?”
“Thursday or Friday works for me, so if that’s okay for everyone else, let’s make a plan.”
She clapped her hands. “I’ll talk to Zach and work it out with Syd.”
“Perfect.” Thane smiled and focused back on Sydney. “Do you want to pack anything else?”
“Nope, I think I’m good. I can always come back if I realize I’m missing anything.”
He held his hand out. “Shall we?”
Sydney hugged Lucy and then followed Thane out of the house. Once inside the SUV, she buckled up and stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
“Seriously?” she complained. “What did my uncle say?”
“I’d rather have this conversation over an expensive bottle of wine.”
“That bad?”
He grimaced as he lifted her fingers to his lips. “Yeah, love, that bad.”
“Well, shit,” she whispered.
It didn’t take long to arrive at Thane’s flat. Sydney found her heart racing as Thane led her into the elevator and the doors closed behind them. His home was on the top two floors and close to three-thousand square feet.
“You said your apartment was small, honey. This is not small.”
The building was historic, built sometime in the late 1700s, but his apartment had been renovated less than five years ago. There were three bedrooms, an office, a movie room, four and a half bathrooms, a huge kitchen and great room, and the view was a stunning near-three-sixty-degree view of the city.
He chuckled. “Still not quite big enough to accommodate everyone attached to the movie, however.”
“Perhaps not.”
“Make yourself at home, love. I’ll pour some wine,” Thane offered, and Sydney made her way to the windows overlooking High Street.
“How long have you lived here?” she called.
“I haven’t really ever lived here, to be honest.” He returned with a glass of merlot and handed it to her.
“Thanks,” she said, and took a sip.
“I bought the top flat ten years ago, and then bought this one and combined them about five years ago. It’s more of an investment than anything.”
“Well, it’s lovely.” She tipped her glass toward him. “You have impeccable taste in pretty much everything.”
Thane chuckled. “Thank you.”
He took her hand and led her to the sofa and she carefully navigated herself onto it in order not to spill her wine. “How bad?”
Thane sighed and shook his head. “Your mother’s accident... ah, wasn’t an accident.”
“Meaning?”
“It looks as though it may have been intentional.”
“What?” she squeaked. Thane took her wine glass and set both of theirs on the table. Sydney was glad he did since her hands were shaking uncontrollably. “I thought the guy who hit her was drunk.”
Thane shook his head. “No alcohol or drugs were found in his system, so the police think it could be murder. Your mother did make a report about the phone calls, so with all of the evidence piling up, it’s pointing to homicide.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Come here.” He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
She looped her arms around his neck and let his comfort seep into her. “Do they know for a fact it was murder, or are they speculating at this point?”
“They’re gathering more evidence, but they’re following the money. The man who hit her is a sixty-year-old, stage-four lung cancer patient who’d been given about six months to live. They’d exhausted all treatment options, and the police believe he did it for the money. He’s still in a coma, but when they investigated him, they discovered a wire deposit of fifty-thousand dollars the day before the crash. The day of the crash, that fifty-grand was transferred to an offshore account. When they searched his home, they found e-mails mapping out a plan to kill both of you. The police haven’t been able to find who he was e-mailing just yet, but they’re working on it. They believe his plan was to kill himself in the process, but he failed.”
Sydney shuddered. “I was supposed to be with her.”
“I know, love.”
“Who was he?”
“Marvin Webster. Do you know him?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of him.”
“They’re still working the case, which is why you’re under lock and key for a little while.”
“But we’re all the way in England, Thane. Do the police really think whoever’s behind this can find me here?”
He shrugged. “Neither your uncle nor I are willing to find out.”
“When you say, ‘under lock and key,’ do you mean literally or figuratively?”
“It means you don’t go anywhere without me or one of my men. For the most part, love, it doesn’t really change anything, I just need you to be aware of your surroundings and be on alert.”
She sighed. “I can do that.”
He grinned and kissed her gently. “Thank you.”
She pushed away from him and rose to her feet.
“What, love?”
“I need to know what this feels like without you calming me,” she admitted, and sat in the chair opposite him. The pain came hard and fast, stealing her breath. She burst into tears. Thane stood and rushed to her, but she raised a hand and shook her head.
“Sweetheart, I can help.”
“I don’t want you to help,” she snapped. “Just give me some time, Thane, please. I have to feel this. All of it.”
He frowned as he sat on the coffee table facing her, settling his elbows on his knees and watching her closely.
She closed her eyes and shut him out, letting the sobs wrack her as she tried to process the information she’d been given, but all she could think about was the beautiful and vibrant woman who’d been ripped away from her. Her mother had been her best friend.
The memory of her mother in her coffin flashed in her mind, the horrific injuries she’d suffered covered by makeup—she didn’t look like her mom anymore. Sydney could almost pretend they’d made a mistake, but it wasn’t a mistake. Her mother had been murdered. Someone had purposely taken her life, and they had wanted to take Sydney’s as well. It was too much.
Strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her from the chair. “That’s enough,” Thane rasped.
She nodded into his neck and let him carry her to the bedroom, her emotions calming as he laid her on the mattress and stretched out beside her. He didn’t break contact as he pulled her onto his chest and kissed her hair. Sydney ran her finger over his heart and took a deep breath. “Who would hate us enough to want us dead?”
“I don’t know, love, but we’re going to find out.”
“If I hadn’t had a headache... if I’d gone with her... maybe we would have stopped somewhere for dinner. Or what if at the last minute, we decided to go to the movies?”
“Shh, don’t, Sydney. You’ll drive yourself mad with the what-ifs.”
“They took the best person I’ve ever known from this earth, Thane.”
He gave her a gentle squeeze. “I know, baby.”
“They have to suffer.”
Thane reached for her hand, pulling her between his legs and wrapping his arms around her. “We’ll find them, sweetheart. I promise.”
“Let me go,” she snapped. She tried to push away again, but he held firm.
“No, love, just settle,” he demanded, and slid one hand behind her neck, squeezing gently. “We’re going to find whoever did this to yer mum. I promise.”
“What if they can’t find—”
He frowned. “Don’t go there.”
“But—”
“No, Sydney. We will find them. I promise.”
Sydney sighed. “I feel like I’m just finding out she’s dead all over again.”
“I know.”
She bit her lip. “You make me feel calm.”
“I know, love,” he repeated.
“That’s not a good thing,” she accused.
“I know that as well.” He smiled and stroked her cheek. He held her for several minutes until she finally relaxed against him. “What do you want to do?”
“Honestly?” She wrinkled her nose. “Right now, I want to eat my feelings.”
Thane chuckled. “What do you need?”
“Chocolate and wine.”
“Lucky for you, I have both.” He patted her bottom. “I’m going to stay close to you tonight, okay? I know you want to feel everything, but I can’t watch you go down that road again. Do you understand?”
She nodded. “I don’t really want to either.”
“Good. Come on, let’s have some chocolate therapy.”
Sydney followed him back out to the kitchen where he found some form of delectable chocolate pastry his housekeeper or whoever had left for him in the fridge.
Just before midnight, he helped her fall asleep and he hoped to God it lasted the night.