“Paige?”

I looked into the kitchen, then into the dining room. No Paige.

Not in the living room.

Not in her bedroom.

Fear crept into my heart, making it speed up. What if something had happened to her?

I checked my phone to see if she replied to the text I sent when I landed.

There were no new messages. Something was off.

Hitting her name, I called her cell, then held my breath as it rang.

“Damn it,” I muttered when she didn’t answer.

A list of possible disaster scenarios rapidly formed in my mind. Her remembering another traumatic event from the past and suffering a mental breakdown. Her getting hit by a bus on her way out of the office building. Moretti discovering what had been happening between us, getting pissed, and stepping in to take her early.

The last one seemed the least likely, actually. Moretti was subject to codes just like the rest of us. He wouldn’t break a previous pact. Technically, Paige wasn’t yet twenty-five, so she wasn’t yet his.

On my way out the door, I called her office to check if she’d left it at the regular time. The receptionist informed me Paige had, indeed, left at five thirty.

I gritted my teeth and pressed my fist against my lips. I peeked out into traffic, looking for the car I’d just called for.

I was not about to stay calm over this.

Being as wound up as I was for the ride to Paige’s place, I had the driver wait for me out on the sidewalk instead of finding a parking spot. I was at the buzzer in no time, pressing it under my thumb.

“Come on,” I muttered impatiently.

“Hello?” came Paige’s voice over the crackling line.

“Paige!”

She didn’t answer, so I pressed the button to speak again. “Are you all right? I was worried.”

Another long silence. I began to wonder if the device was broken, but then she spoke. “Come on up.”

I was relieved to find her physically all right, but the tension still wouldn’t leave my shoulders. They bunched together as I opened the door and headed up the stairs. I could tell from Paige’s voice. Something had happened.

Her apartment door opened right after I knocked.

But only a crack.

The chain stayed secured, Paige’s face peeking out just below it.

I waited for her to undo the chain upon seeing it was me, but she didn’t.

“I don’t want to see you again.”

It took a few seconds to process her words. “Hold on. What?”

“I think you heard me,” she fiercely said. “I don’t want to see you again. Ever. I’m done with you.”

I sputtered something incoherent before unscrambling my brain and getting ahold of actual words.

“Where is, this coming from? What’s going on? What happened?” I fired each new question at her on top of the last, not waiting for responses.

Her eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t play innocent with me.”

I guffawed. “Paige, I honestly have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“You’re just keeping me around while you can. Just for entertainment. Or maybe you’re making sure I don’t bolt. Admit it. When I turn twenty-five, you’ll hand me over to Moretti.”

“Are you serious?”

She said nothing.

“Paige, just let me in and we can talk about this.”

“There’s nothing left to talk about. You’ve had your fun with me so now you can just leave.”

Anger pierced my heart. “Wow. That’s a really awful thing to say, especially after we’ve just spent three weeks together. You know me better than that.”

She blinked fast. Was she trying to push back tears? “I thought I knew you too, but it turns out I don’t. You knew that man in the photo is Moretti, didn’t you?”

“I...” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. “God,” I muttered.

“You can’t even deny it.”

“No, I can’t deny it,” I snapped, louder than I needed to.

A door creaked and I glanced over my right shoulder. A short, older woman came out of her apartment, tote bags in her hands. Her eyes darted in our direction before quickly averting. She turned and went down the hall.

I waited until the woman disappeared to speak again, this time in a lower voice.

“I didn’t want to hurt you. That’s why I didn’t tell you the man was Moretti. It was a lot of information to handle at once. You’d just woken up and remembered that day.”

“I don’t think that’s it. I think you didn’t want me to get too close to the truth.”

“What? What truth are you talking about?”

“You probably knew all along that Moretti had a hand in killing my parents.”

I stared at her, my jaw coming unhinged. Did she really think I was such a bastard? I’d spent the last three weeks opening up to Paige. I let her into my life in a way I never had before with anyone. I hadn’t even meant to. I couldn’t let her go without trying to get her to hear me out. She was just hurt. Confused.

“I only knew once you told me he was there,” I said. “If I’d known before, during a better time, I would have told you.”

She ran her palm across her eyes. “So tell me this, Angelo. When was the next good time coming? Huh? Were you planning to tell me the day of my twenty-fifth birthday, right before I met Moretti? Or were you just not going to tell me at all?”

“You’re not going to Moretti. I’m working on it.”

“It sounds like you weren’t planning to tell me at all.”

“I...”

She shook her head fiercely, her face disappearing from the crack in the doorway.

I pressed my palm against the hallway wall, working to keep my composure. Though Paige was hurt, her accusations were starting to seriously piss me off.

I was putting my neck out for her, doing everything I could to help. I didn’t deserve to be accused of atrocities.

“I was going to tell you. I don’t know when, but of course I was. Can you let me in so we can talk?”

“No. I don’t want to anywhere near me.”

“Fine,” I shouted. “Maybe you’re open your eyes before it’s too late, and see how unreasonable you’re being. I’m here trying to help, and you’re turning me away.”

I waited for her to slam the door in my face, but her eyes brimmed over with tears.

“There’s more I don’t get,” she said. “What does your family have to do with it?” she asked. “Where did they stand? They had to have either taken a side or played a role in all this. Were they with my parents or this Moretti guy?”

I straightened up, dropping my hand from the wall. “It’s more complicated than that.”

“Your family could have been involved in my parents’ murders.”

“They weren’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they’re my parents, and I know them.”

“Am I supposed for feel comforted by that? You lied to me! Why should I trust anything you say?”

I didn’t get another word in. Paige slammed the door.

I wanted to break that door down and make Paige listen. Or drag her in my arms to remind her I was on her side. But there was nothing left to say right now. Not now when every instinct told me to get inside by force and make her listen. I needed to get my anger in check, so I left.

“Take me home,” I told the driver as I climbed into the waiting car’s backseat.

The sparkling, multi-colored lights of a city alive after dark spun by the window. I’d spent most of my adult life in New York, and many childhood summers in Atlantic Beach. I had walked in and out of many women’s lives. Paige was the first time I wanted to stay put.

I wasn’t going to let her go this easily.

Still, even if I could get this marriage to Moretti called off, I’d still have to deal with the fact that I lied and betrayed whatever trust she had in me.

My phone rang. Hoping it was Paige, I yanked the phone from my coat pocket. Nope. Dominic’s name lighted up the screen.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Pops agreed to meet with us. Tomorrow.”

“Great.”

He paused. “You don’t sound too excited.”

“I am,” I said. Dominic didn’t need to know what was going on with Paige. I was more interested in why he thought Moretti might have been party to Paige’s parents getting murdered, but Dominic wouldn’t answer that question even if he knew the answer.

“Have you heard from Sophia?” I asked instead.

“Yes. She just flew in from a job.”

“Oh.”

Paige had seen her? Did this have anything to do with Paige’s unexpected turn on me? The only person I could think would clue Paige in to Moretti was her sister.

I pursed my lips. I couldn’t blame Sophia. She was only trying to take care of Paige.

Just like I was.

“I’ll text you the time as soon as I know,” Dominic said.

“Okay. Thanks again.”

“Let’s hope this works out.”

He hung up, leaving my ears buzzing.