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PART ONE

Illusion

A SHINY BLACK CASKET SITS SEVERAL feet in front of us, a canopy barely protecting us from the cold Texas December I wear a black dress and raincoat, appropriate for a rainy Thursday spent having your heart ripped out Tellar, uard and friend, stands to my left, while Liaht, his ars and Tellar’s hand settles on oes beyond his professional duty as our security guard It also reminds me of the brother I have lost

We are alone The surprisingly large crowd has dispersed, but a lost family, scholars who admired my parents’ work, Treasure Hunters who knew hts, the city I’d once called home Thanks to the journal Chad left behind at the scene of his accident, exposing the dirty details of our past, they’d all known ain rather than Amy He’d spilled select parts ofthe way he’d hidden me to protect me and let me believe that he was dead

Thunder rumbles overhead, but I do not jump Maybe it’s because there see on in ht now Really, what is onewatched, I steeleyes as I break away fro to the side of the casket, which has reloves and press lossy surface Cold that is far more about the loss of my brother than the bitterness of the weather chills my palm and seeps into my bones My only peace is in the waybodies shielding me from the wind and rain

“Amy,” Liam says softly “You know this isn’t—”

“I knohat this is,” I whisper, tiltingaqua eyes giving ht now “I do,” I add, not really certain if I’ to reassure him or myself “But this is real to me on so many levels”

He draws my hand into his and leads er a moment “Let me take you home”

“Ho in my shredded heart I’ve not felt I had such a place since the day of the fire that killed my parents only a few miles from where I now stand

“Yes,” Liaht on estures that make me feel special in ways only Liam can “And just in case you don’t know,” he adds, “anyplace you are is home to me”

Tears I thought I’d exhausted during the service well up in my eyes “I love you, Liam Stone”

“I love you, too, baby More than life itself Now, let’s get you out of the rain and cold”

I nod and allow him to turn me away from the casket, afraid that I’ll coain Liam pulls up the hood on my coat and Tellar raises an umbrella above me Cold droplets hit us as we step from beneath the canvas, yet I walk slowly as the finality of leaving this place begins to soak in

When we reach the black sedan we’ve rented, Liam opens the back door and I settle inside He follows, and Tellar seals us into the space that feels s out of my wet coat as Lia to theLiam, I find his dark hair wet, and I reach up to wipe away the water clinging to his neatly trioatee “You’re soaked”

He covers my hand with his, and I like the way iton to h this”

Da h, rescuingainst his chest, sliding er fight the explosion of etowhat I need in a way that defies the man he shows everyone else The man who is alpha and powerful on the outside but sensitive enough to knohen a bull charging at me isn’t orks

The avalanche of emotions finally becomes a dull ache in my chest, the tears have streaked down , and my hand has found its way to Lia my frazzled nerves The car is inTime stands still; eternal in soevery second of ood-bye with Chad at the safe house in the Hamptons

I’ him for about the hundredth ti strip where a private jet awaits us, cloaked in darkness I glance at Lia if I’ve lostTellar opens the door for us, holding an umbrella, and we exit into a downpour Lia to shelterco of the funeral We hurry up a set of stairs and into the galley of the jet, discarding our coats and the umbrella Liam walks to the cockpit to talk to the pilot while I bypass the leather couches in the front of the plane Tellar will claiht as he had on the trip down here this