58. Lincoln
58
LINCOLN
“Thanks, Nina.” I scrubbed a hand over my face, the stubble tipping into beard territory now. “I really appreciate you handling more than your fair share these past couple of weeks.”
Nina had single-handedly sniffed out the traitor in our midst, a VP in acquisitions who had been more than happy to take my father’s bribes. He’d been fired and reported to the police. My company and the Sparks were safe, but that didn’t bring with it the relief it should have.
“Linc,” Nina said across the line. “It’s what family does. And we’ve been family since our two misfit selves found each other in undergrad.”
A burning sensation lit along my sternum as I struggled to keep breathing. “Love you, Neens.”
“Love you, too. Now, go take care of that girl who stole your heart.”
That hurt worse. Knowing what Arden was to me. What she would always be. But also knowing there was no way she could be mine. Not anymore .
“Will do.” I hit end on the call before she could say anything else because I couldn’t take it. Not when I was this close to breaking.
I shoved my phone into my pocket and stared out at the landscape I’d fallen in love with. Stardust and Whiskey grazed in their pasture, completely at peace. We’d gotten closer the last couple of days as I’d taken over feeding and mucking their stalls. It was as if they could sense everything weighing on me and did whatever they could to bring comfort.
A throat cleared, and I whirled, my nervous system still not back to normal.
“Sorry,” Trace muttered. “I thought you heard me.”
I ran a hand through my hair, tugging on the strands. “In another world, I guess.”
He nodded. “Talked to the prosecutor. He’s been working with the other jurisdictions to figure out who’s going to try your father first.”
“Don’t call him that.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Trace winced, a hint of empathy flooding his eyes. “I get that. Trust me. I get it more than you’ll ever know.”
Hell. I guessed we all carried scars, and some were more similar than we could’ve imagined.
“Mercer County is going to try Philip first. The case is the freshest and strongest. Attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Not to mention, breaking and entering, illegal wiretapping, and a host of other things.”
“Good.” And it was. Philip would go to prison. I just hoped like hell he rotted there.
“He’s not going to breathe free air again,” Trace promised.
“I hope you’re right.”
Trace stared at me for a moment.
His silence set me on edge, evident in the quiet tightening of all my muscles. “Something else?”
“Ellie.”
Surprise had my brows lifting. My sister had raced to Sparrow Falls after that night. She’d gotten meals, handled calls to our lawyer, and done anything she could to help. “What about her?”
A muscle in Trace’s jaw began to flutter as his green gaze went stormy. “She’s got a black eye. Thinks we can’t see it under the cover-up, but it’s there.”
The tension eased from my shoulders. “She was frazzled after Rhodes called her to tell her what had happened. Hit herself with her suitcase getting it out of her closet.”
The strain didn’t leave Trace’s expression. “You sure about that?”
“Ellie doesn’t lie. Not to me,” I clipped.
He held up both hands. “Okay. I was just checking.”
I nodded. I knew he was trying to help. He was a protector through and through. I just didn’t have the energy to explain Ellie’s sometimes klutzy ways.
“Trace, can I have a minute with Linc?”
Her voice was like the most beautiful sort of agony, a husky musicality that wrapped around me like a vise-grip.
Trace’s gaze moved to Arden. “Of course. I’ll be inside if you guys need anything.”
Neither of us said anything as Trace headed for the back door. I didn’t even turn around. Arden’s voice was bad enough, but seeing her? I’d crumble.
But she took no prisoners, like usual. My vicious girl.
Arden rounded me, coming to stand between me and the pasture so I had no choice but to look at her. To see her beauty. Her fierceness. Her strength.
Those gray-violet eyes flashed with anger, sadness, and frustration, all in equal measure. “Are you done?”
“With my call?”
Her stare hardened. “Playing the idiot isn’t a good look on you.”
I knew it. But I couldn’t find anything else to say. Because there wasn’t anything. Nothing left but the brutal truth. So, I finally spoke it into existence.
“How can you even bear to look at me?” I rasped out.
Those beautiful eyes flared in shock. “Linc?— ”
“His blood runs through me. The man who cost you everything . His eyes are my eyes.” I knew the sentiments weren’t completely logical, but it was all my mind had grabbed on to these past eight days. Tortured and tormented by all the ways Philip Pierce and I were the same.
Arden moved in then, getting right up into my space. Her hand lifted, fingertips ghosting over my brows, around, and then down to the sensitive skin beneath my eyes. “Your eyes could never be anything like his. Because they look at the world with kindness and wonder. They look for ways to help, not harm. They see beauty when all he sees is ugliness.”
“Arden,” I croaked.
One hand dropped to rest right over my heart. “The blood that runs here is yours alone. So uniquely you, it could never belong to anyone else.”
That featherlight touch burned me. “You’ll never be able to forgive me.”
Her eyes flashed a brighter purple. “You’re right.” A single fraction of a pause. “Because there’s nothing to forgive. He was a monster to us both. But we slayed that dragon.”
“Vicious,” I breathed.
“Vicious for all the things that matter. And you will always matter most.”
I stared down at her with a mix of wonder, pain, and gratitude.
“I’m not scared of the dark. Not anymore. Because you gave me the light. Please, don’t take that away.”
My arms wrapped around her, more of that beautiful agony sweeping in. “I won’t.”
“Promise?” she breathed, tipping her head back.
“With everything I have. Everything I am.”
“Good, because I’d hate to have to kick your ass.”
A smile curved my mouth for the first time in over a week. “And I know you could do it, too.”