Chapter 26
Claire
I sat cross-legged on my bed, chatting with Jamie on speaker while staring at the soft glow of the lamp beside me. Outside, Maple Valley was quiet. The kind of quiet that made you think too much.
“Okay, but seriously,” Jamie said, laughter in his voice. “How’s the summer going? Are you living your small-town nature girl era yet?”
I smiled faintly. Jamie always sounded the same. Easy. Familiar. Like home.
“I love it here. This place is like something out of a fantasy. You know how much I love the outdoors,” I said. “The orchard is hard work, but it keeps me busy.”
“And your thesis?” he asked.
I let out a dry laugh. “Complete fail.”
“Claire, you can’t be serious.” His tone was more shock than scolding.
“I’m serious. I barely touch it anymore,” I said too casually, even though I knew it should be freaking me out because my drive to complete it was vanishing.
He went quiet for a beat. “That doesn’t sound like you.”
I traced the seam of my blanket with my finger. “A lot of things don’t feel like me lately.”
He asked about Maple Valley, about the people, about the Thornes. I told him pieces. The safe pieces. Then somehow the conversation drifted where it always did.
Sophie.
I told him about going to the bar to meet Nico and the note under my windshield that said her death had been avenged. Silence hummed through the line.
“You think Nico sent it?” he finally asked.
I hesitated. “My gut says yes.”
“That’s… intense,” he muttered. “I mean, what does avenged even mean?”
“I wish I knew,” I exhaled.
I didn’t tell him about the investigation closing in on Marcel or the details Becket knew. Those details weren’t mine to share.
Jamie sighed softly. “I’d just love to know what really happened.”
“Me too.”
He was quiet again before speaking. “You’re not thinking of going back to this Nico guy, are you?”
I didn’t answer fast enough.
“Claire,” he said sharply. “He sounds dangerous.”
“I know,” I said quickly. “I just… I feel like if I don’t keep pushing, people will forget.”
Especially after Sophie’s mom was murdered. The weight of that settled between us.
“It’s sad,” Jamie said quietly. “Like the world just moves on.”
I swallowed hard. “I was thinking about doing something for her,” I said. “Like a memorial. Something that lasts.”
“A scholarship maybe?” he suggested.
I laughed softly. “With what money?”
He chuckled. “Fair.”
We spoke a little longer about his summer in France and the people he met there.
It felt strange how normal the conversation was compared to the chaos swirling inside me.
I remembered Mom mentioning that he’d always had a crush on me.
Mom usually had good intuition, so I didn’t tell him about Asher because if his feelings for me were more than friendship, I didn’t want to hurt him.
When we hung up, the silence in my cabin felt heavier.
My eyes drifted toward the window. I should let this go.
I knew that but instead, I found myself getting to my feet and walking toward my dresser.
I was pulling clothes and getting dressed before I had time to overthink.
I slipped on a pair of faded jeans and a white tank top since it was humid outside.
I brushed out my hair and slathered on lip gloss.
I was playing with fire, but this felt like my last chance.
If the police were closing in on Marcel, they were also closing in on Nico, and that meant I would never get answers.
Maybe Nico was feeling desperate now. He must have known the police were on to him.
I had that now-or-never feeling when I grabbed my purse and keys and walked to my car.
Asher was busy with his family. He told me that he and his brothers were working things out with their dad, and I was happy for him.
Pierre Thorne seemed like a good man, and no one was perfect.
But I needed this moment for me. I got into the car and drove away.
I had to force myself not to speed because I was that anxious to get to Nico.
I kept telling myself that he may be a criminal, but he didn’t seem psychotic.
He seemed more like life had dealt him a bad hand and he made choices he had to live with.
I could just picture my mom chiding me about always seeing the good in people, especially when that person was a crime boss.
I pulled into the parking lot, taking in the neon light sign.
I took a deep breath. This was it. If Nico didn’t talk to me, I’d have to accept that I reached a dead end.
The snooker bar looked the same as last time with dimmed lights and low music. Men were leaning over pool tables. The bartender recognized me immediately.
“Nico isn’t taking guests,” he said flatly.
“I’m not here to bother anyone,” I lied.
I stayed anyway. I picked up a pool cue when a group of guys invited me into a game. I felt eyes on me with my blonde hair, tight jeans and the fact that I was the only woman in the room. Minutes passed as my nerves sharpened. Then one of Nico’s men appeared beside me.
“He wants to see you,” he said with a rough tone.
My pulse kicked up. The guy was huge. Pure bodyguard energy.
“Thanks,” I said. I didn’t want to smile too much because he looked irritated and serious. The back room felt smaller this time. Nico sat at the table, expression unreadable.
“You’re brave,” he said, almost amused. “Also, stupid.”
“I need answers,” I stated.
He leaned back. “Cops are watching me. You showing up here isn’t smart.”
“Did you send the note?” I cut to the chase. I knew this meeting would be cut short like the last one.
Something flickered in his eyes, brief and sharp, before vanishing.
“Why does it matter?” His tone was even like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“I need to know,” I burst out, words spilling faster now. “I turned my life upside down. I’m doing a master’s degree I hate because I can’t stop searching for answers. It’s eating away at me slowly. Please.”
He smirked slightly. Like he found me ridiculous. Or maybe brave.
“Never repeat what I’m about to tell you,” he said, tone low and filled with warning. “Doesn’t matter if you do anyway. There’s no evidence.”
My stomach tightened.
“I’ve only ever killed one man,” he said. The words turned my blood cold.
A part of me wanted to turn around and run. Nico was a murderer, and I was stupid to be here alone with him.
“For a guy like me, that’s a big deal,” he continued, the humor gone from his voice.
His gaze drifted somewhere far away, like he wasn’t in the room with me anymore.
“Marcel didn’t always use the same guides,” he started.
“That night was a new one… he was different. Scraggly. Thin like a scarecrow. A beard that hadn’t seen a razor in years.
His clothes smelled of smoke and damp earth.
He lived outdoors. He knew the woods like they were part of him.
” Nico’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t like him,” he admitted.
“Something about him felt off. Too quiet. Eyes that watched too much. But guys like that are useful. They know where the border patrol drives. Which trails disappear under tree cover. Where the ground is soft enough to hide footprints.”
He leaned back, voice flattening as he spoke.
“The terrain out there isn’t easy. People think it’s just trees and snow.
It’s not. It’s thick brush that tears your clothes.
Swamps that swallow your boots. Rocky ridges where one wrong step sends you sliding.
In some places, the forest is so dense you can’t see the sky.
At night it gets cold fast, even in summer. Damp cold that sinks into your bones.”
My stomach twisted as I remembered how Sophie walked into the darkness with that group.
“We moved mostly at night,” he said. “Long stretches without talking. Everyone carrying too much. Packs digging into shoulders. People breathing hard but trying to stay quiet because noise carries.” His eyes flicked toward me briefly.
“Your friend kept up better than most. She was strong. Determined.”
That made my throat tighten.
“The guide pushed us hard,” he continued.
“Too hard. He liked seeing people struggle. I noticed it. I didn’t trust him.
But I never imagined…” His voice trailed off.
He swallowed, looking ill. “After hours of walking, we stopped. Everyone was exhausted. You don’t sleep out there, not really.
You just collapse wherever you can. Dirt. Roots. Rocks. Doesn’t matter.”
He rubbed a hand over his face. “People spread out. Some close together, some wanting space. Your friend went off alone. I figured she needed privacy. Everyone does at some point.” His voice lowered.
“When she didn’t come back… I waited. Thought maybe she turned around. After an hour I went looking.”
The room felt colder.
“I found her,” he said, and something dark moved behind his eyes. “She was already gone.”
His jaw flexed hard. “The things he did…” He stopped, shaking his head once.
“He was there. Beside her body. He tried to explain himself... I didn’t know rage like that existed inside me.
” Silence stretched between us. “I didn’t plan.
I just ended the sick fuck because he was deranged, trying to explain what he’d done. ”
The words sank in.
“I took his life with my hands,” he said. “And I enjoyed it.”
I don’t know how I kept the tears at bay. My body was cold. I was in shock. That scraggly man. I remembered him, quiet, watching us from a distance that night. I shivered.
“You got what you came for. Now leave,” Nico said in a stern, jarring voice.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“The only other person who knows about this is Marcel, and he’s like a father to me,” Nico said.
I nodded, and I got up and left the room.
My legs felt like spaghetti, my mind was all over the place, and I was nauseous.
I took deep breaths and went straight to my car, not looking left or right.
When I got to my car door, bile surged up my throat and I retched on the floor.
My throat stung as I heaved. I looked around frantically and got into my car and drove straight back to Maple Valley.
What Nico revealed was a reality far darker than I could have ever imagined.
Nico killing Sophie’s murderer didn’t make me feel any better.
My hands shook on the steering wheel. My chest hurt.
When I pulled into the parking space close to my cabin, I barely turned off the engine before climbing out.
I wasn’t thinking straight. I was only moving toward Asher.
His cabin light glowed softly. I knocked once before pushing the door open. He turned at the sound.
The second he saw my face, everything in him changed. “Claire?”
I crossed the room and collapsed into him. His arms wrapped around me instantly. And I finally let myself cry.