Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
JACE
I pull into my driveway and shut off the car, my breathing filling the sudden quiet air. Tilting my head back, I close my eyes and let the weight of the past few hours fully sag against my shoulders.
Kinsley’s here.
She’s here and she’s the newest photographer for the team.
She’s finally here with me… but she isn’t.
Because she doesn’t remember me.
Whether that’s on purpose or by chance, I don’t know, but there wasn’t an ounce of recognition in her eyes and I looked for it like the desperate man I seem to become when it comes to her.
It was painful sitting there with her just out of reach when my entire being screamed for me to pull her into my arms.
But I did it. And I watched her leave, taking more than my heart with her.
I didn’t speak to anyone as I left, drove home in silence with the echo of her voice playing on a loop in my mind.
Lawson asked me what was going on and I wasn’t lying when I told him that I didn’t know. I also wasn’t lying when I told him I’d find the answers. And something Kinsley said tells me there’s a certain sibling of mine who might be the one to give them.
My ears perk at a high pitched squeal and I open my eyes to see Sydney through the living room window spinning around with Beckham in her arms.
“She’s come into the coffee shop I work at a couple times over the past few weeks.”
“Saw some of my photos there and said that she thought I’d be perfect for this job.”
The words spark a dull annoyance beneath my ribs and my knuckles turn white from the punishing grip I have on the steering wheel. I watch as Sydney runs around cheering in victory as Beckham plays dead before she disappears in the direction of the kitchen.
My jaw ticks and I twist my head, cracking my neck to release the tension building there.
Time to get my answers.
I unfold myself from the driver’s seat and walk up the pathway to my front door. Laughter and music flood my ears as I enter the foyer and the door slams shut behind me.
Seconds later Beckham comes running, slipping slightly on his socked feet. “Dad!”
A smile breaks through my stiffened features and I stoop down, swinging him over my shoulder with a playful battle cry.
I carry him through the short hallway and into the living room, throwing him down carefully on the sofa’s ottoman before tickling his sides. He breaks out into a fit of giggles and I jostle him with a growl. “Were you good today?”
He nods, speaking through his contagious laughter, “Do I get to have one of the cookies Auntie Sydney brought?”
I chuckle, straightening. “After we eat dinner, and only half.”
He cheers and I head into the kitchen as he loads up another round of his video game. Sydney stands at the stove, stirring something in a pot. The ingredients for Mum’s chicken noodle soup prepped out on the counter.
She turns and freezes when she sees me standing there, pasting on a meek smile. “Hi, big brother. Didn’t know you were home already.”
I grunt, crossing my arms. She drops her head, setting the spoon she was holding down. She runs her fingers over her bracelet before fidgeting with the bowls full of vegetables. “How was the meeting? Did you?—”
“Don’t.”
She winces, her eyes slowly rising to meet mine. “Jace?—”
“You had no right.”
“Jace, just let me?—”
“No,” I bellow, chest heaving. “How could you?” My voice cracks and she sighs, settling her hands on the counter.
“You don’t understand?—”
“You said you’d drop it.”
“Well guess what? I lied,” she screams, throwing her arms out. “Lily and I have been looking for her for years, ever since the night we cleaned this place up.”
“Why did you do that? You had no right, Sydney. I told her?—”
“Yes, I know. You may have told her you’d respect her decision, but I made no such promises.” Her shoulders straighten and she stares me down. “I was so angry for you and I needed to know how she could walk away.”
“It was none of your business though, Sydney. Don’t you see that? What happened or didn’t happen is between me and Kinsley.”
“You are my brother, Jace. And you were in so much pain. You really thought I’d just let it go? Because if the roles were reversed, I’d bet everything I own that you wouldn’t have either.” Her chin wobbles. “But never in a million years would I have expected to find out what I did.”
Before I can say anything, she shuffles around the counter and reaches into her bag. Pulling out her laptop, she settles into one of the stools and places it in front of her.
She looks over at me still standing in the threshold of the kitchen and pats the seat next to her. Dropping my arms, I plop down next to her and watch as she types in the search bar.
Before she hits enter, she looks over at me. “Did you notice something different about her?”
My jaw clenches. “She acted like she didn’t know who I was.”
She slowly shakes her head, a look of sorrow flashing across her face. “It wasn’t an act, Jace,” she whispers.
I open my mouth to ask what she means when she clicks the button and I watch as articles pull up, all about an accident involving an eighteen-year-old girl. She clicks on the first link and an image of Kinsley pops up.
I pull the laptop from her and click open another site. I scan the text, and with every word I read, my world turns on its axis. Collapsing against the back of the stool, my hands fist and my breathing labors.
“Look at the dates,” Sydney whispers.
I scroll and freeze when I see the date of the accident. “Oh my god.”
“She had a packed bag with her, Jace.” I look over at my sister and she places her hand on top of my clenched one. “She was coming to you.”
“You don’t know that,” I say tightly.
“Yes, I do.”
I shoot off the stool and glare down at her. “How could you possibly?—”
“Because that evening, Lily helped her pack her bags. She told me that when she left her, Kinsley was so excited about going on this adventure with you.”
A breath rushes out of me and I drop my head, mind racing over everything.
She was going to come with me.
She chose me.
But she never made it.
And then she disappeared.
What happened to you, angel?
Sydney slides off the stool and comes to stand in front of me. “I called Lily the night after we cleaned this place. When she answered, she asked how everything was since she hadn’t heard from Kinsley. I asked her what she was talking about and she told me that Kinsley had chosen to go with you. She was supposed to send all the updates, but she never heard from her.”
“And she never thought that something might be wrong?”
“She didn’t think anything worse than just losing contact with her friend until I called, raging about how Kinsley could just completely shut you out.”
I sigh. “Syd?—”
“We hired a private investigator to find her since any report we’d seen didn’t go farther than the accident. It took him almost three years to find a lead since her trail ended at the hospital.”
She hops back onto the stool and I slink back onto mine. She takes my hand and squeezes. “But he caught a break with admission papers from a small hospital just outside of London.”
My body tenses. “Was she okay?”
She nods. “She—uh—she had a baby.”
“What?” I rush out, my head spinning.
I sway in my seat and Sydney’s eyes widen as she frantically shakes her head. “He isn’t yours, he’s only six.”
“Jesus, Syd. Maybe lead with that,” I grit out as I try to ignore the disappointment flooding my chest as she continues.
“The investigator was able to track her down to Stratford-upon-Avon. The reason he couldn’t sooner was because she wasn’t renting the place she was in. She was living in a small flat above the coffee shop she works at, owned by the woman who took her in after the accident. Everything had been in this woman’s name, so there was no way of knowing she was there.”
My eyebrows furrow. “You said he found her years ago?”
Sydney ducks her head, nodding. “When he told us he found her, he also told us that there were lingering complications from her accident.”
Her eyes dance between mine and her sigh weighs heavily with sorrow. “She’d lost her memories, Jace. The past year before her accident? All of it was gone.”
I heave out a breath and look back at the laptop screen. The still image of her accident looking back at me. “That’s why she looked at me like she didn’t know who I was,” I whisper.
I look back at my sister, tears threatening to spill. “Because she doesn’t. She can’t.”
Shaking my head, I run my fingers through my hair, pulling at the roots. “Why did you bring her back? She has a life, Syd. What gave you the right?—”
“Her son’s name is Cooper.”
I freeze, staring at her. “What?”
Sydney sniffles. “Her conscious mind may not remember, but somewhere deep down there’s still something lingering.”
“And you thought seeing me would bring it all back? Well guess what, it didn’t. And I had to watch the girl I love stare at me like I was a complete stranger. Like I was nothing more than another bloke on the street.”
My heart twists at the memory of her walking away, of the realization that I may have lost her forever for the second time.
“Jace—”
“No.” I shove away from the counter and stand. “You went too far this time, Syd.”
I walk back into the family room, relieved when I see Beckham has his headphones on as he twists his controller like it’s the wheel of the car he’s driving on the screen.
I bend over the back of the couch, kissing the top of his dirty blond hair. Sydney calls out my name as I jog up the stairs, but I ignore her.
There’s only one person I want to talk to right now.
And she has no idea who I am.