Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ISLA
We walk up the small cement path filled with cracks to the little white house.
My legs are still shaky from the ride. I didn’t expect it to be so much fun. The feel of Caden’s muscles beneath my palms and the arch of his back against my chest set tingles running over my skin.
The front lawn is mostly weeds and the paint on the shingles is peeling. Caden raps on the door then takes a step back. From somewhere inside the house comes the sound of a dog barking.
“Quiet down!” a man’s voice says and the barking stops. The door is thrown open and Caden and I find ourselves facing a pudgy man in a white T-shirt with a bad combover.
His eyes pop when he sees Caden.
“Hello, Carl,” Caden says.
“Caden Everton,” Carl says. He glances around nervously. “What are you doing here? Last I heard, you fled the country.”
“Last I heard, you were wriggling out of an embezzlement charge,” Caden replies sharply.
Carl’s face grows fearful. “I never did anything wrong. Your father couldn’t prove anything.”
“But he blacklisted you,” Caden growls. “Forced you out of your job and left you bankrupt. Gave you a nice motive for revenge, didn’t he?”
“R-revenge?” Carl’s face blanches. “What are you talking about? I never—I don’t know nothing about revenge.”
Caden steps forward, looming over Carl, his biceps flexing. His expression is one of cold fury.
“Don’t you?” Caden says.
Carl is quaking, sputtering some gibberish.
I don’t think scaring him is going to work. I quickly step in front of Caden, subtly pushing him to the side and extending my hand toward Carl.
“Hi,” I say. “I’m Isla.”
Carl blinks, like he only just noticed me. He stops shaking as I give him my kindest smile. Tentatively, he reaches out and shakes my hand. I put on an embarrassed look.
“We’re really sorry to just show up like this but we had a couple of questions we were hoping you could help us with.” I fake a cough and grimace. “I’m sorry, this is so embarrassing…could I have a glass of water? This one drives like a maniac.” I jerk my head at Caden and place my hand on my forehead. “I’m feeling a little dizzy.”
Carl’s eyes flit to the sleek speed machine parked in his driveway. His eyebrows jump.
“Is that a Ducati Nera?” he says.
Caden looks surprised. “Yeah.”
“Didn’t know you rode,” Carl says.
Caden shrugs.
I hold my breath as Carl ogles the bike, then turns to me. “Okay,” he says. “Come in.”
We follow him into the house. The living room is cluttered and smells faintly of stale cigarettes and musty carpets. Carl disappears into the kitchen and I hear a tap turn on.
“I drive like a maniac?” Caden murmurs, his expression amused.
“I had to say something,” I mutter back. “Don’t be so aggressive. You catch more flies with honey.”
Carl comes back and hands me the water.
“Thank you,” I say, gushing effusively. I take a sip. The water tastes as stale as the room.
Carl folds his arms across his chest as a chihuahua with a pink collar trots up to us.
“What did you want to ask me about?” he says.
“My mother,” Caden snaps. I want to kick him in the shin. What part of honey did he not understand?
Carl’s face turns scared again. “I had nothing to do with that,” he protests.
I jump in before Caden can put his foot in his mouth. “We don’t think you did,” I say. “But we know the police talked to you. We just wanted to confirm your alibi.”
“I was with my wife,” Carl says, licking his lips. I get a prickly feeling on the back of my neck, like he’s not being honest.
“Okay,” I say. “Can we talk to her?”
“She not here,” Carl says, his beady gaze darting back and forth between us. “Why would I hurt Marion? She was never anything but kind to me. If I’d wanted to take revenge on anyone—which I didn’t—I would start with Russell himself.”
“You’re not helping your case here, Carl,” Caden says through gritted teeth.
“Marion was a wonderful woman,” I agree. “And we would love to leave you in peace to enjoy the rest of your day. So if you could just let us talk to your wife…maybe she’s at work?”
Caden finally seems to pick up on Carl’s squeamishness. “Yeah,” he says. “Let us talk to your wife, confirm your alibi, and we’ll leave you alone.”
“Oh, well, the thing is, she…”
Caden takes a step forward and cracks his knuckles menacingly. This time, the threat seems to have its intended effect.
“I wasn’t with her, but I didn’t do it, okay?” Carl whines. “I haven’t been back to Magnolia Bay since your dad fired me. I swear on my life.”
“You’re going to need to swear on something more meaningful,” Caden snarls.
I take the lead again, my pulse racing. This is something the police can use! If Carl’s alibi was false, this means he really could be the suspect.
It occurs to me I might be talking to a murderer. My spine stiffens.
“If you weren’t with your wife…” I say.
“Ex-wife,” Carl says grudgingly. Ah. So that’s why he’s being truthful now. She might not stand up for him anymore.
“Ex-wife,” I amend. “Where were you?”
There’s a long pause. The chihuahua starts dancing around Carl’s legs and he picks her up. “I was at Paddy’s Tavern in Farmingdale that night,” he grumbles. “I was there until closing. Four am.” His cheeks turn blotchy. “There was no way I could have made it to Magnolia Bay in the shape I was in.”
“Why didn’t you just tell that to the police the first time?” Caden demands.
Carl holds the chihuahua tighter. “I was embarrassed.” Suddenly, he frowns. “Wait, why aren’t the police with you?”
Crap. “Oh, um, they’re really busy today,” I say, then cringe. Great excuse, Isla.
“I don’t have to talk to you,” Carl says. “I don’t have to say anything. You need to get out of my house. Now!”
He seems to have found his courage and as much as I can tell Caden would like to muscle him for more information, I think we’ve got enough to go on for now. We can always come back with Noah.
I put down the glass of water and Caden and I hurry out of the house.
“And don’t come back,” Carl shouts, slamming the door behind us.
Caden and I stand in the driveway of Carl’s house, staring at each other.
“He lied,” Caden says, dazed.
“He lied,” I agree, excited. “Call Noah.”
Caden nods and puts him on speaker. We tell him what Carl told us.
“He lied about his alibi?” Noah says. “Guys, this is…I’m going to get on this right away. I’ll have someone talk to his ex-wife while I head to Farmingdale.”
“We can go to Farmingdale,” Caden says.
“No, it’s better if I go,” Noah says. “I can look into the credit card receipts from that night too, to see if this new story holds water. You’ve done enough, Cade. You’ve done really well. If he’s lying about this too…”
He hangs up and we stare at each other. I wonder if Caden’s heart is beating as fast as mine.
“This could be it,” he says. He glances back up at Carl’s house. I imagine police descending on it, hauling Carl out in handcuffs.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
Caden turns back to me. “Want to go for a drive?”
“Yeah,” I say eagerly. We get back on the Ducati, and he revs the engine and takes off. For a while, we just zig and zig along pretty country roads, the wind whipping at my hair where it escapes the helmet, the sun shining warmly on our backs.
Suddenly, I smell the sharp tang of the ocean. Caden pulls into the parking lot of one of the many small beaches that dot Long Island Sound. I’m not familiar with this one. There’s a little sandwich shop and my stomach gives a sudden, embarrassing growl.
“Hungry?” Caden asks.
“Starved,” I admit.
“Me too. Be right back.” He strides off, returning with two bottles of root beer and two sandwiches.
“Come on,” he says, making his way across the sand. I kick my sandals off and follow him. We find a spot away from the laughing families and chattering children, on a dune surrounded by sprigs of seagrass. Caden plops down and holds up the sandwiches.
“Ham or turkey?” he asks.
“Turkey,” I say. He hands me a sandwich and for a moment, we just sit in silence and eat. I didn’t realize how famished I was. I guess interrogating people really takes it out of you.
“You were pretty great back there,” Caden says.
“Thanks,” I say, swallowing a mouthful of turkey and cheese. “You were pretty…”
“Intense?”
I laugh. “Yeah. I didn’t realize we were going to be playing Good Cop, Bad Cop.”
Caden sighs. “I couldn’t help myself. He started talking and I just saw red. He used to come to the house. He knew where the security cameras were, he knew about the entrance to the garden. He knew my mom loved to work in her shed. I was just imagining him, sneaking onto our property that morning, with the intention of hurting her.”
His hand clenches around his root beer bottle.
“After all this time,” he murmurs. “We can finally get some answers.”
“I’m so happy for you,” I say.
“Couldn’t have done it without you.”
I blush. “Have I earned my own Junior Detective badge?”
“And then some.”
We smile at each other. The moment seems to stretch out into endless seconds. The salty air tousles his hair and his gaze slices into mine, turning from playful to determined.
“You deserve answers too,” he says quietly.
My stomach dips. I wait. I don’t want to say anything to break the moment. There’s a long pause. I feel encased in glass, unable to move. Caden places the bottle in the sand then rests his elbows on his knees.
“The night of the party, my dad called me into his study. He told me that in order to inherit the winery, I would have to first get married and pop out some kids. Otherwise, he’d leave Everton Estate to Siobhan. I would get cut out completely.”
“What?” I gasp.
“Yeah. It was insane. But that’s Dad. Power and control. Over every aspect of my life.”
“But…” I splutter thinking back over everything that happened that night. My heart drops. “Caden, did you only want me so that you could get your inheritance?”
“No!” he cries. “I almost didn’t ask you out because of what Dad said. That’s exactly why it was so—I’d been wanting to ask you out for months! Probably more than months, if I’m being honest. I’d…I’d wanted you for years, Isla.”
My head is spinning. These are words I had once been so desperate to hear. But now…what was the point now? My ring feels heavy on my finger.
“Noah was the one who told me to get Dad out of my head,” Caden continues. It’s like I can see the reel of that night replaying in his mind. “To do what I wanted to do for once. And Mom was always a moderating influence—I figured she could talk Dad out of this insanity. But then…” His shoulders tense and he rubs the back of his neck. “She was gone. Sheriff Briggs told us we couldn’t stay at the house. We went into the city, to stay at the apartment on the Upper East Side.”
I nod, my heart thrumming. “I remember. Noah told me.”
“I couldn’t call you,” he said. “Because my phone was broken.”
“After you jumped into the bay to save my shoe,” I say.
We look at each other, and I see that moment reflected in his eyes. I wonder if he sees it in mine. I was at the gazebo, surrounded by twinkling white lights. I had just seen Caden fawned over by a group of influencers. I’d decided to let him go. To accept we would never be more than friends.
Then he came up behind me and scared the crap out of me. I dropped my shoe into the bay.
That was the first time we kissed.
My eyes flit to his mouth. The memory is so potent, like that kiss was yesterday.
“After I saved your shoe,” Caden echoes quietly.
I glance up and he’s curved toward me. His eyes are an endless, churning blue-gray. The slant of his nose casts a shadow across one cheek. The planes of his face seem to soften. His lips are slightly parted, and I hear his breath catch.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
I turn away, startled, and pick up my own drink, chugging down root beer so fast I almost choke. I don’t want to look at who texted me. I stare at my toes, covered in a fine dusting of sand.
When I chance a look back at him, Caden’s expression is neutral again.
“Do you have to get that?” he asks.
I shake my head. I don’t want him to stop talking.
He gazes out at the waves. “My family was breaking apart,” Caden says. “Dad didn’t know how to handle it. I didn’t either. I was…numb. The next morning, Dad called me into his study. My family saw you with me, of course, when Noah drove us to the house. So Dad knew. He forbade me from seeing you ever again.”
Now it’s my breath that catches. “What?”
I can’t imagine Russell Everton knowing my name, much less forbidding his son to see me.
Caden winces and looks down at the sand. “He said if I kept seeing you, I would put you in danger. He said I would destroy you.”
I feel dizzy. “But…but why?”
“Because he destroyed Mom,” Caden explains. “He was certain her death was caused by one of his business enemies. Someone out to get to him by killing her. He said this was what being an Everton was. And if I brought you into the family, I would put your life at risk. But what he really meant was that he would never let me date who I wanted. It was all a pretext—he was going to control every aspect of my life, from who I married, to when, probably even to how many kids I could have. You didn’t fit with his plan.”
It’s so hard to comprehend what he’s saying. I had no idea. I’m not even sure my guesses were in the same ballpark. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
Caden shakes his head. “I couldn’t stay in Magnolia Bay and not be with you.”
“But you didn’t even give me a say!” I cry. “You didn’t even try. You just left.”
“Because Dad held all the strings!” Caden shouts, startling me. “I was a puppet, Isla—I was his to control. He didn’t care if I was putting you in danger. He just didn’t want the heir to Everton Estate to be dating some townie.” He sneers at the word. “He wanted everything to get back to normal as quickly as possible. For the good of the brand. He didn’t care that Daisy couldn’t stop crying or that Von was broken or that Al was powering through a bottle of whiskey or that Finn was completely silent. He needed appearances to be kept up. He cared about the business over his own family, his own children. I saw how little I really meant to him. I saw that I would never have a life that was mine if I stayed.”
Anger flames in my chest. I don’t even know who I’m angry at—Russell for putting these crazy restrictions on his son, or Caden for not simply talking to me about them like an adult.
“ This changes everything. But not us. This doesn’t change us .” I throw his words back in his face, the words he said to me that morning after we got to Everton. After they took Marion’s body away. Caden flinches. He remembers too.
“You lied to me,” I say. “You lied when you could have told me the truth. I’m not mad that you left. I’m not mad that you couldn’t be with me, or you couldn’t stay in the place that held so many memories of your mom. I even understood the silence at first! I was there, remember? I saw your family shatter too. But we…” Traitor tears fill my eyes and I scrub them away. “We were friends , Caden! I thought you respected me. I thought you would have some day, at some point, sent a text or an email or a smoke signal or a freaking carrier pigeon or something to let me know: Isla, there is no us anymore. But you vanished! I didn’t even know if you were okay. If something had happened to you.” There’s a lump in my throat so big it hurts. I never thought I’d get to say this to him. “Do you know how much you hurt me? Do you know how broken I was after you left? And it felt like you didn’t care.”
The pain in his eyes is a bleak, jagged thing. “I’m so sorry, Isla. I never wanted to—I had to get out. I didn’t know what else to do. I thought…” He squeezes his eyes shut. “I stupidly thought that a clean break would be a good thing. I thought you would move on just fine without me. I didn’t think you would hurt as badly as I did. Every single day since I’ve been gone, I’ve thought of you. You’ve never left my mind, not for a moment. But I was a coward. I was too scared to face you.”
When he looks at me again, his expression is pleading. “If I hadn’t left, Dad would have tied me up so tight, I’d never know who I was. I wouldn’t be able to be with you anyway. But I should have talked to you. I shouldn’t have just disappeared. I see that now—god, I see it so brutally clearly.”
“But you didn’t talk to me,” I say. “You made your choice. And I’ve made mine.”
“Is there no chance then?” he asks.
“No chance for what? For us?” I say. “Caden, I’m getting married in three weeks! What are you talking about?”
Suddenly, he’s on his knees in front of me, clasping my hands in his. “Don’t marry Luke, Isla. Please. I—I love you. I loved you then and I love you still. I will never feel about anyone the way I feel about you. If there’s anything that coming back here has shown me, it’s that. I tried to run from you but I couldn’t. I tried to bury myself in work and it didn’t change a single thing. I want you. I will always want you.”
My hands throb inside his. His face is only inches away. I watch his throat bob as he swallows. I can hear the faint beating of his heart. His scent surrounds me, a siren’s call. I wanted this for so long—to hear these words. His father was the one who kept us apart. He loves me still.
My eyes dip to his mouth again. My thighs tighten. The craving beckons, the need for him that I buried so deep for so long.
No. The word resonates in my mind.
“You’re too late,” I tell him, holding up my ring finger. Pain splinters across his face before his expression turns cold.
“So you just wanted someone from the Way, then,” he spits.
He may as well have slapped me in the face. For a second I can’t breathe—that he would think so little of me. That I’m marrying Luke for his money. He seems to instantly regret the words, his eyes widening a fraction, his lips parting. “Isla, I?—”
“Fuck you, Caden,” I say. Tears fill my eyes as I stand and grab my sandals. I need to get away from him.
“Isla, wait,” Caden says. He grabs my arm and I jerk it out of his grasp.
“No,” I say fiercely. “You do not get to touch me without permission.”
He immediately takes a step back.
“I loved you too,” I say, my voice breaking. “I think I’ve loved you my whole life. Ever since we were at elementary school together. You were different than the other kids from the Way. You were kind. You were so much like your mom. I saw the little things you would do for this town, things no one else noticed. I thought that made you different. But it didn’t. Your explanations now don’t take back all those nights I cried myself to sleep. They don’t heal the scars you left on me. You promised me— this doesn’t change us . But it did. And you didn’t even have the decency to tell me why. And then you show up here, now, right before I’m about to get married, tell me you love me then call me a gold digger? That’s not love, Caden! That selfishness. That’s cruel.”
I shake my head, suddenly exhausted. “I can’t see you anymore. I don’t want anything to do with you. Leave me alone. If you really love me, you’ll leave me alone.”
Then I turn on my heel and storm off so he can’t see the tears streaming down my face.
I call Charlotte.
“Hey,” she says. “How are?—”
“I need a ride,” I say curtly. “Caden just told me he’s still in love with me.”
“That motherfucker,” Charlotte says. “Tell me where you are. I’m on my way.”