Chapter Five #4
A brow rose over Kala’s eyes, and Vivian knew this was going
to hurt. “Fine. Those cases are going to go nowhere, and Damon set you on them
to test you. Vivi, one of the missing persons cases you presented to him has
already been solved. You didn’t dig hard enough. It was a test, and you
failed.”
That revelation made her heart sink. “But it was in the
cold-case files. That means they were never solved.”
“Or it means someone was testing you,” Kala replied.
“Trust but verify when it comes to anyone and any file,
Vivi,” Cooper said. “That’s the cardinal rule. Even if your client says
something, you have to verify that it’s true.”
“Clients lie. Sometimes evidence lies, or they simply don’t
have everything you need to know,” Kala explained. “Even when my father gives
me an assignment, I check his intel. He might have missed something, and it
could affect the team.”
She felt tears pulse behind her eyes, but she tried to put
on a good face. She reached for her water. She was excellent at research, and
she’d skipped important steps. She likely wouldn’t get a second chance. Well,
she’d been thinking about making a change anyway.
“I suppose it’s for the best since I’m going to start on my
PhD next year. I’m thinking about moving back to the States. I might apply to a
couple of programs.”
The idea had been playing around in her head. Sophy was gone
more lately. She’d been spending a lot of time in her uncle’s lodge close to
the Scottish border. She’d explained she would be in and out for the next
several months.
She was lonely. Sophy was building a big circle around her,
and Vivian didn’t fit in, as shown by the Tarquin fiasco.
Cooper frowned. “Viv, I thought you loved it here. Isn’t
Archie going to set you up at Oxford?”
She needed to think about this and not make impulsive
decisions, but realizing how stupid she’d been hurt. And she was tired. Tired
of trying so hard to be something she probably wasn’t. Tired of trying not to
think about Malcolm. She couldn’t even go back to the club because the last
thing she wanted was to see him picking out his latest plaything. He was bad
for her, and she wasn’t going to change her mind, but it didn’t mean it didn’t
hurt.
She needed to find where she belonged, and it probably
wasn’t here.
“I think my time here might be coming to an end. I also
think it might be time to consider opening my own practice,” she said brightly.
“But this is all boring. Tell me what’s up back at home. What is Aunt Charlotte
doing now that all her girls are happily married? Has Seth gone into hiding?”
“He’s using our nephew as a shield,” Kala said with a
chuckle. Kala seemed endlessly amused with her younger brothers. Seth was a
musician with a bad-boy reputation, and Travis had all his bad-boy aspirations
killed when he got his party hookup pregnant and she left him with the baby.
“Any time Mom mentions setting him up, he shoves Colton into her arms and she
forgets for a while. Did I mention Travis is talking about moving out now that
he’s done with law school? My mom is going to lose her shit.”
Cooper held up a hand. “No. You’re not going to distract me.
Vivian, what is in your head? Since we were kids you wanted to solve problems.
Cases. It’s why you went into psychology. You wanted to be like Mom.”
She wasn’t anywhere close to her mom, and Damon Knight knew
it. He was trying to gently dissuade her. She was sure in his head he was being
kind, allowing her to keep some measure of pride, but she would rather he’d
told her she wasn’t suited for this work and let her go. “Well, we can’t all be
like our parents. You and Hunter are so like Dad it’s silly. Naturally I’m the
rebel. I’ll establish a cozy practice and enjoy listening to rich people talk
about why they can’t bond with their cats.”
It would be boring, and maybe she could do some pro bono
work to feed her soul, but the whole adventure thing apparently wasn’t for her.
Cooper looked lost. He turned to his wife like she could
explain to him.
Kala simply shook her head. “Let her process, babe. She
didn’t realize he was testing her. She thought he was serious.”
“Testing her doesn’t mean he’s not serious,” Cooper
protested. “We all get tested and we all fail at some point.”
“But it feels that way right now,” Kala insisted. “She’s the
smartest, most level-headed person I know. She’ll work her way through this.
Don’t push her.”
Yep. That was her. She was level-headed and reasonable. No
one ever had to worry about Vivian McKay because she would always make the
right choices. She would always do the right thing.
If she wasn’t so fucking level-headed, she might be getting
mad crazy orgasms from the only man who’d moved her in years. She’d
level-headedly dated that asshole Tarquin. On paper he was perfect. Look what
that got her.
It was time to admit she failed. And didn’t that hurt like
hell.
She put on a bright smile and asked about the rest of the
family. Cooper looked like he wanted to argue, but he settled in.
The afternoon was perfectly lovely, and she’d never felt
more restless.