67. Chapter 67
Cate
Present
Ididn’t call Seth.
I texted.
Me: Can you meet me? Coffee shop. Now
The response came almost instantly.
Seth: I’m on my way
No questions.
Of course not.
I left the house without looking back at Trevor’s office.
The ring sat heavy in my pocket, pressing against my hip with every move I made. I could feel the shape of it through the fabric. Solid and real.
Not imagined.
The coffee shop was half full when I walked in. Soft music filled the air combined with the sound of steam hissing from the espresso machine. The normalcy of it made my head spin.
I ordered tea I wouldn’t drink and took a corner table.
Then I pulled the ring out.
It glinted in the overhead light, ordinary and devastating all at once.
I turned it over and over between my fingers, tracing the crest, the engraving.
J.R.
My throat tightened, but I didn’t let it swallow me.
Think.
When Seth walked in, he spotted me immediately.
His eyes went first to my face, like he was trying to gauge my mood. Then his gaze dropped to my hands.
He didn’t even sit before asking, “What is it?”
I didn’t ease him into it.
I held the ring out across the table. “Tell me what this is.”
He froze.
Really froze.
His hand hovered in the air for a second before he took it from me.
The second it touched his palm, something in his expression cracked.
He didn’t have to look inside the band, but he did.
Slowly.
Carefully.
His jaw tightened.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“That’s not what I asked.”
His eyes snapped to mine. “It’s John’s,” he said quietly. “It’s his fraternity ring.”
I nodded once. “You’re sure.”
“Yes.”
His voice didn’t waver.
He turned it slightly in the light. “See this?” He ran his thumb over the faint scratch near the crest. “He did that junior year. Slamming his hand into the dorm door after we fought. He wouldn’t let me forget it.”
I’d already known, but hearing Seth say it made the world tilt anyway.
“Okay,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “So there’s no chance it belongs to someone else.”
“No,” Seth said flatly. “There’s no chance.”
Silence fell between us, thick and heavy.
His gaze sharpened.
“Cate,” he said carefully. “Where did you get this?”
I looked at him.
Really looked at him.
“I need you to promise me something first.”
His expression darkened. “Cate…”
“Promise,” I repeated. “You don’t say anything. To anyone. Not yet. Not Marshal. Not anyone.”
“That depends on what you’re about to tell me.”
“It doesn’t,” I said.
We held each other’s stare.
Finally, through clenched teeth, he said, “Fine. I won’t say anything until you decide what to do. But you don’t get to keep me in the dark.”
“That’s fair.”
I inhaled slowly.
“It was in Trevor’s desk.”
The words landed between us like glass shattering.
Seth didn’t blink.
He didn’t gasp.
He just went very, very still.
“In his desk,” he repeated.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
His jaw flexed.
“Cate.”
“I know what it looks like.”
“It looks like exactly what I’ve been telling you for years.”
I flinched at that.
“Don’t,” I said quietly. “Don’t turn this into I told you so.”
“I’m not,” he said, but his voice was tight. “I’m trying to understand why you’re sitting here and not at the police station.”
Because I’m not sure.
Because I love him.
Because I still don’t believe he would hurt me.
I forced myself to say the last one out loud.
“I don’t believe he would hurt me.”
Seth leaned forward, lowering his voice. “That’s not the same as saying he didn’t hurt John.”
The distinction sliced clean through me.
I swallowed.
“He’s been there for me,” I said. “When you weren’t.”
It wasn’t fair.
I knew it the second it left my mouth.
Seth’s eyes flashed, but he didn’t rise to it.
“I left because every time I tried to be there,” he said evenly, “I felt like I was being replaced.”
I shook my head. “I need to think.”
“You need to not go back there.”
“I have to.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes,” I said, sharper now. “I do.”
Because if I don’t, then what?
Then I’m running.
Then I’m admitting something I’m not ready to admit.
Seth looked like he wanted to argue. Instead, he asked, “Does he know you found it?”
“No.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
“No.”
“That’s good.”
I reached across the table and took the ring back from him, closing my fingers around it.
“It could be nothing,” I said. “There could be an explanation.”
“There isn’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
He studied me, then softened, just slightly.
“You’re playing chess,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And you think you’re ahead of him.”
“I don’t know where I am yet,” I admitted.
Seth exhaled slowly. “If you go back, I’m staying close. You call me at the first sign of anything off. Anything.”
“I will.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“I mean it, Cate,” he said quietly. “If he did this, if he killed John, he is not the man you think he is.”
My throat tightened. “I know.”
But I wasn’t ready to let go of the version of Trevor who’d held me up when I couldn’t stand.
I slipped the ring back into my pocket.
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
Seth didn’t respond, he just watched me like he was memorizing something. And, as we stood to leave, I felt the weight of the ring again against my hip.
Not just evidence.
Not just memory.
A fuse.
And I had no idea how long it was.