“Did you hear me?” Riley asked, putting her hand on Hannah’s shoulder.
Hannah blinked, refocusing her gaze on her mentor. “Sorry. Yes, I heard you. And I’m honored. It means more than I can articulate at the moment that you and Nate trust me to do this, but—” Hannah paused, a part of her still unable to believe what she was about to say and what it would mean. “I’m going to have to pass.”
Riley smiled, tears gleaming in her eyes. She shook her head and pulled Hannah into a hug. “That’s what I told Nate you’d say.”
Chapter 53Will
Will placed their wedding picture down on the corner of his new desk. This was the third place he’d set it, but it didn’t seem right. He moved it to the other corner. That was better. His eyes would fall on it whenever he looked up. He’d officially joined Flannigan O’Hare Mahon as their new junior partner yesterday. The day had been full of meetings, paperwork, lunches, and drinks. If only all junior partners got this reception. He knew that his move to the firm felt like a coup, even though Will would never work a case against Wellington Thorne.
Brady had given him his first case that morning, and he couldn’t wait to dig in. For once, he wasn’t fighting to build a hotel that would displace the local flora and fauna. There’d be a learning curve, but he would master it. He was living the dream—he wouldn’t forget that. Next, he just needed Hannah to come home—come home and choose him. He still couldn’t believe he had dissolved the pact and given her an ultimatum. They hadn’t spoken much since then, both agreeing that it was best to ride out her time in Boston. It would give them each the chance to consider what they wanted and how ending the pact had changed things. Yes, they were still legally married, but that was probably the easiest thing to fix about their situation.
“Sir?”
Will looked up at his associate. They always looked so young. He didn’t remember looking that green out of law school. “What is it, Matt?”
“You have a visitor.” Will looked past his associate but couldn’t gather who was standing in the threshold beyond the fact that it was not Hannah.
“You don’t need to deliver guests to my office.”
The young man nodded. “I was coming to give you this, actually.” He handed Will an overstuffed file. “Everything on the Lancosta case.”
As Matt walked out, Jon walked in. Will stared up at his older brother incredulously. Had he really stepped foot in Flannigan O’Hare Mahon on Will’s second day?
Jon sat down in the chair across from him. After giving his brother a once-over, Will swallowed the anger roiling in his stomach. Dark circles underlined the dullness of Jon’s eyes, his skin was pallid, and the boisterous demeanor that defined his brother was absent.
“What are you doing here?” Will asked, leaning back in his chair.
Jon slid a file folder across the desk. “Dad tried to get rid of Hannah. He had me quietly get annulment papers together the moment your marriage license hit the public record. And then he asked me to set aside funds—he used them to invest in her magazine.”
So their father had known about their marriage all along. Will wasn’t surprised. Jonathan paid a great deal of money for information, monitoring the public record for anything that might tarnish the Thorne name. Will glanced at the paper, shaking his head at the number Jonathan had been willing to pay to break his son’s heart.
“Why are you telling me this?” For whatever reason, Jon was extending an olive branch, but Will wasn’t sure he wanted to take it.
“You deserved to know, and so does Hannah.” Jon looked up, his expression heavy with regret. “I didn’t know you really loved her.”
“More than anything,” Will said, dropping the folder back on his desk. There was more to this gesture than either of them would say aloud. Jonathan was stubborn. He wouldn’t want to let Will just go. But what Jon had handed Will was sizeable leverage should he need it.
Jon stood to go. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up and reminding Will of a much younger version of his brother. “That night with Madison... when Hannah... It wasn’t the first time, was it?”
Will hadn’t been expecting that. He shook his head, not trusting his words.
“Did you two ever...?”
“Yes.”
Jon cursed, but there was no anger behind it, only dawning recognition.
“It was so early on, Jon—before she was ever your fiancée.”
Jon looked at his brother, his expression crestfallen. “She’s not my fiancée anymore.”
Will ran a hand through his hair before clasping both his hands in front of him. “Does she know that?”
Jon shrugged. “She will in another hour or so.”
Could the whole saga really be over? Will closed his eyes. “I’m sorry about you and Madison.”
The words rang true, and relief washed through him. Whatever he decided about where the Thorne family and all that came with its name fit into his new life, Madison would not be a part of it.
Jon hesitated, his hand on the door and his body already making to leave. The heavy set of his shoulders told Will he couldn’t stay much longer without breaking down, and Jon wouldn’t do that in public. He’d hadn’t when their mother died, and he wouldn’t do it then over a woman, no matter how much his love for her might have cost him. “For what it’s worth, little brother, I’m sorry as well.”
Chapter 54Hannah
Hannah added a third box to the stack in front of her. If she never moved again, it would be too soon. Hannah and Binx were heading out in a few days. The inaugural issue of Deafening Silence
