“Yeah, it’s a good thing Ben Holmes was my weakness.” Her smile flattens as she sighs sharply. “I still feel a little guilty I jumped in with Marcus and lost myself for a little while.”
Giulio purses his lips. “From experience, I know grief does not have a time limit. You’re a smart woman and your decisions are valid. You made them for a reason and that reason doesn’t have to equal guilt.”
“You’re right. I just…I don’t know. It’s been seven years since he passed and I feel like I’m ready to find love again. Other days, the whole idea scares me to death. That’s why I thought something casual with Marcus would…help…but, well, you both know how that went.”
“Sometimes the heart wants what it wants. There is nothing wrong with that.” I reassure her. “I mean, look at me! Look at how far Giulio and I have come! We’ve surrendered to the pain and have committed to make it work again. Somebody will come into your life again and love you for you. They say patience is virtue and with everything that happened with Addilyn, I now know that all the anxious wait was worth it because soon she will be ours. Soon, you will find the next love of your life. You will, honey.”
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen her like this.
I can’t begin to imagine what losing Giulio so soon would do to me and how it would affect me and my children, but what I do know is that ever since Addilyn’s disappearance, at the end of the day, those you love will always rally with you.
I will always be here for Helena because she deserves a man just like Ben. One who respects, commits and is devoted to her and her children. That’s just as important.
“But what if it doesn’t happen for me again?” Helena frowns, weaving her hands through ours. “What if Ben was it? I loved that idiot so much. Maybe all I’ll ever have are the memories…”
“Ben was your soulmate and you two had a love that inspired my outlook on it. This year it’s been important for me to turn ‘what if’ into ‘will.’ So, if finding love again is something you truly want and you are ready, then with time it will come to you.”
“And when he does…” Giulio adds with a similar smile, “I’ll be right here to sit him down and make sure he has the best of intentions, just like the interrogation you did to me when Lencia and I first started dating, but worse.”
And just like that, her sarcasm returns with a smirk. “Gee, thanks Dad.”
“Giulio’s right, honey. If any man wants you, he needs to get through us first.”
“I’m only kidding! Thank you. I really do appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.” Her smile widens. “Oh, and Lencia? I’m loving the new you. I’m so proud of the new strong, confident badass woman you’ve become. Not that you weren’t it before, but it’s amplified. I just love it!”
For the first time in my life I don’t feel like hiding away or fussing at the compliment. I want to live in the moment and learn to appreciate it. “So do I.”
Giulio kisses my cheek. “And I love it too.”
My phone buzzes just as Helena opens her mouth to speak again. An unknown number. When I answer, an automated machine asks me if I would like to accept a COLLECT call from King County Jail from inmate… Bryce speaks his name at the pause and then there is a tone. I accept the charges.
“Valencia?”
“Bryce!”
“I can only make this quick,” he says, his Cockney accent hushed yet reverent. “You are my only call and I…know ya would listen. I’m being held in King County jail now without bail and my court hearing is tomorrow. They can’t find any fucking evidence because deep down they know I didn’t do it. I want ya to know that I didn’t light that fire. I didn’t do any of it.”
My breath stutters. “I believe you, Bryce.”
There’s a long pause on his end. “You do?”
“I do.”
There is relief in his sigh. “Thank you…Are you with Giulio?”
“I am.”
“Put me on speaker. I have something to say.”
Something to say?
I hit speaker and I glance around us. “You’re on.”
Helena leans in closer, but Giulio remains beside me with knitted brows. “Bryce, do you have a lawyer? I can arrange to—”
“No. No, let them appoint me a public defender.”
“But I don’t have an issue having my lawyer represent you.”
“No, no I don’t want that. I don’t want to cause any more trouble.”
What is going on?
“Valencia…Giulio…I’ve done things I regret. Things I am not proud of. I did things to both of ya and I know I’ve hurt ya both. Things revolving around…the investigation.”
No.
No.
No.
Heat courses through my veins. “What do you mean, Bryce?”
“Giulio? Do you remember when I told you that the good guys always have the darkest secrets? That ya don’t see it because they conceal it well?”
Confusion strikes me when Giulio nods to himself and swallows hard. “I remember.”
“Good, because I forgot to add something. That the nutters have the deepest lies. I’m a nutter. Why? Because when I first arrived in Seattle, somebody lured me with a big sum of money. Four million dollars to be exact. I didn’t know anything about Addilyn, who she was, or who had her. They lured me with the huge fucking sum of money and because I’m the sick bastard that I am, I took the deal. I took the deal, right, because my mother needs the money. It would change her life and pay off the millions she needs to pay back…”
“Bryce, I—”
“Please listen to me, Giulio. If I don’t say it now…I don’t know if I ever can.”
My husband clears his throat. “Go on.”
“So it began
