Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“At what price?” Ford asked. “I’m free. My name is clear according to the law. The people who matter know I didn’t do it. I’m home. I have my family.” He looked down to me, reaching up to stroke the backs of his fingers across my cheek. “I have a future. I don’t want you to lose yours.”
“I’m going to jail anyway,” Harvey said, looking down at Cole’s body.
“No, you’re not,” Hawk said. “It’ll either be defense of others or self-defense, considering how close you were to the bomb. I bet West goes with self-defense. Either way, this isn’t a homicide.”
“I agree with Ford,” Griffen said. “Tell West what you know about our mother and Paul. They deserve justice. And Prentice got what he deserved when you shot him. No one wants you to pay for that.”
Harvey closed his mouth and nodded.
After a few minutes, Eli returned, carefully carrying the remains of the bomb Cole Haywood had built. He set it aside by the corner in the garage where Harvey had hidden with his shovel. “No one touch that.” He shook his head as he took in Cole’s head a foot from his body, an island in a sea of blood. “You can learn all sorts of shit on the internet.” He raised his eyes to Hawk and Griffen. “It was a crap design, but it would have worked.”
A siren wailed in the distance. West’s SUV, followed by two more Sawyers Bend official vehicles, drove up less than ten seconds later. After Griffen and Hawk quickly explained what happened, including that Harvey was the shovel-wielder, I was surprised when he put Harvey in handcuffs.
“We’ll get it all cleared up at the station,” West said calmly, and Harvey nodded, his eyes dazed.
Harvey drove off with a deputy, crossing paths with the crime scene van. I hoped they were going to put the body into that van and take it far from Heartstone.
West took our statements and, finally, as the crime scene team got to work, kicked all of us out of the garage. We met the rest of the family in the dining room. Everyone was milling around, looking shell-shocked. Ford, his arms still around my shoulders, led me over to where Hope stood with Savannah and Finn. Griffen pulled Hope into his arms, murmuring into her ear. She held him back, her voice soothing, though I couldn’t make out the words.
“It’s over?” Finn asked Ford.
“It’s over,” Ford confirmed, meeting Griffen’s eyes over Hope’s head.
Griffen agreed. “I think it is. We still have to wait out the terms of the will, but I don’t think anyone else is coming after us. All of this was Haywood, and he’s dead.”
I couldn’t stop seeing Cole’s head rolling from his body. It would be a long time until that wasn’t featured in my nightmares. On the other hand, I couldn’t deny there was something very satisfying about the danger being ended in such a decisive manner. We’d never have to worry about him getting paroled or putting bounties up on the dark web from prison, because Cole Haywood was very, very dead.
“There’s always a chance someone else has a grudge against Dad,” Ford said. “He pissed off a lot of people. But I don’t think there’s another Cole Haywood waiting in the wings. I think maybe it’s time we all get to just live our lives together.”
“I like the way that sounds,” Griffen said.
“Me too,” Ford agreed.
“What about you?” Ford asked, turning to me. Sliding his arms around my waist, not caring who was watching, he asked, “Did we scare you away?”
“Not a chance,” I said.
“Then we’re going to stop pretending that we’re not seeing each other, because I love you and I want everyone to know.”
I grinned at him. “I love you, too,” I said. “And after today, I don’t want to pretend. I just want to be with you.”
“Sounds good to me,” Ford said.
I reached up, slid my hands around his neck, and pulled him down for a kiss. In the background, I heard the kids let out a whoop as Ford’s lips met mine, but the rush of my heartbeat drowned them out.
Finally, we had answers, and we had each other. I couldn’t ask for more.
Epilogue
FORD
It was a novelty to lie in Paige’s bed with her so long after sunrise. Up until now, lazy mornings had been saved for Sundays—the one day she had completely off. Christmas break had finally arrived. The kids of Heartstone Manor had been set free from the shackles of school for two weeks, and Paige’s call time was much later, now that she didn’t have to get them up and off to school. The Manor was at ease for the first time in my memory, as if the entire household had let out a breath we’d been holding for decades. Prentice was gone, and discovering how he’d died, and why, had swept his ghost from the Manor. While no one had suspected Harvey of killing him, the family was agreed that justice had been served.