The memory of that room once he’d finally felt like himself again flashed in his head like an old movie. Black and white with slashes on the film that made you squint at times to see what the videographer was trying to frame.

He blinked away the shattered image.

In its place was the reporter’s interview that was nothing but a flash of the woman all those months ago and a pan through the property that Maci was standing on.

If it wasn’t for the coat, he might not have recognized her. Long red hair. She looked like a whore.

Desmond pushed away from the desk before he was tempted to smash his monitor with his fist.

He crossed the room, opened a well-equipped office liquor cabinet, and poured two fingers of scotch.

Now that he had a lead, it was only a matter of time before he had a location.

He dropped half the contents down his throat in one swallow and absorbed the burn. Fighting the urge to wince fueled him.

Control fueled him. Much as he wanted to hire someone to take care of this for him, he questioned whether they would see his sick wife for who she was.

No, no . . . this was his to deal with.

Finishing his drink, he left the glass on the bar, crossed to the sleek, contemporary door of his office, and flung it open. “Keller,” he barked.

His secretary stiffened his spine before shooting to his feet. “Sir?”

A slight thrill shot through Desmond at the man’s response.

Desmond nodded inside his office and walked back to his desk.

At attention, Keller stood by with a pad of paper in his hand.

Desmond clicked the image of his wife off the computer monitor and sat. “I need you to clear my schedule.”

Keller wrote that down. “For how long?” The man didn’t look him in the eye.

“A month.”

Keller looked up with wide, questioning eyes.

One glare from Desmond and the man pulled his attention back to his notepad.

“Is that a problem?” Desmond asked.

“Of course not, sir. There is a shareholder meeting next week.”

He leaned his head back. “I am in control of fifty-one percent of this company. Tell the board to reschedule.”

“Sir?”

The man was questioning him. “Did I suggest something you disagree with, Keller?”

The man looked away. “No, sir. I’ll take care of it.”

“Good.”

“Would you like me to provide an explanation for your absence?”

He took a moment to think about what he wanted the public to hear. “Tell anyone who asks that I’m trying to find peace after losing my wife. And I have a sick family member in Greece I need to attend to.”

Keller wrote frantically in his notepad. You’d think Desmond had asked for a regurgitation of the Declaration of Independence with how much Keller was scribbling. “When are you leaving?”

He had a strong urge to say now, but decided a little time would feel less . . . desperate. “Monday.”

Keller sighed. “Got it.”

Desmond watched his own fingers tap on his desk for several seconds. When he looked up, he was surprised to see Keller standing there. “That’s all.”

His secretary snapped his attention away and marched out of the room.

A month.

He would make everything right within a month.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Wearing big sunglasses and twisting the curls her new hair afforded, Erin felt as if she were hiding in plain sight. Austin’s graduation was at the local community college’s outdoor stadium. She sat with Parker, Colin, and Mallory and cheered when they called Austin’s name. Afterward they drove to the mall so they could sit in the lobby of a popular restaurant for forty minutes before being seated.

Halfway through the meal it dawned on Erin that she hadn’t thought about hiding all day. She couldn’t remember a day in the past year when she’d been out in public and hadn’t ducked her head, sat in the back of a restaurant, or covered her face with sunglasses the entire time. Even a baseball cap did a fair job of changing her appearance. Sometimes her phone had a hard time recognizing her with the right eyewear and headwear covering her up.

It felt good.

Austin entertained them with how he would achieve world domination by the age of twenty-five. Which would start with a summer job, one Colin had helped him acquire with the county.

“The job is going to make you long for the days where Parker told you to clean the pool,” Colin told him.

“But it pays better.”

“So does this mean you’re Austin’s boss?” Erin asked.

“Only when he’s on my team. Which strangely enough will happen next winter when we need to clean out the wash again.” The winter had been nothing but a revolving door of dirt trucks and tractors scooping mud and moving it off the property.

Colin pulled his phone from his back pocket and looked at the screen.

The waitress arrived with their drinks and took their order.

“Matt is on his way. Says he has something for you, Austin,” Colin said before tucking his phone back where he retrieved it.

Just hearing Matt’s name put a smile on Erin’s face.

“We wanted to invite him to the graduation but we only had four tickets,” Parker told her.

Austin sat forward and rubbed his hands together. “That doesn’t mean he can’t stop by and drop some money on my graduating awesomeness.”

That had them laughing. “You’ll be thankful for whatever he gives you even if it’s a card without cash.”

Colin frowned. “What’s the point of a card without cash?”

Parker nudged his shoulder in protest.

Mallory reached in her purse, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to her brother. “I didn’t put cash in mine.”

Austin frowned as he tore into it. As he opened the greeting card a piece of plastic fell out. “Sweet!” He waved the gift card in the air.

Parker shook her head. “Read the card. It’s rude to just grab the money and not read the card.”

It was interesting to watch Parker parent her brother. And it was even more entertaining to see Austin accept her guidance. He stopped rolling his eyes to read the card to himself. Soon his smirk fell and his eyes watered up. They all stopped the teasing and watched him.

Erin glanced at Mallory and saw her eyes glistening.

“What does it say, Austin?” Parker asked.

He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand. “Mallory told me I’m her favorite brother.”

Parker took the card Austin handed her to read. She glanced through it and went from grinning to swallowing hard. “Can I read this aloud?”

Austin nodded.

Parker cleared her throat. “‘To my favorite brother. I’m really glad you kept your shit together and graduated. Because it would have been a sucky day if you hadn’t. Losing Mom and Dad has been hard on all of us, but you most of all. You were robbed of time. I want to tell you today, a day where you have your entire future in front of you, that I will be with you during every special occasion, every milestone. And I will remind you of Mom’s smile and how your laugh is just like Dad’s. They loved you and would be so proud of you. I love you.’”

Emotion clogged the back of Erin’s throat. “That was lovely, Mallory,” Erin told her.