Page 46 of My Best Friend's CEO Dad

“On what?”

“If he’s telling the truth and whether he’s a good person or a bad one. He clearly has problems. It seems like even he doesn’t know who he is.”

“He’s been vulnerable with me before,” Kayla murmurs. “Now I don’t know if it was real or part of his scam.”

“It hasn’t been long,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “It’s not about the length of time, Maci. It’s about how deep the feelings are. Go on. Tell me I’m setting myself up for heartbreak again. Tell me that makes no sense.”

Yet I can’t say that. I know exactly what she means. The number of hours spent together isn’t the point. It’s the intensity of the feeling, the certainty of the connection. The same feeling makes me want to go to Lukas, hold him, and tell him everything will be okay, even if it’s a lie.

“Sometimes, if you know, you know,” I say.

“Whoa. I didn’t expect you to say that.”

“But you have to be careful,” I go on. “He’s drunk right now.”

“I know. He might wake up and regret all this. Even if he does, at least we know the truth.”

“Do you miss before… when you didn’t know? When he was just Ethan?”

She leans back, rubbing her hands up and down her legs. She’s got the same restless energy I’ve seen so many times before, at so many other times in our lives. I remember her doing this when studying for big exams or waiting for a boy to text her back and on and on. A thousand everyday memories flow through me.

“No,” she says finally. “Even if it’s painful, knowing the truth is better. At least now, if we build—if there’s anything to build—it can be on solid, real ground. I’d rather be miserable and have it be real than happy, and it’s fake. Maybe that makes me nuts.”

I swallow, a small voice hissing inside me. Tell her, tell her, tell her, but my cowardice won’t let me.

“Yeah,” I say lamely. “I know what you mean.”

CHAPTER 23

LUKAS

Afew hours later, Gabriel Walker and I stand on the balcony. Gabriel taps his pen against his notepad, looking over the city. During the questioning, I did my best to push the stuff about Maci to the back of my mind. I need to focus on Sebastian. He said it himself; he doesn’t have a family. I need to be there for him.

“There are a few options,” Gabriel says. “We could go to the cops.”

“Finn said Nobody has contacts with the police.”

“He has claimed to have contacts with them,” Gabriel murmurs. “That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily true, but you’re right. We’d be taking a chance. If they know we’re coming, the chances of them hurting your friend are high.”

“And an innocent young woman,” I tell him. “Sebastian’s not the only one at stake here.”

Gabriel nods. “Of course, sir. We need both those civilians safe and sound.”

“Option number two?”

“We try to pay them off.”

“That won’t work. They sound nuts. If they want a second Dark Age…” Just saying it out loud makes me feel so damn ridiculous. “I doubt money is going to sway them. Let’s say they did agree to bribe. Then what? Maybe they’ll use the cash to do something even worse. I’ll be funding these psychos.”

“That brings us to option three,” he says calmly.

“Which is?”

Gabriel lowers his voice. “Strictly speaking, we should involve law enforcement,” he says. “I need to state, and for you to fully understand, that if we go ahead with any other plan, we’ll be doing so illegally.”

“Tell me this, then,” I reply. “In your expert opinion, what are the chances of involving law enforcement resulting in Sebastian’s…” I clench my teeth, hardly even able to think about it, let alone say it. We’ve been through so much together. “Not making it?”

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