Page 80 of Bittersweet Revenge

“My mother saw you leave with a suitcase this morning.”

“I see. Was she gloating?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Well, she was morning drinking, which is something she does to celebrate days ending in ‘Y’.”

“I only took a small suitcase. Things hadn’t ended well last night, and I wanted to spend a couple of days at Taylor’s just to figure it out.”

“Figure what out?” he asked. I could feel his muscles tense with apprehension.

“How to tell you everything.”

“I see. Did you figure it out?” he asked, his thumb tracing idle patterns on my bare back.

“My mother was murdered,” I let out.

He froze. “Sorry?”

“My mother,” I sighed. It felt good to finally come clean. “She was murdered,” I repeated. Then I unleashed everything on him, from the moment I’d found the note in the journal, every single detail up to my trip to Port Harbor. I got through the whole story without even a single word from Caleb.

“Are you still alive?” I asked him, trying to lighten the mood.

He nudged me. I reluctantly moved from my spot on his chest. Standing up, he pulled on his pants.

He started to pace up and down at the foot of the bed. “So, you are telling me that you were investigating a murder and that someone tried to kill you, here, in my house?” His tone was calm, but his overall demeanor was angry.

“I told you I didn’t try to kill myself.”

He threw me an exasperated look. “But you’d left out a crucial element there, Esmeralda. Don’t do that.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, glancing my way, his eyes darkening again. “And you’d called Ben just so you’d be caught in Carmel, not because of a lover’s lament.”

I tried my best to stop my smile from spreading. Jealous Caleb did have his appeal. I shook my head. “No, it had nothing to do with love, but he was the only person I thought would be believable.”

“And Port Harbor?”

I shook my head again. “I told you. I needed someone to bug David Phang. It was not – how did you call it? A sanctioned lovers’ tryst?”

He rolled his eyes and sighed, letting go of his tension. “You should have told me.”

“I know.”

“I would have protected you.”

“I know.”

He sat beside me on the bed, gently brushing away the hair on my forehead. “I want in. Please let me be there for you.”

I gripped his hand and kissed the back of it. “Of course.”

“All in?”

“All in.”

He smiled, letting his knuckles trail down my bare chest before circling my nipple. “Maybe we can seal the deal by–”

But he was stopped by my phone blaring out Archie’s ringtone. “It’s Archie.” I pointed at my blazer on the floor.

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