Page 74 of Trust

She blinked. “What? You were supposed to leave Sunday night.”

He shook his head. “We planned to go later because of Royal’s condition.”

A sinking feeling filled her. She knew the answer before she asked it.

“What condition?”

“Royal was pregnant.”

All of a sudden, everything started to make sense. Ben had never been that serious about settling down before meeting Royal and even after meeting her. Then, all of a sudden, they were planning a wedding, and he was enthusiastic about it. She had just chocked it up to falling in love, which was probably part of it. The other part of it had been an unplanned pregnancy.

Awkward silence still filled the room when Emily broke it. “We seriously need some popcorn for this.”

“Em,” Ian warned. Then he turned his attention to her brother. “Was? Why are you talking about your wife in the past tense?”

Ben shoved a hand through his hair. “She lost the baby three days after the wedding.”

Her heart ached. She might not like Royal, but Ben loved her, and she knew that Ben would have loved that baby.

“Ben,” she said, walking toward her brother and slipping her arms around him. She wasn’t sure what kind of reception she would get from him. When his arms wrapped around her, she held on tight. They had always had each other, and while shewasn’t that happy with Royal, Lani loved her brother. And she would have loved any baby he had with Royal.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I was too.”

Ian’s phone went off. He looked down at the screen. “I have to take this.”

He left them in the room as Lani stepped back from hugging her brother. His soft gaze hardened as he looked at Jakob.

“I think you and I need to talk,” Ben said.

“I think not,” she said. At the same time, Jakob said, “Fine with me.”

As Jakob walked closer, Lani stepped in front of him. She settled her hand on his chest. Her brother’s growl irritated. “I don’t need you defending my honor.”

He lifted his hand and cupped her face. Ben growled again, but Jakob also ignored him.

“Love, I would defend it until the day I die.” He brushed his mouth over hers, then looked at her brother. “Let’s go to your study.”

His brother strode off. Jakob followed easily as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Ian stepped back into the room. “Where’s Ben?”

“He’s going all big brother on Jakob,” Emily said. “Any news.”

“Yeah, and none of it is good. They found blood on her car.”

Lani sighed. None of this felt like it would end with a happily ever after.

Fifteen

Jakob kept his arms loose at his sides as he followed his best friend into his study. It didn’t seem like the right time to have this conversation. Still, he figured it would be a good way to distract Ben. Ben was staring out the window, looking at the ocean and the horizon.

“You want to tell me what the fuck is going on with my sister?”

There was a tone in his voice that Jakob couldn’t decipher. Ben definitely sounded angry, but there was something else…something that almost sounded like he was hurt. He knew this was important. Even after all their issues, Ben and Lani were close. He didn’t want to be the thing that tore them apart.

Not wanting anyone else to hear the conversation, he shut the door and walked further into the room.

---