Page 132 of The Temptation of Truth
Brady Sinclair has landed safely in Sydney.
I blink several times to make sure I’m reading it correctly, but then it’s replaced by his contact photo as he calls again.
I jump up and start putting on my clothes. I’m so frantic that I trip over my jeans and my phone crashes to the floor.
Mabel appears in the doorway in a silk robe with her hair still messy from sleep. She’s smiling until she sees me, and then her face fills with concern.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
The phone, face down on the ground, starts to ring again, and she reaches for it.
“Don’t! Don’t answer it. It’s Brady.”
She looks confused. “I thought you were planning to talk?—”
“He’s here,” I blurt, cutting her off. “He’s in Sydney.”
Her eyes go wide as she starts to feel what I’m feeling. “Where?”
I shake my head as I zip my jeans, then pull on my shirt. I don’t bother with my underwear. I don’t have time to look for them, and they’re probably still wet, anyway.
“I don’t know. If you pull up the purple tracking app, there’s a map. You can zoom in.”
It a matter of seconds, she looks up from the phone with a horrified expression. “Five minutes. He’s less than five minutes away.”
I run.
Out her French doors, on to the terrace, and into my room. I rip a brush through my hair and pull on a hoodie to hide the fact that I’m not wearing a bra. My hand is closing around the doorknob as Mabel comes rushing in through the terrace doors.
“Hey, take deep breaths. It’s okay. We’ll?—"
“It’s not okay. He’s not supposed to be here.”
“I know. But we can handle this together. We can talk?—”
“No! No. No, you can’t talk to him. You can’t. I’m sorry, but you can’t.”
I rush out the door and down the stairs. I don’t know what to do. I wasn’t supposed to have to face him in person. On the phone. It was supposed to be on the phone, so I could hang up if he yelled. So I didn’t have to listen to his hateful words.
Oh, God, what am I going to do?
Now he’s angry. He must have heard my voicemail by now. He knows I’m not coming home. He’s called ten times and texted twenty times, and I haven’t answered a single one.
When I reach the main level, I grow even more apprehensive when I only see Callie, Claire, and Sav in the kitchen.
“Where are the guys? Uncle Wade?”
Sav looks up from a red notebook. “Surfing. Well, the guys and Brynn are surfing. Ham is probably off somewhere snarling at small animals.”
“No.”
No, this isn’t good.
He won’t check himself if it’s just women here. If the guys were here, maybe he’d pretend. But if it’s just the girls...
I open my mouth to ask about the bodyguards, but my voice dies the moment a loud, forceful knock booms through the house. My eyes whip to the front door, and I freeze. I can’t move, and I can’t breathe. My muscles and organs are lead.
There is movement in my periphery, but I don’t turn to see what it is. Instead, I watch in slow motion as the front door bangs open, and my husband steps inside.
