Dustin stood in front of her asking for too much. Heat seared Trace from the inside out. What should she do?
Robert had tricked her into falling for him, only to discover that he’d used her to push deals through while keeping her distracted. A distraction that cost Matt’s life. She had to take responsibility for what happened. “No. You can’t help. Only I can make this right.”
She lifted her chin, but Dustin took her by the hands. “Listen to me. You’re not alone. You have your friends, and you have me. Stop trying to push us all away.”
“You still want to be with me? I accused you of betraying me.”
“Yes.”
He said it with such conviction, she wanted to believe him. A man who would state such fact in front of her friends had to be telling the truth, right? Still, something held her back. “You can’t help. Please, don’t get any more involved. Kat will represent me in court. If we need you as a witness, I’m sure she’ll call you.”
“And I’ll be there.” He turned to Kat but didn’t let Trace go. His touch was like aloe on sunburned skin. “If we can get a confession out of someone for giving the letter to the newspaper, then she’ll be okay?”
Kat nodded. “Better. There may still be some legal issues, but that would make a huge difference.”
Dustin let her go, leaving her standing in a crowd of loneliness. Her friends were everything to her, but he’d taken her heart, and she couldn’t get it back. He was the man she’d thought Robert was. For all the lies he’d told, Dustin had already told her the truth. A hollowness remained inside her.
“I’ll take care of this,” he said and then bolted out of the house at full speed.
Trace blinked and looked to Trevor for answers. “What’s he going to do?”
“My guess? The man I know who has completely fallen for you, who could never stand by and let someone he cares about suffer? I’d say he went to confess.”
“Confess?” Her stomach rolled like a tidal wave crashing into her gut. “He said he didn’t—”
“He didn’t. But that doesn’t mean he won’t give a false confession if it means saving you.” Trevor took Jewels by the hand as if he couldn’t face any of this without her.
“How do you know?” Trace asked, her pulse hammering so loudly she thought she wouldn’t be able to hear his response, but it came in like a foghorn in the night. “Because it’s what I would do.” He kissed Jewels on the cheek.
Trace looked to Jewels, to Bri, to Wind, to Kat. None of them said a word. “I’ve got to stop him.”
Kat pressed her lips together the way she did when she was processing an outcome in a court case. “You better do it fast before he makes things worse with a false confession.”
Trace raced out of the house. She didn’t need to look back to know her friends followed her. At the edge of town, Kat split off into Skip’s place, and the rest stayed by her side and helped her push through the impromptu press conference outside the courthouse. Dustin spoke with animated hands from the front steps.
“Wait. Stop!”
The crowd didn’t let her through, so she pushed and shoved until she realized that she’d never make it in time. If she was right, the mob cared about one thing. A firsthand account of the dirty details, and Trace would be the best one to give it. “I’m Trace Latimer.”
The cameras turned on her like a hungry eel. People parted, allowing her access to the stage. Dustin tried to nudge her off the steps, but she only grabbed hold of his arm. “I believe you. Now it’s your turn to trust me.”
His gaze danced from her to the crowd and back to her. “I’ve got this. I won’t let you go through any more. You’ve been through enough.”
“No. I need to do this. If I’m ever going to be free, then I need to speak about what happened.”
“But the gag order…” Dustin caressed her cheek with a longing gaze that took her back to the house in the sticky afternoon when she’d confessed and he’d comforted her, kissed her. Now more than ever, she wanted more of those kisses. “It’s time for you to trust me.”
He kissed her on the cheek, sending waves of want down her neck, but now wasn’t the time. She needed to focus on getting them out of this if she ever hoped to have a future with Dustin.
He held her hand, never leaving her side.
“I know you’re all here because you want to know more dirt about the accusations made in the Summer Island Gazette,” she said.
The crowd roared, flinging questions at her like grenades.
She didn’t say anything again, waiting for the ravenous vultures to calm down. It took several minutes until they realized she wouldn’t speak unless they were quiet.
“I will tell you now that I never spoke to the newspaper, nor any other news outlet about this. I didn’t even tell my friends, even when the truth of what happened ate away at me until I almost crumbled. The gag order is in place. I have not violated it, and I won’t violate it now. If this goes to court, I’ll have a lot more to say if the judge instructs me to break said order. For now, go home. There isn’t anything else to say.”
Dustin held her tight and leaned in so she could hear him. “Are you sure about this? What if the company comes after you?”
“Then I’ll do what Kat suggested. I’ll tell the family everything and support them in a wrongful death suit.” She took him by the hand and led them down the steps, pushing through the crowd until they spotted Wind waving her arms outside Skip’s place.
Jewels and Trevor ushered them inside to find Rhonda and Skip and some suits standing together, along with Mr. Shelling.
Dustin tucked her into his side in that protective way of his, and she didn’t want to push free. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“We spoke to Robert Remming, and he agreed that if you silence the person who leaked the information, they won’t press charges.”
“How are we going to get Rhonda to shut her mouth?” Trace asked.
Rhonda snarled. “It wasn’t me.”
“If it wasn’t you, then—”
Skip grunted. “I overheard you talking when I came to make an offer on your father’s house. I decided I would end this feud between you girls by giving my daughter what she wanted and getting you away from her place. I knew it was a fool’s mission, but when I heard what happened, I knew I could force you out when the town discovered your past.”
Trace shook her head. “Why do you want me gone so badly?”
Rhonda stepped forward as if leading an assault. “Because I was the one who took care of your father the last year. That place should’ve been mine. No contract that boy toy of yours offered me is going to change that. Some beach access instead of owning that lot? That wasn’t fair. Your dad should’ve left his place to me.”
Trace wanted to yell at Rhonda, tell her how wrong she’d been, but she couldn’t because she knew there was truth to her words. “You’re right. It isn’t fair.”
All her friends snapped their attention to her.
“That being said, it’s my childhood home. Yes, I was gone for too long. Yes, I should’ve been home when my father needed me, but I didn’t know he was sick. He kept it from me. If someone had told me, I would’ve come home. If you were taking care of him, why didn’t you tell me?”
Wind tsked. “Because she took care of him in hopes he’d leave the property to her. If you came back, that couldn’t happen.”
“No. That’s not it.”
“Then what?” Trace wanted to understand.
“He’s the only father who ever gave a rat’s tail about me. I wanted him to myself.”
Trace didn’t know if she wanted to hit the woman or hug her. She could stand there and continue to argue with Rhonda, yell at her for stealing her final hours with her father away from her, but that wouldn’t help either of them. She was tired of fighting and feeling guilty. “I’m sorry if I haven’t been kind to you in the past. I won’t sell my father’s place, but I can cut down some trees to give you a better view.”
“Dashing Dustin already tried that,” Rhonda grunted and shot out of the restaurant.
Trace knew it would take more than one conversation to mend old wounds. Especially ones that had been festering for three decades. For now, she had to face the situation in front of her. “If Skip confessed, does that mean I won’t be sued?”
The suits whispered between themselves and Kat. Once they were done, Kat looked at Trace and said, “If you tell the press it was all a lie, then they’ll back down.”
She eyed the front window where camera lenses were pressed to the glass. Reporters shouted questions through the closed and locked front door. “No,” Trace said, realizing she wasn’t scared of the lawyers or the fines or the world knowing how she’d contributed to Matt’s death, because in protecting herself, she’d given Robert Remming and his company what they wanted. “I won’t lie. I’m not scared of the suits or what people think about me anymore, because that means I gave up the big fight against the giants who pick on the world. The fight that Matt took on alone when I wasn’t there to help. It might be too late, but I owe it to Matt. I won’t remain silent any longer.”
Kat stared at her. Trace readied for a fight, but instead Kat opened her arms and hugged her. “Good. I’ll help you fight.” She slipped away as fast as she’d embraced her, leaving Trace to face one last obstacle.
Her own heart. The one that had kept Dustin at a distance.
She turned to face him, and in front of her friends, the press, the world, she wrapped her arms around Dustin Hawk and kissed him.
This time it wasn’t a kiss to chase away the demons and end her pain. It was a kiss to show him how she felt and to start a new life with him. A man that was all wrong: a business bureaucrat with a cocky walk who’s afraid of the ocean.
She fell into him, releasing all inhibitions. The passion rose inside her. The cameras clicking away faded. The gasps and giggles faded. The people and the world faded. All the people except Dustin.
When she finally felt her toes hit the ground again, she wobbled.
He kept her upright and pressed his head to hers. “You’re like no other woman, Trace Latimer, and I never want to leave your side.”
She settled and found her balance and slapped him on the shoulder. “Great. I’m thinking about going to swim with the sharks tomorrow.”
Dustin tensed. “Nope. Not happening. I have other plans for you tomorrow.”
“What’s that?”
“You haven’t helped with the hotel enough. You owe me.” Dustin took her by the hand and led her out of Skip’s and down the road with a trail of reporters following them. But she didn’t care because she could handle any fight with her friends and Dustin by her side.