Page 98 of Hearts and Hidden Secrets
JONAH
Carson was out.
It had taken an hour of holding her, hearing her crying in my arms, feeling her crying in my arms, and she’d needed a sedative. But she was asleep now.
I was watching her when Kai came into the security room. We were back at the house. She was in the lock room, as she’d said she felt safe there, but I could see her on camera.
Kai joined me in looking at the monitors. I expected him to say something.
He didn’t.
I was almost thankful, but then…
“We got his phone.”
I didn’t move my eyes from her, but I asked him, “What’d you find?”
“He had two incoming calls from a number that was traced back to a Guaranno family member.”
Guaranno.
They’d been a mafia family until Kai and Tanner disbanded them, by force.
This was payback.
That one name made everything make sense, and fuck, but I almost wished it hadn’t. That was this life. Payback. Revenge. Or the opposite, moving up.
I hated this world.
“He was hired by the Guaranno family, then?”
“It looks like. We looked into her boss’ bank accounts, and she was given two large sums of money—one the night your fiancée died and the other two days ago.”
I frowned, but I still didn’t take my eyes off Carson. “Two days ago?”
“It seems there was a phone call from Carson’s boss to Carson’s sister.
The call was recorded on her boss’ end, probably used as evidence for the payout.
She knew about the Mustang tickets, about the VIP pass to Bresko’s.
She was pushing the sister to invite Carson to come up a week early, promising Carson would get time off.
It’s safe to say she was either behind the tickets and VIP pass or she knew about them. ”
Right. That made sense, now.
“And the night Melissa died?” I asked.
“Probably a payout for the security feeds from that night, or for information about what happened when we arrived to visit Melissa’s body.
” He hesitated. “I got a call from one of the detectives who interviewed you. They found Carson’s boss’ body.
She was killed, but it was made to look like a suicide. ”
Fuck’s sakes. “That cop is on the payroll for us now?”
“There’s more.”
He didn’t answer me because I already knew.
I readied myself for what else was coming.
“The male technician we initially paid off to see Melissa’s body—he was killed, too. It seems they were cleaning up all loose ends.”
I couldn’t—how does someone process that? “If he had killed her today…” I couldn’t finish. “He killed Melissa. If he had killed Carson…”
“The working theory is that the Guaranno family hired him, paid him to hurt you because we love you. Tanner loves you. I love you. We think they wanted to hurt you and have us watch you hurt for the rest of your life.”
Jesus.
Christ.
Every word he said inflicted pain I never knew was possible.
More pain.
Insufferable pain.
But what I’d thought was true. They had killed Melissa. I was already suffering that pain, but if they had gotten to Carson…
She was the future.
“I think I love her,” I told Kai.
I was lying. I knew I loved her.
I knew when I walked around that hangar door and saw a stranger pointing a gun at her head. I would never have that image out of my head. It was permanently burned there.
But I loved Carson. I knew it now.
It was shocking, because it was something that shouldn’t exist. Against all odds, in this life, I wasn’t supposed to get two of them. Two chances.
I was looking at her right now, sleeping in my bed.
“I know,” Kai said.
I wanted to look at him, but I didn’t. I didn’t dare take my gaze from her, from the screen. “I put her in the vehicle for her safety. I thought…”
“I know.”
I felt his hand on my shoulder.
“You stood against Tanner for her. You had her at your side when we were in the kitchen, with family. Jonah, all of us are aware of your feelings. Brooke was right. You brought Carson around us, and you didn’t need to do that.
She could’ve been away in a room, in another building.
She never needed to come to the house. You did that. You chose to do that.”
“I love her.”
“I know.”
“How can I love her so quickly after Melissa? How is that… How is that even realistic?”
How did I get this lucky?
Why did I get this lucky? Me . I didn’t deserve that.
I chose to love my family. I chose not to leave my family. That should mean… That meant I didn’t deserve love. In a way, it made sense to me, what had happened to Melissa. But getting Carson? So soon? That didn’t make sense.
I wasn’t supposed to get her.
“I’m going to be honest,” Kai said, removing his hand.
“I’ve learned that love is love. For what it’s worth—and I’m saying that knowing what I have to say is probably not worth a lot, but I’m going to say it anyway.
For what it’s worth , you loved Melissa, but maybe you didn’t love Melissa as much as you think you did. Maybe this one is the real one?”
Did that make sense?
Yes. And no.
But I loved Carson, and I couldn’t lose her. That’s all I knew right now.
“Is it done? The Guaranno revenge?”
He took a long breath. “I will make sure it is.”
That was code for Kai taking it from here.
I was out. Carson was out. And really, right now, that’s all I cared about.
I didn’t ask more questions. Maybe I should’ve.
Maybe a normal person would’ve, but I didn’t.
I knew the deal. I knew what family I’d been part of when I was growing up.
Kai said the revenge was against him and Tanner, but this was family business.
I was out, I wasn’t in that business, but my last name was Bennett.
I was a Bennett.
I hadn’t left the family completely. I couldn’t.
I loved Kai. I loved Tanner. I loved Brooke.
They were my family, so there was a gray area I would always have to navigate.
Because of that, because of what they did, I would continue to do what I did.
I was a doctor. I saved lives. I’d started down that road to make up for what my family did.
It had been a conscious decision then, and it was even more so now.
“I love you, brother.” Kai put a hand on my shoulder again.
I nodded, my throat constricting. “I love you, too.”
That was the problem. I loved them too much to leave.
It would be my burden to carry.
But watching Carson, I knew I couldn’t put her through it as well.
That was the problem.