Page 270 of The Billion Heirs Boxed Set

“I mean with Chance. Why’d you send him away?”

He did as I requested and left. I cried most of the night, wishing things could be different.

“You know why.”

“He loves you. After all these years he never found anyone else, and neither did you.”

“I tried.”

“You did, but Tyler saw through the façade and figured out what I’ve always known. You’re in love—you’ve always been in love—with someone else.”

I close the magazine and trail my finger over the model on the glossy cover. Models always look so sullen these days. She looks how I feel.

“I am,” I admit. “Being with him again was everything. But Grady is also everything, and I… I took fourteen years of Grady away from him, and I can’t give him another child. He deserves to be there for the birth of a child, to carry him or her around on his shoulders, to teach a kid how to dribble a basketball. To ride a horse.” I close my eyes. “He would have been a great dad.”

“He’ll be a great dad. To Grady. And for God’s sake, Avery, if he wants more children, the two of you can adopt.”

My phone buzzes then. “It’s Jarvis. I should take this.”

“On a Saturday?”

“The FBI waits for no one.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Jarvis.”

“Hey, Marsh. How’s Grady?”

“Home and on the mend. He’ll be annoying me within a few hours, bored.”

“I guess then you haven’t you checked your email?”

“Not yet.”

“We’ve got a new assignment. In Dallas. We leave Monday morning.”

Dallas? “I can’t do it. Grady needs me.”

“I thought you brought him home today.”

“I did. But…”

He’s healing well, and Mom is here. Maybe a new assignment is just what I need.

“All right. I guess I’ll see you at the airport Monday.” I end the call.

“The airport on Monday?” Mom asks.

“Assignment in Dallas.”

“Another? So soon? You sure it’s the best time?”

I sigh. I’m not sure of anything anymore.

My mother gets into my face then. She doesn’t play the mom card a lot, but I see it coming.

“You listen to me, Avery Lee Marsh. You are getting on a plane to Montana tomorrow morning. You’re going to Bayfield, and you’re going to tell Chance you love him.”

“Mom—”

“No buts. I had a hand in separating you two all those years ago, and damn it, I’m not going to sit idly by and let you give up on this second chance. Grady’s in good hands with me.”