Page 14

Sebastian

I now pronounce you man and wife.

I heard the minister say the final blessing and with those words, I would lose Kennedy all over again. Her job as maid of honor was done.

God, watching her walk down the aisle lit me on fire. How beautiful she looked. But she hadn’t glanced at me. Not once. Not even to glower at me. Or sneer at me.

Zelda moved people from the ceremony into the lobby where Tristan’s team set up the cocktail hour. Samantha’s staff immediately started converting the ceremony room into the reception hot spot.

It really was great for Luke to let Savannah have his five-star hotel for her wedding. During the Christmas rush, no less. As far as I knew, Luke and Tristan weren’t charging my dad a penny. My cousins were great men. When they found the right women, I knew, they’d go all-in like I had.

And I wished with all my might their relationships wouldn’t fall apart and they wouldn’t go through the agony of losing someone. Like I just lost Kennedy. Again.

She felt stiff and distant as we posed for the family photos before the cocktail hour. When Savannah pulled Brandon away saying something about having to check out a chocolate fountain, Kennedy looked wobbly, like she was ready to collapse from the charade.

The weight of this pretense for the wedding had ruined me too.

To see new love starting out killed me while Kennedy and I hurtled toward bottoming out.

To get a last-minute stay of execution, a weekend where we weren’t that broken couple, then to get yanked back had me losing my mind.

No wonder Kennedy looked like she couldn’t breathe.

Then she...left. To get away from me, I assumed.

I thanked the heavens I had one more night with her to make things right. One more chance. My chance. My Dr. Chance Hart. Would she give me another chance with her heart?

“Things got crazy before,” Tristan said over my shoulder. “I’m officially uninviting you next week. I never meant for it to become an issue.”

“It really hurt, man. Hearing why you go on those vacations. I work those crazy hours too. I know the loneliness. And I respect, like Kennedy said, you not wanting to hurt someone with neglect. I never knew she felt that way. I came home every night. I slept next to her every night.” My stomach twisted.

“It wasn’t enough. Just being there, was it? ”

“But now you know.” Tristan pushed his hands into his trouser pockets. “You know what you did and how it made her feel. She told you. Go find her and make it right.”

My gut burned, confusion swamping me. Make it right , like it was that easy. Like I could just...

My phone buzzed with a text from Ward sharing pictures from the Center’s Christmas party. A party I had no problems skipping to be with family. To be with Kennedy. There... Why was that so easy?

I flicked through the pictures. Ward must have gone around and captured everyone.

I gazed at my surgical staff all lined up.

Handpicked by me, all graduates from the top of their classes, superstars with test scores through the roof.

They came to the Center with glowing reports from their surgical intern coordinators.

One by one, I looked at the team in New York.

And then the others going to San Francisco. Both Centers had top docs.

I’d not been able to see the forest through the trees because I’d been going from OR to OR, surgery to surgery.

Those pictures in my phone were the exact wake-up call I needed. The jolt.

Ward... Ward should go to San Francisco as the chief surgeon and not me.

My heart pounded. They didn’t need me, did they? Sure, athletes wanted me, but I wanted my wife. My marriage.

The answer was simple. I’d shined enough for long enough. Time to step aside and put my marriage first.

A weight lifted off me and I felt unbelievably free because out of nowhere the future felt so damn positive and not bleak and lonely.

I looked around and when I didn’t see that green satin, I worried Kennedy had already gone upstairs and started packing. No. No. No!

I ran for the elevator and it felt like a year to get to PH2. After swiping furiously, I burst into my suite, ran down the hall, and stopped short in the second bedroom. Her red shiny suitcase was gone.

“She was in tears, man,” Grayson said from behind me. “She asked me to let her use the private elevator.” My cousin explained about the exclusive elevator that only runs between the back of the hotel and PH1, my cousins’ penthouse floor above.

No, this wasn’t happening. At top speed, I ran down the stairs hating those fucking elevators. Before I got a step outside, I cringed at how hard the snow came down, blanketing Fifth Avenue as far as my watery eyes could see.

No...

Kennedy was walking around in high heels in the snow. She’d get sick. She’d get...

“What’s going on?” Tristan clapped his hand on my shoulder.

Behind us, the sounds of my sister’s wedding roared, the party in full swing. A low murmuring of the band and everyone’s joy spilled out from the ballroom and into the lobby.

“He helped Kennedy escape.” I pointed to Gray. “She’s gone.”

“That was kind of shitty, Gray,” Tristan scolded his brother.

“I saw mascara running down her face and I panicked.” Grayson brushed his hand through his hair. “I didn’t want my mom to see her. Or your parents, Seb.”

“You should have called me. I would have left with her. I would have brought her anywhere she wanted to go. Instead of staggering out of here alone.” I caught the flashing hazards of Luke’s limo as Tom cleaned fresh snow off the back windshield. “I need your limo, Tristan.”

“Take it.” Tristan smiled.

As I turned to leave, a frantic voice called out. “Sebastian!”

“What?” I spun around.

Savannah ran up to me in her wedding dress at top speed. “It’s Dad. He passed out.”