time away, but it’s become the normal as of late. It’s the only thing that makes sense right now—staying at the penthouse when I need to work late and staying at Mackenzie’s when I miss them.
It is also something I plan to discuss with her eventually, once we take the next step in our relationship. I want to be with them at all times, and when things fall into a less hectic routine, I’ll discuss moving them in, but for now, I’ll have to deal.
After the flight, I had Dan follow Mackenzie and Ava home, while I headed into the Hidden Hills back to the resort, to the damage and the mess left for me to pick up. The damage wasn’t as extensive as I thought, but it was enough that clearly shows Zach is desperate. He’s grasping at straws, and soon, he’ll have nothing. They all will. None of them are safe from my wrath.
I felt betrayed.
Betrayed that they’d lied to me for years and got me to protect them. I was angry at their audacity to try to take my woman from me. Though it was my last conversation with Vincent that didn’t sit right with me. He’s always been the most hotheaded and unpredictable, but he seemed like he was fraying at the edges. And he seemed angry that Zach would pretend to be him, as if he didn’t have a clue. When asked about that night, I expected him to remain silent. Only he didn’t, and the truth was much worse than I wanted to believe. Everything was adding up. And all of it was bound to break Mackenzie’s heart again, so I’ve been holding it in. Keeping secrets until I can protect her and her heart from everyone that wants to hurt her.
Anything to protect her.
Pushing myself upright, I lean back against the headboard, my overactive brain already diving into work and figures. Chances are, I won’t be falling back to sleep anytime soon. Whenever I sleep with Mack at their place, I don’t have this problem. I sleep soundly, but whenever I’m not with her, I can’t sleep. All I can do is think. It keeps me up the whole night as I try to find ways to fix this, to make everything right, while running Kings and the resort chains.
I haven’t heard from Vincent in so long, and that in and of itself is incriminating enough, but the rest of the guys…it feels like everything is falling apart because I fell in love with the girl who was wronged by my group of friends. My brothers.
I’m snapped out of my thoughts when I see a shadow move toward the bed. My eyes widen when I realize it’s Mackenzie.
“Mackenzie? Where’s Ava?” I ask, glancing around as though she’s going to suddenly appear. Without answering, Mackenzie perches on the edge of the bed, near my legs, staring at me. She cocks her head to the side and watches me.
As we stare at each other, I can’t help but feel like something’s off, something different about her right now. She’s not the same. I can’t seem to put my finger on it. A small smile curls on her lips and the hairs at the back of my neck stand at attention because it’s a smile I’ve never seen from Mackenzie.
“I see it now,” she says, and even her voice is different. I narrow my eyes, looking her up and down, trying to figure out what the fuck is happening.
“What are you doing here?”
The smile slowly slides off her face, and she frowns. The look is more like Mackenzie, and it puts me at ease for only a few seconds.
“You have to save them.”
My heart lurches, and my brows dip, the muscles in my stomach clenching.
“Save who? Where’s Ava?”
Mackenzie leans toward me, cupping the side of my face, and in doing so, the moon illuminates the side of her face like liquid pearl, exposing her features clearly. I jerk back as she stares at me. I know immediately why everything about her feels so off. Why her touch feels different and her eyes, the way she’s taking me in, it’s not with the usual love. It’s something else. She’s looking at me like a friend would, like someone she doesn’t know.
That pit in my stomach grows, and I shake my head, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. The face I’m staring into is almost identical to Mackenzie’s, but it’s not, and the realization is a