statement caused the world to go upside down. Gavin rushed forward and police helicopters were heard downriver. Peter and Granger had a jurisdictional spat over who got to arrest Mason. In the end, he was escorted to Charleston by both of them.
All Trent wanted to do was take Skye far away from it all and hold her so he could tell her how much he loved her. That wasn’t in the cards, though. Karri had glued herself to Skye’s side as Gavin wrapped her hand and wrist. Morgan was on speakerphone and Ryker was walking around his property peering up at trees and the high fences.
“What are you doing?” Trent asked his cousin.
“I’m looking for the cameras. Mason has one in his car. It filmed his monologue as he claims he and Skye had agreed to meet here in Shadows Landing after the trial. Then he said he got a text from her as he drove into town telling him that people were after her and asked him to save her,” Ryker explained as they watched the FBI place the mounted cell phone into an evidence bag.
“Did he get a text?” Trent asked.
“From an unknown number. I’m guessing his assistant sent it to him,” Ryker told him. “But the injured stuntmen said there were cameras set up to capture it. Instead, all I have found was Mason’s camera. The way he parked had him in frame the entire time. Almost like he’d staged it,” Ryker said dryly. “However, I pulled the footage from my security cameras and have the whole thing—video and audio—from start to finish. I also have the audio from Skye’s GPS trackers. I’ve sent it all to both Peter and Granger. By the way, I never thought it was Skye.”
“You were the only one,” Trent said, letting his hurt reflect in his voice.
“It wasn’t personal. They were trying to figure out what was going on. Sometimes you have to shrug things off.”
Trent felt his eyebrow rise in surprise. “Do you shrug things off?”
“Hell no. I systematically dismantle anyone who crosses me, but that’s in business, not with my friends and family.”
Trent surprised Ryker by hugging him tightly. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for Skye, and for all of us.”
Ryker was tense but didn’t fight the hug. At least until Tinsley came running over to them and wrapped her arms around them both. “Family hug!”
“Dammit,” Ryker muttered as Harper practically threw herself into the hug. Tinsley and Harper weren’t the only ones. Every Faulkner piled onto Ryker.
“Who pinched my ass?” Ryker growled into the huddle.
In the distance, an old lady laughed, but now it was anyone’s bet as to who did it.
“Am I allowed in on this?” Trent heard Skye ask from somewhere outside the Faulkner huddle hug.
“Of course you are!” Tinsley said as she reached an arm backward and latched onto Skye.
She yanked her forward and there in the middle of the Faulkner storm was the woman he loved. Trent leaned forward and kissed her with all the love he had. This night might have shaved years off his life, but one thing was crystal clear—Skye Jessamine was the only woman he wanted to share those years he had left with.
“Would whoever is pinching my ass just stop?” Ryker roared.
Trent tried to look over Ryker’s shoulder as the whole knitting club hurried off with their hands covering their mouths, laughing the entire way.
30
Two months later . . .
Skye set the wrapped box on the kitchen table overlooking her new backyard. A lot had happened in the past couple of months. Mason had insisted on a trial and acted his way through the entire thing. Even Skye had to admit it was some of his best work. And he would have gotten off except for his very detailed, videotaped confession and the mysterious appearance of his bodyguard showing up in court to testify against him. Well, that and Mason’s assistant flipped faster than a pancake when the FBI swarmed him in Charleston. But Mason got what he wanted. He was the headline on every newspaper and gossip show for weeks.
Meanwhile, the movie Skye made with him was released with no press junket. At least the royalties from it would pay for Mason’s lawyers and appeals as he sat in prison for the next twenty-five years.
However, Mason couldn’t lay claim to all the wrongdoing. Jim and Lenny were found guilty of forging Skye’s signature on a power-of-attorney and several contracts. They were also discovered to be