protect her business. This was her family, but so were they. “I’ll stick to my plan and fly back tonight, after the party.”
“You sure you’re up for the party?”
No. But she didn’t want to bail on her brother’s moment of happiness. “Yup.”
“Whatever you want.” Gabe walked back to his ax.
“What would you have done to Peter anyway? If you’d known, at the time.”
Gabe cast her a measuring look, then leaned over and picked up the ax. With a heave, he flung it. It spun in the air before it thwacked right into the trunk of a tree.
“Daaaaamn.” She cocked her head. “When did you learn how to do that?”
He winked at her. “When you were off making your first million, I suppose.”
RHI FOUND HERSELF tensing up as they neared the Chandler mansion. She was here for her brother, and she was eager to celebrate his impending nuptials, but this town had been nosy as fuck when she hadn’t gone on national television and alleged sexual harassment by a rich and famous man. What would the reaction be to her tonight?
Gabe seemed to have sensed her nervousness, because he’d kept up a running commentary on all the familiar and kind people she’d be seeing tonight. It was all Livvy’s baby is so big now and Jackson’s opening a new restaurant, and she appreciated the sentiment, but it would have been kind of nice to brood in silence.
“. . . you know Jia, right, Rhiannon? She’s actually thinking of moving to L.A. soon. Maybe you can have a talk with her tonight.”
Rhiannon murmured something noncommittal when he glanced in the rearview mirror, and she tugged at her leather jacket. She’d donned her nicest jeans and a T-shirt under the moto jacket.
It was a sign of how worried her mother was for her that she hadn’t said a single word criticizing her outfit choice.
Rhiannon walked into the mansion behind Gabe and her mom and almost turned around and walked back out. So. Many. People.
It wasn’t all bad. She greeted Gabe’s fiancée, and Eve hugged her extra tight. She embraced the Kane siblings, the grown-up children of her mother’s old employer, and for a moment, felt surrounded by familiarity and understanding.
They couldn’t stay with her forever, though. The rest of the party was a sea of curious faces. She met Gabe’s gaze. He glanced at their mother, who was busy talking to another guest, gave Rhiannon a discreet, understanding nod, and she was off.
She snagged a bottle of wine from the open bar before sneaking out a back door. The air was cool and calm on her face, cooler than she was used to back home.
Rhiannon kicked her flats off, picked them up, and made her way away from the house. Not into the dark forest, but toward the charming little white gazebo, surrounded by flowers peeking their heads out of the ground. This estate bordered the one she’d grown up on, and she knew it like the back of her hand.
Relief ran through her when she plopped down on the wooden bench and took a swig of her wine. This was better. For her and for Gabe and Eve, who deserved to be the focus of their own engagement party. She stretched out on the bench and placed her wine on the plank floor. Then she closed her eyes. Normally, she’d be all up in her phone, but it was locked in the back of Gabe’s trunk, turned off.
So she listened to the birds chirping and insects rubbing their little insect legs together and the party happening in the mansion close to her. They were all peaceful sounds, now that she wasn’t required to socialize.
Wait a minute. No phone. No demands. The sounds of nature. Was this . . . a vacation?
Yes. Yes it was. She was going to claim it as one and she was going to toss it at her mother and Katrina the next time they nagged at her about taking time off. There was no greater sign of a vacation than not having a phone.
In a few hours, she’d have to plug back in. She’d see how many messages she had. She’d see if one of those messages was from Samson.
What if there’s nothing?
Then . . . she’d contact him.
Peace spread through her, to the soundtrack of nature. She’d call him or text him, and she’d do it because she liked him and wanted to spend time with him, and she was so tired of shutting things down out