Page 102 of Fall Love

“And you stole my heart.” I gasp, the air squeezing out of me. “Oh God,” I cry out, clutching a fist against my chest where the pain is actually physical. Like a vise surrounds my ribs. I can’t catch my breath.

“Neve?” I hear the panic in his voice, but I don’t care. “Neve, please.”

“Please?” I choke. I have nothing left to give him. I have nothing else to say other than, “Goodbye, Tate.”

Then I hang up, hunch forward, and sob.

CHAPTER 36

[Neve]

Lumi is already at her house when I arrive. Isolde is on her way, but I’m numb to my surroundings as I sit on the familiar couch in Lumi’s living room. She took Wren out of her car seat, seemingly pacifying her, as I stared at the empty fireplace across the room.

Right now, I never want to leave this position. The worn couch. The comfort of my sister’s home. That vacant fireplace.

When Isolde arrives, she sits next to me, holding my hand while Lumi paces the room, gently bouncing Wren to keep her content.

“What happened?” Isolde asks Lumi while rubbing my forearm.

“A hotel is going on the land where Rusty’s Wrecks sits.”

I close my eyes at Lumi’s explanation.

“How?” Isolde asks. “Why?”

Lumi sighs. “Because Bucky Beaver Body Shop has a parent company that has the right to use the property for any means they see fit. Apparently, they want to build a hotel.”

As my eyes slowly open, I glance at Isolde. “We were tricked.”

She gives me a sympathetic look. One that says I’m pathetic. She pats my arm, but I tug it from her.

“I don’t understand,” she says, like I’m overreacting. “We sold it to them.”

“We thought they were putting in another body shop,” I argue.

“Even if they put in a new one, they’d tear down the old one,” Isolde states, like it’s perfectly reasonable.

It is reasonable, but being rational evades me right now.

Lumi shakes her head at Isolde in that not-helping kind of way, then she gives me a wide, false smile.

“Did you know about this?” I do not want to believe my sister tricked me as well. That she knew a hotel was a possibility.

“No.” She shakes her head more adamantly. “But I did have Saint’s lawyers read the contract, and I knew it was a possibility. Not the possibility of a hotel, but just the possibility of it being something other than another garage.”

I stare at her, unblinking. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

The room falls silent.

Because they wanted to sell.

I couldn’t buy my sisters out, and the place was bleeding money. No one was collecting dividends because we weren’t making ends meet.

This is the reasonable side I should focus on, but I’m hurt. From all angles, I’m hurt.

I abruptly stand and take Wren from Lumi, tugging her to my chest, holding her as tightly as I can. I press my lips to her hair and close my eyes again. I’m too angry to cry. The sob earlier was more like a wail. No tears followed.

“He’s taken everything from me,” I mutter to Wren’s head, sensing Lumi shaking hers one more time.