She looked awful. No amount of makeup would cover the raw grief etched into her face. She wasn’t even going to try.

What she had to do shouldn’t take long. She traveled light. Always had. A trip to the bank and then to the realtor’s office and she could be on her way to the airport.

She latched on to her plan of action with single-minded pursuit. Now that she had hatched the idea, it simply wouldn’t go away and it became what she had to do, not what she wanted.

She glanced around, trying to figure out what she should bring, but it took too much energy. There wasn’t anything she needed that couldn’t be bought later.

Grabbing for her purse, she went to the door and opened it, expecting to see her mom or one of the dads in the hall. Thankfully it was empty.

Blessed numbness gripped her like ice as she walked toward the living room. It was such a relief. No more pain. No more tears. She walked like a robot and performed as such. Her mind had shut off and now she only had one focus.

“Callie!”

She turned slowly, knowing her stare was probably as blank as she felt. Her mother stood in the living room looking pale and worried. Ethan was beside her, his dark eyes stroking gently over Callie, threatening to break the wall of ice.

Holly rushed toward Callie. “Are you all right? Would you like something to eat?”

The lie came easily. Before Max, she’d never lied to her parents. Doing so now should have made her feel awful, but curiously, she felt no regret.

“I’m going to see Lily.”

Holly frowned and looked toward Ethan, a silent plea for help.

“If you want to go see Lily, I’ll drive you,” Ethan said in a soft voice. “You shouldn’t drive right now.”

Callie shook her head and even mustered a smile. “I’m fine. Really. Can I borrow your truck? Mine’s still in town. I’ll ask Dillon to make sure you get it back.”

Ethan glanced at Holly and then back to Callie. “Baby, you look…awful. I think I should drive you.”

She hadn’t wanted to get into a big to-do with her family, but she didn’t see a way out of this one. “Okay. You can drop me off at the sheriff’s office. I want to talk to Seth anyway.”

Both her mom and dad looked relieved.

“He’ll be glad. He’s so worried that you’re angry with him,” Holly said.

Callie managed another small smile. “Why would I be angry with him for loving me?”

Holly enfolded Callie in her arms and hugged her tight. “You’ll come back tonight and stay? Your dads are cooking your favorite.”

Again the lie escaped so easily. “Of course. I’ll drive up after I get my truck.”

Ethan grabbed the keys and put an arm around Callie to guide her out the door. She climbed into the Land Rover and stared over the land, her parents’ home, all the things she loved most. She avoided the meadow. She couldn’t even look at it now.

Her dad was quiet as they pulled down the driveway toward the mountain road. She focused her attention straight ahead, refusing to glimpse at the land that had meant so much to her.

“I wish I knew what to say,” her dad said. “I hate to see you hurting so much, baby girl.”

She turned to look at him. “Tell me what happened. I need to know. With the meadow, I mean.”

He looked discomfited, as if he had no desire to cause her more distress. When she continued to stare at him, he sighed.

“It’s true we tried to buy the land for years. The owner’s name was Jacob Hancock. It’s also true it had been Hancock land for much longer than we’ve been here. We slowly bought up the land around us to expand our holdings, but he always refused to sell. Said it had been part of his family for generations and he was holding onto it for his son and daughter.”

Callie swallowed but she held her jaw firm, determined that she’d not show one iota of emotion.

“Your mother loved the meadow. We persisted. Once a year we’d approach Hancock about selling. He never would. We finally gave up about a year before your mother found out she was pregnant with you. We figured we’d never lay our hands on it.

“Then a few months before we found out about you, Hancock’s wife came to see Adam. Said her husband had passed away, she had two young children to raise and that she needed the money. She was visibly upset and worried. I got the impression that his passing had been a shock both emotionally…and financially. She hinted that he’d hidden some of his financial difficulty from her and that she thought they were better off than they were in reality. When he died, she discovered that she basically had nothing.

“We talked about it. We wanted the land, and we could afford more than fair price. We paid her twice what it was worth because she had those kids to raise and we wanted her to be provided for. You know the rest.”

Callie nodded. Yes, she did. They’d surprised her mom with the land when she was pregnant with Callie and then Callie had been born there.

All this time Max had hated and resented her family for taking what he considered his. He believed her dads had leaned on his mom after his stepfather had died.

It appalled her.

Her dads were the most honorable men she knew.

How could someone be so cold and calculating as to track her down in Europe and execute a planned seduction? It was more than simple seduction. He’d lied to her. He’d demanded her submission. Was it all an elaborate charade? Was he even someone who craved dominance and submission or had he simply seen it as a way to get what he wanted?

The worst lie of all. He’d told her he loved her and talked about their children, for God’s sake.

She swallowed the rage and grief and curled her fingers into tight fists.

“I’m so sorry, baby girl. So sorry that you had to be involved in his fight against us. It kills me that someone used you because of a misunderstanding with me and your dads.”

She shook her head adamantly. “It’s not your fault, Dad. It’s mine. I let him use me. I let him manipulate me. That’s on me. Never you.”

Ethan looked like he’d argue further, but she simply turned her head and stared out the window as they drew closer to town.

When they pulled up at the sheriff’s department, she breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see Seth’s truck out front. He was out on a call.

She turned to her dad and then leaned across the seat to hug him. “Thank you. I’ll just wait here for Seth to come back, and then I’ll get my truck and go out to Lily’s for a while.”

“I can stay with you.”

“No. You go. I’m okay.”

He reluctantly nodded.

She started to get out but then she stopped and turned back. “I love you, Dad. And thanks. For everything.”

He smiled. “Love you too, baby girl. I’ll see you later.”

She nodded and then closed the door. She waited until her dad drove back down the street before she started toward the bank. It took a little longer than she would have liked. Apparently cleaning out a savings account and converting to traveler’s checks wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Or at least not in Clyde.

Half an hour later, she walked out and tensed when she saw Seth’s truck parked on the street in front of the sheriff’s department. By now she was certain he’d know she was coming. Her mom and dads had likely been on the phone to let him know.

And she still had to see the realtor.

Hoping Seth would be patient and not come looking for her, she ducked into Clyde’s only real estate office.

An hour later and after much arguing with Janice, Callie walked out of the office with an envelope tucked under her arm. She headed down the sidewalk to the sheriff’s office and stepped inside where she was greeted by the receptionist who waved her on to Seth’s office.

She hesitated outside the door but then knocked softly.

“It’s open,” Seth called.

She pushed in and Seth shot to his feet when he saw her standing in the doorway.

“Hi,” she said quietly.

He hurried around and without a word, enfolded her in a bone-crushing hug. “I’ve been so worried.”

She smiled as she pulled away. “I just came by because I wanted you to know I’m not angry with you.”

He stood back, his gaze taking in her bedraggled appearance. “You look like shit.”

Trust her big brother to be blunt.

“I feel like shit,” she said honestly. “But I’ll get over it.”

He put his hand out to touch her cheek. “I’m sorry, Callie. For a lot of things.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be. I just wanted you to know I love you, and I know you did what you thought was best. You were trying to protect me. I don’t hate you for that.”

“I’m glad. I handled it badly. I was pissed. I’d just gotten my report an hour before we left to go up for lunch. I saw red. Now I wish I’d done things differently.”

“The outcome would still be the same,” she said softly.

“Want me to kill him?”

She shook her head sadly. “No. I want you to forget he exists. It’s what I plan to do.”

She started to back toward the door. “Tell Lily I love her, will you?”

Seth’s brows drew together. “You can tell her yourself. Aren’t you going out to see her?”

“Tell her anyway.”

She walked back through the door before Seth could do or say anything else. When she got outside, she put the envelope between her teeth and dug into her purse for the tiny silver key that Max had given her when he placed the bands around her wrists.

There was still one more person she had to see before she left town.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The knock at Max’s hotel room door startled him from his dark thoughts. He bolted to his feet, his pulse racing a mile a minute as he rushed to open it.He flung the door open to see Callie standing there staring at him with dull, dead eyes.

Her appearance shocked him. She was still wearing the same clothes as she had when they’d driven to her parents’ together. Her hair was limp, half covering her face. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were rimmed with red, her lips were drawn into a pale, thin line.

She looked liked death. She looked exactly like he felt.

“Callie,” he whispered past cracked lips.

Oh God, he wanted to pull her into his arms. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and tell her he’d never let anything bad ever touch her again. He wanted to say he was sorry, but the words—the damn words—were hopelessly inadequate. How could he possibly put into words what was bleeding from his heart?

She held out a large manila envelope that bulged at the bottom. Her fingers shook, making the envelope flap like a breeze blew it.

“This is for you,” she said in a low voice.

“Callie, come in. Please.”

He would have reached for her but she shrank back as if anticipating such a move. She looked so infinitely fragile that he was afraid to demand—or ask—anything at all.

So he curled his fingers into tight fists at his sides as he tempered the urge to haul her into his arms and never let go.

She shook her head. “I can’t stay. I have to go. But I wanted—” Her voice cracked and she swallowed visibly.

She shoved the envelope toward him again, hitting him in the chest with it until he had no choice but to take it from her.

“It’s yours. I can’t…” Tears filled her eyes, and she lost the tightly held control that had made her face an unbreakable shield.

Her features crumpled and tears slid endlessly down her cheeks.

“I can’t… It’s ruined for me. I can’t even bear to look at it. You’ve ruined that for me. It’s not mine. It can never be mine because I can’t even be there without thinking of you. Of what you did. It’s not my safe place anymore. It will always represent hell and what I lost—what was never mine.”

She took a step back and he panicked. His chest was so tight he felt like he’d explode. There was such grief. Such finality to her words and her actions.

This was her goodbye. He couldn’t let her go. Never.

“Callie, please, you have to listen to me.”

She shook her head in denial and turned and fled toward the parking lot. He flung the envelope aside and rushed after her, his pulse exploding at his temples.

She fled like a spooked deer. Her truck door was open, the engine was running, as if she’d anticipated just such a flight. She was inside and backing out of the parking spot before her door even closed.

He hit the side of her door with his body, his hands pressed against her window as he shouted her name over and over.

She paused only to put it in gear and she looked at him. Just once, her face so tormented, hurt so bright in her eyes that he wanted to die on the spot.

“Callie, please. Don’t do this!”

She looked forward and accelerated, leaving him standing in the parking lot, shouting her name.

He stared after her, so numb, so frozen that he couldn’t process what had just occurred. He couldn’t let her go. Not this way.