As Zach finished packing his things, she looked over Tyler’s papers and made a list of people she would call on his mother’s behalf, if Audrey would allow it. If she could help it, she wouldn’t let Audrey touch any of the specifics, unless she wanted to. Something told Regan she would want to mourn her husband and would be grateful for her help.

Being Zachary Benson’s executive assistant had taken on greater meaning as she made the few first phone calls to the mortuary. Giving the woman on the other end of the phone the information she had made her feel like less like an employee and more like a wife. It was a warm feeling at such a cold time.

Zach set his suitcase by the door of the office and looked at her. His eyes were hollow and his color pale. But as she discussed arrangements with the woman on the other end of the phone, a weak smile surfaced on Zach’s lips. An appreciative smile. It was something no other man had made her realize before. He appreciated her for more than her organizational skills. He did need her, and she needed him.

At that very moment, she knew she was his forever.

Zach and Regan headed to Regan’s house so she could pack her things. He drove faster than usual, and every thought he’d ever had regarding his father raced through his head. No matter how much he’d thought about his father’s health in the past, and the times Dad had scared them with past heart attacks, Zach wasn’t prepared to deal with his death.

Carlos met them at the door. Before he pulled his sister to him, he scanned a look over her. The cuts and bruises from her attack had settled in, and she looked worse than she had.

Carlos’s lips grew thin and his eyes hard, but silently, Regan shook her head and his demeanor softened. He kissed his sister and then moved her aside and hugged Zach.

He would have expected a handshake. A slap on the back even. But the hug set him off balance.

“Zach, I can’t tell you how sorry I am for your loss.” Carlos pulled back and looked at them both. “Arianna called this morning.” Zach nodded as Carlos stepped back. “If I can do anything, anything at all, please let me know.”

“I appreciate that.” Having someone there who would always catch your back, as a brother would, wasn’t something he’d ever known. He’d had dear friends and employees that would be loyal to him, but Carlos wasn’t acting on behalf of his boss. This was a brotherly offer, and it gave him warmth he’d never experienced.

Regan started up the stairs. “I have to pack. Our flight leaves in two hours.”

“Do you need a ride?”

Zach shook his head. “No, we have my car.”

“C’mon back. I just made some coffee. You look like you could use some.”

Zach followed him into the kitchen and sat at the table as Carlos poured them each a cup of coffee. There was silence, but it was comfortable.

He’d never had a brother, but he assumed Carlos was being brotherly in his silence. After all, what did you say to a man you hardly knew when his father, whom you didn’t know, died?

A few minutes more passed and Carlos finally spoke. “The initial shock isn’t as hard as the weeks that follow.” He sipped his coffee as Zach lifted his head. “Right now you still think he’ll walk through the door. That he’ll have something to say. But you know he’s gone. Then you’ll go through the arrangements, the funeral, and those who will come to pay their respects,” he continued. “Then next week you’ll pick up the phone to call him and he won’t be there.”

“You have a lot of insight.” Zach said with a bit of animosity in his voice. How could Carlos know what he was going through? His parents lived twenty minutes away and…

His thoughts stopped as he suddenly remembered who Carlos really was. Yes, he did know what he was talking about. The only difference was that Carlos spoke of the pain of a seven-year-old boy. The pain was still in his eyes.

“Regan told me about your birth parents. I’m sorry about what happened.” He tried to sound as sincere as the sentiment he felt.

“It was a long time ago. But you don’t forget the pain.” He looked up at Zach. “It will ease in time.”

“Thank you.”

Carlos nodded. “Regan is going to go with you?”

“I’ve asked her to. I’ve become very dependent on her.”

“As your assistant?” Carlos’s words had a sharp bite to them, and Zach couldn’t blame him. He’d seen him look her over when they’d walked into the house. Both Carlos and Curtis blamed him, even if they didn’t say so, for the marks Roger Byers had put on their sister. He blamed himself too.

Zach put down his mug and looked at him. “As the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with.” He looked Carlos in the eyes. “I love your sister. I would never hurt her or abandon her,” he promised.

“She’s told you about the last man she loved?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’m not him.”

“There are many likenesses.”

“And many differences. I will not let her suffer. I will take care of her. I have asked her to think about spending her life with me. When I know that’s what she wants too, I will ask for her hand in marriage.” He smiled. “With the consent of your father. And you and Curtis, of course.”

“Of course.” Carlos tilted his head and gave him a slight smile. “She loves you.”

“I know.”

Regan bounded into the kitchen, pulled a travel mug from the cupboard, and filled it with coffee. “I’m ready. I’ll call you when I get there and let you know where I’m staying and what the return plans are. I’m sure we’ll be back very soon. Audrey will probably want to get things taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Then again, I do depend on my assistant. She happens to be the best at what she does,” he said with a smile, and then shook Carlos’s hand, and Regan kissed him on the cheek.

Arianna sat in Audrey’s hotel room with her and waited for Zach and Regan. She’d never witnessed such chaos as she had that morning when she’d met the Bensons for brunch. She never would have known Tyler was sick until he slid from his chair and his wife screamed.

There were no words for her to say to make Audrey feel better. She’d seen the pain on her face when she’d yelled for help and then when the paramedics arrived and she’d rattled off his medical history and medications he was on. Everything had become surreal when Audrey rode off in the back of the ambulance with her husband and Arianna followed in a cab. By the time she had arrived at the hospital, Audrey stood there, as pale as her husband had been, shaking.