‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered when she managed to catch her breath. ‘I’m so sorry, Spencer. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean to fall…’ She stopped then, refusing to say the words that came next. She would never say them. Instead, she cleared her throat and took a different path, one that led away from that dangerous place.

She started pulling off her dress, all the while saying, ‘I love you and only you, Spencer. It was always supposed to be that way and it always will be. I promise you that.’ And then she pulled the shirt over her head and smoothed it down around her torso. ‘I promise,’ she whispered again.

Chapter Fifty-Five

BRODY STARTLED AWAKE. He was lying fully dressed, face down on top of the duvet on the hotel bed. He rolled over and ran a hand through his hair. He must have fallen asleep waiting for Anna to respond last night.

Since his room had no curtains, only wall-to-wall glass, it was easy to see it was still dark outside. Something buzzed beneath him on the bed. His phone. It must be what had woken him. He grunted and shifted, extracting it from under his left hip, and checked the phone screen. It was—

In an instant, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his brain suddenly cleared of sleep. Anna! With clumsy fingers, he swiped at his screen and held the phone up to his ear.

‘Brody?’

‘Anna! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get in contact all night. Are you okay? What happened?’ Stop, he told himself. She can’t answer your questions if you won’t stop asking them. He closed his mouth and let her get a word in edgewise.

‘Brody… About last night… I’m so sorry. I just…’ She let out a heavy breath.

‘Are you okay?’ Brody asked again. ‘You’re not ill or hurt?’

He heard her swallow. ‘No.’

Was it his imagination, or did he hear a hint of guilt in her tone? ‘Then what happened?’

‘That’s just it… I don’t really know. I just kind of… freaked. I don’t know why, and I can’t even explain it.’ She paused and let out a nervous laugh. ‘I mean, you and I both know I can get a little bit… weird… about New Year’s Eve.’

Brody didn’t say anything. The way she was talking… Something wasn’t sitting right with him.

‘I… I would have phoned earlier, but I got a little drunk, and I must have fallen asleep and…’ She trailed off forlornly and then added quietly, ‘I just found your messages. I’m so sorry.’

‘You got drunk?’ Brody echoed. ‘Where? At a bar?’

‘Yes, and… yes,’ Anna said, and he could picture her covering her eyes in shame. He wasn’t unsympathetic – he knew all about freaking out, after all – but something wasn’t adding up here.

‘After seeing me? After running away?’

‘Yes… I don’t know what to say, how to explain it…’ There was a tremble in her voice when she spoke again. ‘Please, Brody. I know what I did was awful but… but can we put it behind us?’