Page 73 of The Pact
To hold them.
And then tell them their parents are gone.
I pause, dropping my bag on the floor.
A thought hits me like a sledgehammer. Savannah asked me to watch the kids. And I said I couldn’t. Now, she’s gone, and they’re mine to protect.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Saint
The constant thrum of the engines is the only thing I hear, which makes my thoughts seem louder and harder to ignore. I sit in one of the fancy leather seats on the Grants’ private jet and stare at the clouds while the world moves beneath us.
Presley sits across from me, and she knows me well enough to know she doesn’t need to fill the silence with conversation. But she’s here.
My hands start to ache, and I notice I’m holding on to the arms of the chair so tightly that my knuckles are turning white. I didn’t even realize I had grabbed on because time seems to have collapsed. Everything before going up to Mr. Grant’s office seems like it happened in another life. And everything now feels like I’m in a stranger’s body.
I just can’t come to terms with the fact that my sister is dead. It just seems like the reality is floating somewhere in my mind, then disappears, leaving me numb.
Maybe it’s a survival instinct. An ability I probably learned at a young age.Keep moving and focus on what needs to happennext. Because if I allow myself to get swallowed by the truth, I might not make it out.
My focus now is the kids. Getting to Remy and Rhyan. God, having to tell them their parents are gone is going to be brutal. I can tell Remy is trying to figure out what’s wrong. He’s a curious and perceptive kid.
He just doesn’t know that his parents aren’t coming home from Hawaii. That the last time he saw them, over a week ago, was the last.
My stomach rolls at the thought. I lean back in my seat, dragging a hand down my face.
I have to think about the logistics of how this is all going to work. With me being their guardian, they can’t stay in North Carolina—at least not permanently because of my job, and even after I retire, I plan to stay in New Jersey. So, I need to think about finding good schools nearby and preferably not too far from the facility. And I want to try to keep their routine as normal and structured as I can. So, with Remy playing hockey right now, I need to find a good program for him.
And Rhyan. Jesus. She’s still a baby in my mind, but I’ll need to find a preschool or something. She might be too old to stay in the nursery at work. I can find out when we get back. Though she’s almost ready for kindergarten.
I need to get a meeting scheduled with Savannah and Chris’s lawyer to review the will, even though I know what it says. But we need to make sure everything is in place for me to assume guardianship and take them out of the state.
“I need to call her lawyer,” I say, still looking out the window.
Presley looks up immediately. “Okay, when we land, you can take care of that,” she says gently.
I nod and clear my throat. “They have a will,” I add, looking down at my hands. “They made a will after Remy was born.”
Every word that comes out of my mouth feels strange.
“They appointed me as guardian”—I close my eyes—“if something should happen to them.” I let out a short, humorless laugh. “When I said yes, I never thought in a million years that it would actually happen.”
Silence fills the space between us again, but Presley stands and crosses the small aisle. She takes the seat beside me, close enough that our shoulders and thighs are touching. But I don’t look at her.
She takes my hand in hers. “Hey, I’m here, okay?”
I nod again because I know she is. It’s the only thing I can feel when everything else around me feels like it’s slipping.
“Saint,” she says, her voice gentle but firm.
I turn my head slightly to look at her. She’s watching me like she’s studying me.
“You need to let it out,” she says.
I frown. “What?”
“Before we get there,” she says, squeezing my hand. “Before you see them.”
