Page 75 of What They'll Say About Us

"I hope it helps. I didn't just do it for you; I did it for Paige. Before she went a little nuts, she was a sweet girl. And she didn't deserve to die."

"I agree." I climbed off the wall as we started walking toward the parking lot. "I'm going to tell Detective Barclay what you said. Unless you want to tell him yourself? You do know him."

"Not really, and I don't need to get any more involved in this. I have a business to run."

"It seems like a good business," I commented as we moved through the park. "You always wanted to open a club and fill it with music and friends, and you made it happen. That's impressive."

"It's been a lot of work, a tremendous amount of time. I haven't done much else."

"Dreams take commitment."

"Most things do." He paused when we got to the lot. "I'm not sure I would have gotten to this point in my professional life if we'd stayed together."

"Maybe I did you a favor when I broke up with you."

"I think I broke up with you, but you did force the issue. If you hadn't…"

"What?" I asked curiously as his voice trailed away.

"If you'd asked me to go to New York with you…"

"What?" I repeated.

His gaze met mine. "I probably would have said yes."

My heart dropped. "Really? I didn't think you'd ever leave Chicago. You wanted a club like the one your grandfather had. You wanted it to be a place where people came after Cubs games and Bears games and whatever other sport was happening."

"I did want that, but I also wanted you. I guess things worked out the way they were supposed to. Take care, Tessa."

"You, too." As I watched him get in his car, I wondered if things had worked out the way they were supposed to, or if I had destroyed the best relationship I'd ever had.

Chapter Nineteen

As Liam's car pulled out of the lot, my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number. "Hello?" I asked warily.

"It's me," Morgan said.

"Why are you calling me from an unknown number?"

"Because something happened."

"What happened? Are you okay?" I asked, worry shooting through me.

"I'm fine. Are you still with Liam?"

"No, he just left. I was about to call you. What's going on?"

"I'll tell you, but you need to go to a store now. Get a prepaid phone. Write down this number. When you get the new phone, call me back on this number."

Morgan ended the call before I could say another word. I had no idea what was going on, but I needed to do as she'd instructed. Clearly, she was worried about our phones, which made me wonder again what had happened. I looked up a store online and found one just a few miles away, so I started the engine and headed there, my mind racing with questions.

After buying the phone, I got back into the Jeep, which I'd parked in the middle of a busy retail lot, and called Morgan back. "I'm here. Now tell me what happened."

"I went out to get a coffee about an hour ago," Morgan said. "I saw someone sitting in a car in front of the hotel. I didn't think much about it until I walked down the street, and the car followed me. I wasn't sure what was going on at that point. I got a coffee and a snack, and then I went back to the hotel. When I got inside the lobby, I looked out the window, and the car was parking in front of the hotel again."

"That's not good. Let me call Barclay?—"

"You don't need to do that yet," she interrupted. "I packed up our stuff, and I used the back exit of the hotel to catch a ride to another hotel. The car didn't follow me. I don't think they know I left. I didn't check out, just in case someone at the front desk leaked information about us. But you shouldn't go back there."