Page 56 of Enemies Under One Roof

‘Not for that.’ He pulled at the collar of his shirt. ‘So we can talk privately.’

‘Right. Of course. Talk.’ Annie nodded repeatedly, grimaced, then stopped. ‘We can go to my suite. I need to talk to you, too.’

She did? The scene in her bedroom three nights ago flashed into his mind, when she’d stormed past him and told him she was leaving.

Fear squeezed his chest, and he pressed a fist against it. He would tell her how he felt even if it killed him.

Clearing his throat, he signalled for her to proceed him to the lift. ‘After you.’

Silence descended between them until Annie pushed open her suite door, flicked on the lights and kicked aside a pair of red high heels.

‘Excuse the mess.’

Clothes and make-up were strewn over the table, and a red dress was crumpled on the floor in the middle of the room, just like the mess she’d left in her room at WillowGlen. The complete opposite to her usual tidiness.

‘Would you like a seat, a drink?’ Her voice, breathless and high, didn’t sound like hers as she waved him towards a chair.

‘Neither, thanks.’ He winced. Did she think he needed a drink and to sit down? Not wanting to stall the inevitable, he straightened his spine and turned towards where she’d positioned herself by the windows, but she spoke first.

‘There’s something important I need to tell you, Ethan.’

* * *

Annie stared at Ethan, hardly believing he was here in London.

She’d been in the lift coming down to the foyer, wasting precious time arguing with Kirsten, who’d refused to believe Ivy wasn’t attending the premiere and was letting go of all her team, when all Annie had wanted to do was race to Cornwall. Suddenly, on exiting the lift, her spine had prickled, and she’d clocked Ethan crossing the foyer, his every focus on her, making for her like she was the only thing that existed. She’d thought her heart would explode at the rush of love, hope and terror.

But now, alone with him, all the things she’d wanted to say were trapped in her throat as the magnitude of the moment hit, all the while Ethan, his posture rigid, remained exactly where he was, on the opposite side of the suite, his eyes locked on hers.

Wiping sweaty palms over her dress, she gathered the tattered remnants of her courage. She reminded herself that he deserved the whole truth and she could no longer delay telling him.

She sucked in a breath. ‘I caused my parents’ deaths,’ she whispered brokenly.

Through the pounding in her ears, she heard his sharp inhale. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I was invited to a bonfire by a boy from school. My parents weren’t fans of him, or of me going that night, and they refused to let me go. So, I pretended to go to bed but snuck out of the window instead.’ Her voice wobbled. How many times over the years had she wished she could rewrite history, so she’d stayed at home, gone to bed? And they all woke up, safe and happy, the next morning?

His forehead creased. ‘You were sixteen, th—’

She shrugged hopelessly and rushed on while she still had the nerve. ‘I should have known better. Mum found out and came to get me.’ She steeled herself to say the words. ‘And she got killed on the way by a drunk driver.’ No matter how much she willed otherwise, she couldn’t change the ending of this story.

She forced herself to look at Ethan’s horrified face. ‘I met Dad at the hospital, where they told us she couldn’t be saved. He looked at me like I was a total stranger. Yelled at me that it was all my fault.’ The sound of his voice and the accusations he’d hurled at her still haunted her nightmares. She bit her lip and hoped for the fortitude to get through this confession.

‘Annie.’ Ethan’s anguish clear, he headed towards her. ‘Annie, you—’

‘Stop, please.’ She held up a hand to halt him. ‘I haven’t finished,’ she explained shakily.

‘Okay,’ he said, so tenderly that she thought the dam of tears she struggled to hold would suddenly break.

‘And then my dad had a heart attack, right there in front of me. There was nothing I could do. Or anyone else could do. He was gone. Both of them were just gone.’ She sobbed, the dam finally giving way to floods of tears.

She hadn’t finished speaking when Ethan rushed across the room and wrapped her in his arms, rocking her back and forth as her tears continued to stream as though they’d never end.

‘You know it wasn’t your fault,’ he said gently, his breath stirring her hair.

‘Did you hear me?’ she wailed.

‘You were only sixteen. You snuck out to a party, like millions of teenagers around the world have done. Like I’ve done, and a whole lot worse. It was a horrific accident. But the drunk driver killed your mother and your father, not you. Never you. Your father was shocked and grief-stricken, but he loved you deeply. Whatever he said to you, he didn’t mean.’