Chapter 5

Owen stood there blank for a long while, and for some reason almost nothing Paige said reached him.

She had to say his name several times before he answered at all.

"What?"

She repeated it through tears, and he finally agreed to come out.

By the time he got there it was already finished.

Paige lay across the grave, sobbing so hard she couldn't breathe.

"Owen, that was my grandmother. You have to do something. What kind of person plays games with the dead?"

Something in his chest lurched.

His son had gone the same way.

So this was what it felt like.

And he'd only worked it out once Paige's eyes went red.

Then how much had his Grace been carrying?

He hadn't answered, so Paige tugged at his sleeve.

"Owen."

He helped her to her feet.

"It's all right. I'll handle it."

She wasn't satisfied.

"This is all Grace's doing. How could she give up the plot without telling anyone?"

He had no interest in the complaint and brushed it off.

"I'll talk to her."

Paige bit down on her lip.

"That's it? She had my grandmother pulled out of the ground and half her ashes are gone. I'm not letting that go."

She didn't hear a thing wrong with what she'd just said.

Owen's face went cold.

"You're not letting it go? Then what were you doing telling me to calm down, telling Grace not to make an issue of it, when it was her son on the ground?"

She had no answer. She clearly hadn't expected him to turn on her.

Her eyes reddened.

"Owen, I—"

He didn't indulge her this time. He got in his car and drove off.

He knew the way home now.

There was nobody at the end of it.

Something restless crawled under his skin. He looked everywhere and turned up nothing.

She'd gone like smoke.

Everything to do with Paige dropped clean out of his head.

That night, drinking alone, he caught sight of the necklace on the nightstand.

He must have been out of his mind to hand away something like that.

He called Paige that same hour.

"I've had a whole new set commissioned for you. I want the other one back."

Whatever she'd been about to say died in her throat.

"You want what?"

He repeated himself, impatient.

"The necklace you asked for that day. It matters to me. It should never have been handed out as a bonus. Give it back."

Paige took several breaths before she trusted her voice.

"I lost it."

Owen came off the couch.

"Lost it where? I saw you wearing it yesterday. Never mind. Send me everywhere you've been and I'll put people on every stop."

She sounded small and hurt.

"It's so late. Is one necklace really worth all this?"

His chest ached with the pressure of it.

"It's worth it."

She was upset, but she put the list together anyway, and she kept pushing him about the cemetery.

"I only got part of Grandma's ashes back. You're really not going to fix this for me?"

Owen frowned.

Paige always talked like someone who needed rescuing, and that tone had walked him into solving more problems than he could count.

He'd admit it. Somewhere along the way he'd started feeling something for her.

But it was a flutter, nothing more. Nowhere near enough to stand in for his wife.

Put some distance between them and it would fade out on its own.

He gave her a vague answer, forgot it before the call ended, and told the company to transfer her to a branch out in the middle of nowhere.

He wanted everything back the way it had been.

When Paige found out about the transfer, she threw the door open on a meeting he was still running.

"What is this supposed to be, Owen? A transfer? You promised me a promotion. What kind of future do I have at a branch like that?"

He looked at her without any warmth at all.

"Then quit."

She stared at him as she'd never seen him before.

It was probably the first time she had.

For a long moment she couldn't get a word out.

Even the people around the table started glancing at each other.

"What happened between him and his assistant? Weren't they practically family?"

"No idea. Word is she ran his wife off. Say what you want, an affair's an affair. Doesn't matter how respectable she dresses it up."

The color came and went in her face.

"Owen, you—"