All Chapters of Too Late To Love Me : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Caspian's POVI hated the crutches almost as much as I'd hated the wheelchair, which was saying something. At least the chair had let me sit still. These things made me work for every step, my arms aching in places I didn't even know could ache, all while my legs still protested every movement like they hadn't fully decided whether they belonged to me anymore.I didn't care. I was upright. That counted for something."You said you could find him," I said into the phone, pacing slowly across my room, crutches thudding softly against the carpet with every step."I said I'd try," the investigator answered. Private, outside the family, someone Osborne had no idea I'd hired. "These things take time, Mr. Fernandez.""It's been two weeks.""Your family's own investigator has had two weeks too, and he's got nothing. I'm starting from scratch, working outside whatever trail he's already burned through. Give me a little more time.""Fine." I hung up before he could say anything else.I'd stoppe

Mr. Fernandez's POVI chose the restaurant carefully, a private back room I'd used for sensitive meetings before, far enough removed from prying eyes and curious waitstaff. The investigator arrived exactly on time, a folder tucked under his arm, his expression giving nothing away."Mr. Fernandez.""Sit down." I gestured to the chair across from me. "Tell me what you found."He opened the folder slowly, sliding a few pages across the table. "I'll start with what's missing, since that's the more important part.""Go on.""There's no police accident report for your daughter's death. None at all. No hit-and-run filing, no vehicle description matching what was told to the press, nothing in any municipal database."I sat back slowly. "That's not possible. My son said—""I know what your son said." He kept his voice level, professional. "I checked three different channels. Local precinct, state records, insurance claims. Nothing exists anywhere official.""Then what does exist?""This." He s

Gerald's POV"Osborne." I kept my voice low, stepping further into the corner. "Hey. Slow down, what's going on?""Dad knows something's off," Osborne said, his words rushed, strained. "I don't know how much yet, but he's asking questions again.""About what?""Everything, Gerald. The accident report. The press conference. I could hear it in his voice."I pressed my fingers against my temple, exhaustion sinking deeper. "Okay. Okay, we'll figure it out. Not over the phone, though.""Where are you?""The bar on Grant Street. Come down. Get out of that house for a while, clear your head before we deal with anything else."A pause, then a tired sigh. "Fine. Give me twenty minutes.""Take your time."I hung up and slid my phone back into my pocket, rubbing my face before turning back toward the bar. The bartender was already watching me, one eyebrow slightly raised."Everything okay?""Define okay." I settled back onto my stool. "My brother's on his way. Fair warning, he might bring the sa

Valarie's POVI'd followed Osborne to this bar without really meaning to, drifting along out of habit more than purpose, and now I hovered near the end of the counter watching something I couldn't quite explain to myself.The bartender. Ari.There was something about her that pulled at me, something I couldn't place, some itch of familiarity I couldn't scratch no matter how long I studied her face. I told myself it was nothing. A stranger with striking features, nothing more.But both my brothers couldn't stop watching her either, and that told me something was going on, even if I didn't understand what.She moved behind the bar with an ease that made everything look effortless, catching bottles, pouring drinks, laughing at something a customer said without a trace of self-consciousness. Men leaned toward her end of the counter just to be near whatever energy she carried, and she barely seemed to notice the attention at all, like it simply orbited around her without requiring effort.

Osborne's POVShe had a boyfriend. I'd seen it with my own eyes, his arm sliding around her waist like it belonged there, the easy "babe" that rolled off him without hesitation, the way she'd leaned into him without a flicker of doubt crossing her face. There was nothing ambiguous about it. She was taken, and that should have been the end of whatever strange, inconvenient pull I'd felt toward a bartender I'd known for exactly one evening.So naturally, I found myself walking back into the same bar the following night."Just needed to unwind," I told myself, settling onto the same stool I'd used before, the leather still slightly warm from whoever had sat there earlier. "After everything with Dad, with the company, with all of it."That part was true enough. The investigation still hadn't produced a single useful lead. My father had barely spoken two words to me since our last conversation in his office, something cold and distant settling between us that hadn't been there before. Gera