Chapter 8

Sonia lowered her lashes. She didn't speak. She didn't look at him. She pretended he wasn't there.

Evelyn looked at her son's tight brow, then at Sonia's silence, and sighed. "It's Sonia. She's —"

Zachary cut her off. He turned to Sonia. "You're going to New York? Makes sense. You did mention wanting to visit Aunt Margaret. But that injury is serious. You shouldn't be traveling alone right now. Wait a bit. I'll wrap things up here and come with you. We can stay awhile."

Sonia almost laughed.

She had told Zachary, once, that she wanted to visit her aunt in New York.

He had promised he'd come.

Why hadn't he gone? Because Ember had sighed prettily about how envious she was — Sonia got to go anywhere with someone beside her, meanwhile she'd grown up in a fishing village, never seen the world, couldn't even travel alone.

So Zachary had quietly canceled their New York tickets and flown to Europe with Ember for two weeks, to "show her the world."

Sonia had waited at the airport until dawn, calling him over and over, convinced something terrible had happened. At first light, she'd refreshed Ember's Instagram and seen the two of them photographed together, geotagged at an airport overseas.

She'd written him off then.

Now here he was, offering to come with her.

She didn't want his company anymore.

She drew a breath, ready to tell him the whole truth — she wasn't visiting, she was getting married. She wasn't staying awhile, she was relocating for good. She wasn't coming back.

"You don't need to —"

He scoffed. "Don't need me? Then who? That pretty boy who delivered the gift the other night? Don't tell me you're going alone. You miss your own boarding call half the time. You'll end up crying on the phone asking me to come get you."

Her strength drained out of her. She opened her mouth to tell him to really, please, stay away.

She had zero interest in letting her ex-fiancé watch her wedding.

But before she could speak, he glanced at his phone and turned to go. "Never mind. You look fine. Ember's alone at the house and scared. I'll head back. New York can wait until you're healed. I'll go with you."

He smiled at Evelyn. "Mom. Take good care of my wife."

Evelyn rolled her eyes and waved him off.

"Zachary," Sonia called softly. "Goodbye."

Something uneasy stirred in his chest — he couldn't quite name it. But he took the word "goodbye" to mean she was finally speaking to him again. That she'd stopped being mad.

His mood soared. He came back, ruffled her hair. "Goodbye, Sonia. I'll bring you a cupcake tomorrow."

She looked at him, long and deep.

He didn't notice anything off about the look. He walked out, lighter on his feet than he'd been in days, on his way to Ember.

Evelyn watched him go, then looked at Sonia, and said nothing.

Zachary, of course, didn't keep his promise and show up.

He had some delivery guy drop off a random cupcake. Strawberry. Her least favorite.

Sonia didn't even look at it. She gave it to Evelyn's housekeeper and went back to packing.

Half an hour earlier, she'd seen Ember's Instagram story: Brandon Mercer had somehow found out she was in the hospital and tried to come harass her, but thank God Zachary had shown up just in time. She'd added a pouty little caption complaining that it was all Zachary being overprotective and insisting she stay a full week — if he hadn't, Brandon wouldn't have had the chance. Still, Zachary had knelt and hand-delivered her favorite little cake to apologize, so she'd forgive him. The photo showed Zachary half-kneeling, unboxing a cake.

Sonia double-tapped it to like it, then blocked them both.

The housekeeper came in to take her bag. "Miss Harrington, everything is signed. The car's downstairs."

Sonia nodded.

On the way down in the elevator, it stopped on the eighth floor. The doors slid open. Directly in front of her — Ember, laughing, pressing a kiss to Zachary's cheek in a hospital room.

Sonia watched. Not a flicker.

Her flight to Manhattan was a week after her discharge.

No matter how many times she declined, Evelyn insisted on throwing her a farewell dinner, even had a dress and jewelry picked out for her. Sonia gave in, pushed her flight back slightly, planned to leave for JFK straight from the party.

The night of the dinner, every childhood friend she had showed up.

Except Zachary.

One of the girls sidled up and murmured conspiratorially, "You said you were calling it off, he's been parading that harbor girl around, and honestly I was sure you two were heading for a real BE, but come on — true love wins, right? This is fate."

Sonia frowned, confused. But the girl just winked and wouldn't say more.

Without an answer she gave up trying to guess, and focused on saying goodbye to the older family friends, the ones who'd watched her grow up. She told her closest friends to please, please come to the wedding.

"You're doing it in New York? Will Gregory actually allow that? Everyone in the Blackwood network is here in Ashford Bay."

Sonia shook her head, smiling. "It's not Zachary."

They stared at each other. No one knew how to ask.

In their heads, Sonia would die alone before she married anyone who wasn't Zachary Blackwood. For their entire childhood, every guy who'd shown interest in her had been scared off by him.

The mood turned strange. Sonia didn't want to dwell on it. She glanced at the time and went to say goodbye to Evelyn.

The second she stepped away, one of her friends called Zachary.

He picked up, voice already tight with worry: "Where the hell are you? You didn't come tonight? Sonia, she —"

He cut himself off. "Is she upset I'm not there? Listen, I'm on my way. Don't tell her — I want to surprise her. Actually, do me a favor, get her up to the rooftop garden in twenty minutes, I've set up the proposal. I've got the ring. I'm coming straight back. Just keep her there."

He hung up.

His friend stared at the screen.

What the hell. One of them was telling everyone she was moving to New York to marry someone else. The other was proposing tonight.