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Gage had a significant nu his bank account, which wouldn’t be hard to figure out, even for a casual observer This could still be an elaborate ploy for a seven-or eight-figure check But he didn’t think so

She nodded once “Can it be in the next couple of days? Briana didn’t have much, but her estate needs to be settled Robbie’s future being the most critical part, of course”

Settled Yeah, all of this needed to be settled, but unfortunately, this was the least settled he’d ever been What an iing it off like he normally did

Grie showed Lauren out and sat on the couch, head in his hands And he didn’t even think twice about his next move He pulled out his phone and dialed Cass

When he’d left her in Dallas, it ith a terse goodbye and a proined he actually would, at least not for personal reasons It should have been a good place for thes off and only focus on the business of Fyra’s for with Cass felt finished

Besides, he needed someone with a level head who knew him personally to stand by his side as he met his son for the first tiet the best of her Soht decision Someone like Cass

Too late, he realized none of that actually mattered He wanted Cass because she mattered Yeah, it scared him, but he couldn’t deny the truth The for between him and Cass

Cass answered on the first ring and he didn’t even bother to try and interpret that Too a whether she’d missed him like he’d missed her Or whether she’d realize the fact that he’d called her had earth-shattering significance It did She could do what she wanted with that

“I need you,” he said shortly “It’s important Can you come to Austin?”

Eleven

Cass went to Austin

There really wasn’t a choice Gage had said he needed her and that was enough For now Later, she’d examine the real reason she’d hopped in the car tenhis call Much later Because there was so much wrapped up inside it, she could hardly make sense of it all

When his name had come up on her caller ID, she’d answered out of sheer curiosity You didn’t drop so on a woman like a surprise baby and then jet off Of course, she’d also been prepared for soain so he could coerce her into either giving hiot tired of her again She’d planned to say no and spend the weekend crossing the finish line on the leak’s name

She had to be close The list of potentials wasn’t that long

But instead she’d found herself saying yes to the surprising request to accoe as he met his son for the first tiated this unprecedented situation The sheer ee wasn’t involved in the leak and she ht happen between them?

Cass held Gage’s hand as they mounted Lauren Miles’s front steps and wondered not for the first tirip The new, hard lines around his ility—that was ten times worse As if the news he’d fathered a child had replaced his bones with dust One wrongwind if she didn’t hold on tight enough

Just thiscoffee on her back porch and she’d been desperate to work hio andBut as?

Less than four hours had passed since she received Gage’s troubling and cryptic phone call and their arrival on this quiet suburban street The slam of a car door down the way cracked the silence It felt as if there should be so the next phase of your life Because no id spine and disturbed aura announced that far better than any words ever could

“I ad the doorbell “This is a tough thing, ning the papers if you didn’t do this first”