Chapter 1
The ring knocked against my thigh as I crossed the restaurant.
It was a small, precise sound. A reminder that at seven o’clock, two hundred people would gather at my family’s estate outside San Diego to watch me ask Genevieve Ashford to marry me.
I’d been carrying the ring for eleven minutes. I still hadn’t decided whether I’d put it on her finger.
The waterfront restaurant smelled of lemon polish, grilled fish, and salt air. I was headed for the men’s room to wash the drive from my hands when four boys crowded around the sinks, their navy sweaters damp at the cuffs.
One shoved his hair back from his forehead.
The other three did the same: left hand behind the neck, a tiny shake of the head.
I stopped.
My father used to call that gesture the Farrington tell. I’d been doing it since I was a boy whenever I didn’t know what to say.
The child nearest the mirror caught my eye.
“Mister, why are you copying us?”
“I’m not,” I said.
Then I looked at them properly.
Gray-blue eyes. Narrow chins. The same dimple in the left cheek, faint on one boy and deep on another. Their faces weren’t identical, exactly. But each carried a piece of mine, enough to make the mirror seem suddenly unreliable.
The boy who’d spoken squared his shoulders.
“I’m Cormac. Those are Callan, Connor, and Cillian.”
I stared at the four names, as if one of them might explain why my pulse had kicked hard against my ribs.
“You’re brothers?”
“Quadruplets,” Cormac said.
“Where’s your mother?”
“She works here.”
He pointed toward the dining room. Then all four boys slipped past me, apparently satisfied with the conversation.
I followed.
At the far end of the room, a woman in a black apron stood near the service station, speaking quietly to the manager. Her hair was pulled back. A pale scar cut through one eyebrow.
For a second, I couldn’t make my feet move.
“Kelsey?”
She turned.
Six years vanished. Her eyes found mine, and whatever she saw in my face drained the color from hers.
The manager glanced between us. Kelsey’s hand closed around the order pad she was holding.
“Boys,” she said, voice tight. “Get your coats.”
Cormac started to ask something. Kelsey gave him one look, and he went quiet.
I stepped closer.
“Kelsey, I—”
“Not here.”
She walked past me, moving fast. The boys gathered their coats from a hook near the back door. I followed them outside, past the patio heaters and the tables where strangers kept eating, unaware that my life had just split open.
The afternoon wind cut along the waterfront. Two battered duffel bags sat beside the curb.
Kelsey crouched to zip one of the boys’ coats. She didn’t look at me.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“The manager said you have nowhere to stay.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
The answer came too quickly. Her jaw was set, but her eyes flicked toward the boys. Cillian leaned heavily against her side, rubbing at one eye.
I reached into my coat and pulled out my wallet. The penthouse key card was tucked behind my license.
“My place downtown is empty. You can stay there tonight.”
Kelsey stood.
“No.”
“It’s warm. There’s food. You can lock the door.”
“I said no.”
Cormac tugged at her sleeve.
“Mom, I’m tired.”
The words were small, but Kelsey’s expression changed. She looked down at him, smoothing his hair with a hand that trembled once before she steadied it.
I held out the card.
“No questions tonight. Just get them somewhere safe.”
She looked from the card to me. There was no gratitude in her face. There was exhaustion, suspicion, and something sharper beneath both.
“I don’t owe you anything.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to appear out of nowhere and decide what we need.”
“I’m not deciding for you. I’m offering.”
For a moment, neither of us moved. Then she took the key card, careful not to touch my fingers.
The boys climbed into my SUV. Kelsey set the duffel bags in the back and shut the hatch. When she faced me again, the sea wind lifted loose strands of hair across her cheek.
“You don’t get to disappear for six years and suddenly decide you’re their father.”
The word father hit harder than I expected.
“I disappeared?”
Her mouth tightened. She looked past me, toward the restaurant, as if checking whether anyone might be listening.
“You really don’t know.”
Before I could ask what she meant, Cormac called from the back seat.
“Mom?”
Kelsey opened the passenger door.
“I have to get them settled.”
“Then let me help.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
She got in and shut the door.
I stood on the curb as my SUV pulled away, the key card’s twin pressing into my palm. Through the rear window, I saw one of the boys watching me until the car turned toward the street.
My phone rang.
The caller ID read HOME.
I let it ring out.
Inside my coat, the engagement ring seemed to have gained weight. I pictured Genevieve at the estate, waiting beneath the pale stone arch where our families had chosen the place for the announcement. I pictured my mother greeting guests, smiling as though the evening had already been decided.
Then I pictured Kelsey’s face when she said I’d disappeared.
At 4:18 p.m., I called my assistant.
“Cancel tonight’s announcement.”
There was a pause. “The engagement announcement?”
“Yes.”
“Ethan, the guests are already arriving.”
“Then tell them it’s canceled.”
“Your mother—”
“I’ll handle my mother.”
I ended the call before I could be persuaded to soften it. The ring was still in my pocket. I didn’t take it out. I didn’t know what it meant anymore.
My phone rang again. HOME.
This time, I answered.
“Ethan,” my mother said. No greeting. No question. “I understand you’ve canceled the announcement.”
I looked down the street where Kelsey’s car had disappeared.
“Who told you?”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that two hundred people are waiting, and you’ve embarrassed both families.”
“Something happened.”
A beat of silence. “What kind of something?”
“I found Kelsey.”
The quiet on the line changed. It wasn’t surprise. It was the pause of someone choosing what to say next.
My mother’s voice softened.
“Where are you?”
“Downtown.”
“I’m coming to the penthouse.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“How do you know I’m there?”
May you like
“I know you, Ethan.”
The call ended. I stood beside the curb with the ring in my pocket and the key card missing from my hand, suddenly unsure which part of my family I’d been expected to trust.
