Page 175 of The Broken Keys

“Yes, sir. She’s about thirteen in that picture.”

My pulse accelerates. “You know she goes by Zara Blackthorn now?”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Axel, this investigation has taken much longer than I expected. What’s the problem?”

“Like you, Jaxon, Edward has everything tied up in LLCs and legal documents. It takes a while to untangle it all.”

It’s been two months of hell watching Livianna rebuild her life without me in it. We still work together on her business, but that’s what our relationship has been reduced to.

That hasn’t stopped my quest to find the person responsible for destroying my history with the woman I still love to the depths of my soul.

“Not good enough, Axel. Find out which one of these assholes was behind the wheel.”

“Yes, sir.” He clears his throat. “When I do, then what?”

“Just notify me. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Of course, sir. Is there anything else?”

“No, just put a rush on this. It needs to be handled now.”

“Understood.”

I disconnect without saying goodbye, staring at this photo that’s the key to my revenge. When I can’t get over the coincidence that Edward Thorne, the pharmacist whose laboratory and clinical trials I finance, is Zara Blackthorn’s father, I throw it down.

“It’s too uncanny,” I mutter.

“What is?” Andrew appears in my doorway.

“You’re back.”

“I am, no thanks to you.”

“You’re getting a raise, so I’ve paid my penance.” I stand and gesture to the couch that’s in my office. “How was your flight?”

“Perfect. Thanks for sending the jet.” He glances back over his shoulder, then brings his gaze back to me. “I only stopped by the office to drop off some files. Why don’t we takea break and go get a cocktail? You look like you could use one.”

I shrug. “Is it that obvious?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“In that case, lead the way.” I grab my jacket off the back of my chair and make sure I have everything I need.

We get out to the hallway and bump into Quinn and Livianna leaving her studio.

“Hey, Andrew! You’re back just in time.” Quinn adjusts her purse strap and peeks over at Livianna. “Oh, Livianna, this is Andrew.”

“Hi, Andrew. It’s nice to meet you.” She holds out her hand.

He shakes it. “Nice to meet you…again.”

She blushes. “Sorry, I was in an accident. Parts of my life are missing.”

“Yeah, I heard.” He glances between us. “We were just going to grab a Friday night happy hour drink. You two should come with us.”

“We would, but we already have plans. That’s why I said you got back just in time.” Quinn shoots Livianna a sinful kind of smile.