Page 160 of What Started In Deception

Hanging up, he hesitated, then got into the back seat of the Uber. He closed the door, and it drove away.

“Oh God,” she said, sobbing now as she hurried back to her house, making a beeline for the stairs and her things. She needed to get out of there. She couldn’t be there anymore. Everything felt empty and wrong.

Grabbing the bags she’d arrived with from the closet, she scooped up her clothes from the drawers, much like Mac had done a mere few hours ago.

She moved to the bathroom next, snatching up her items, throwing things into bags at random, packing in record time.

Hurrying outside, she popped the trunk, tossing the bags in as Will walked down the path in a pair of ratty shorts and a T-shirt.

He stopped next to her, bending slightly as they stood under the shelter of the hatch. “What’s wrong? What are you doing?”

She couldn’t stop crying, no matter how hard she tried. “I need to get home.”

He frowned. “As in you’re going to Virginia?”

She nodded. “Ty and I broke up⁠—”

His eyes grew wide. “What? Is this because of me?”

She shook her head, moving to close the trunk. “Sometimes things don’t work out.”

He stopped her with his hands on her shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Lydia.”

She wrapped her arms around him, loving him more than she was mad at him. “I love you, Will.”

He returned her embrace. “I love you, too.”

She eased back, swiping at her tears. “I hope you and Mac can work things out.”

He nodded. “I’m going to fight like hell to make her understand how much I love her.”

She pressed her palm to his cheek. “Good.”

“Are you sure you can’t stay?”

She shook her head as she closed the trunk. “I need to hit the road. It’s a long drive.”

He followed her to the driver’s side door. “You won’t make it back until after midnight.”

She opened it and got behind the wheel. “That’s okay.”

“Be safe, Lydia. Text me when you get home.”

She nodded as she started the car, needing to get gone. “I’ll text,” she said as she plugged in her phone, selecting the button for her Virginia address in Google Maps before she closed the door.

Will waved.

She waved back, then pulled away, ignoring the phone call that popped up on her dashboard screen as Ty tried to reach her.

Moving down the coastal road, then through the heavier traffic in town, she listened to the back-and-forth swish of the windshield wipers in the silence.

There would be no laughter, singing, or conversation on the drive south. There would be no dance parties on the side of the road.

She picked up her speed as she finally reached the interstate, determined to get home and get back to her life. She had every intention of forgetting about the FBI and Special Agent Tyler Corddry.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Ty stared out the window in the bright morning sunshine as the Uber drove him closer to the compound. The cooler weather and rain of yesterday had given way to clear blue skies and already stifling temperatures. It was barely seven thirty and nearly eighty-five degrees.