Page 232 of Hidden Depths

I understood.

He was engaged.

There was a woman waiting for him in Hawaii.

Whatever had begun growing between us couldn’t be acknowledged until he had faced the life he’d already promised someone else.

I turned back to the box before he could see how much letting go had hurt.

Footsteps struck the dock outside.

Ward immediately drew his pistol.

Ben moved in front of Ivy and Calle.

“It’s me,” Nathan called.

Ward lowered the weapon.

Nathan appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath.

“The Coast Guard has the attack boats running south. Two cutters are holding the Mariner’s Crown while they search her.”

He stepped into the shaft of sunlight cutting across the boathouse.

Thomas looked up.

The brass key slipped from his hand.

It struck the floor with a sharp metallic clang.

Nathan stopped.

Thomas stared at him, his face draining of color.

“No.”

Nathan frowned.

“Do I know you?”

Thomas backed into the workbench.

For a moment, he looked as though the years had fallen away and he was seeing something that had haunted him for decades.

“You have his face.”

Nathan’s confusion deepened.

“Whose face?”

Thomas’s hand trembled as he pointed at him.

“Your father’s.”

The room went silent.

Nathan didn’t move.