Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

sure of everything around Andrew, but that was before I had gone and fallen for him. Now? I was a ball of nerves.

He ran his hand over the back of his neck and sighed. “I’m sorry about the other night, about running out on you.”

“It’s okay. Your brother needed you.”

He smiled humorlessly. “I think we both know that’s not true.”

I shrugged slightly. “I made you uncomfortable.”

“No, it wasn’t you. It was me. You see…there’s something that I haven’t told you, and I think there are things you haven’t told me. So…I don’t know where to go from here.”

“I don’t know either,” I admitted. “I really like you, Andrew, but I’m not sure you’re ready for what I have to tell you.”

He nodded. “Same here.”

“So…where does that leave us?”

“Well, let me ask you a hypothetical question…Say we were walking down the sidewalk, and we had to cross the street. The little guy on the crosswalk sign is white and we’re good to cross the road. Then…a massive bear comes strutting down the street.”

I laughed at his change in the story. “A massive bear?”

“Well, we do live in a small town. It’s possible.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, this massive bear comes out of nowhere and neither of us have a weapon. Me, being the big, strong hero, I try to save you. I yell at the bear and try to distract it so you can get away. Do you run for help and hope you get back in time, or do you stand there and watch while I get torn to shreds by the bear?”

I swallowed hard and stepped forward, sliding my arms around his waist. “Option three. I push you out of the way and get eaten by the bear so that you can live.”

His eyes flared and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “That’s a pretty stupid thing to do.”

“I’d rather get eaten by the bear than either of the other two options,” I whispered.

“That’s a pretty fucking perfect answer,” he said as his lips crashed down on mine. I slid my hand up the nape of his neck and ran my fingers through his hair. It didn’t matter if he had secrets right now. It didn’t matter if I had them. We both wanted each other, and I would accept that until the time that I had to tell him everything.

He pulled back, his brows furrowing. “I think both of us need to take out a life insurance policy.”

“For what?” I asked in confusion.

“For all the bears and cars that are about to attack us.”

“Can you give me just a minute?” I asked Andrew, extracting myself from the comforter. Callum was calling and I needed to answer.

“Sure, but don’t take too long. I’m not done with you yet.”

I leaned over and kissed him, then took my phone into the hallway, shutting the door behind me. The phone had stopped ringing by now, so I called him back, anxiously awaiting what he had to say.

“Lorelei, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for two days.”

“Really? I didn’t get any calls,” I said in confusion.

“We need to talk.” His tone was so serious that it sent chills down my spine.

“What’s going on?”

He sighed heavily, and I could imagine him running his finger across his eyebrow like he always did when he had something on his mind. “The police want you to come in for questioning.”

“But…they have my number. They haven’t contacted me yet.”

“This isn’t official.”

“Okay, so that means I don’t have to go, right?”

“Technically, yes, but if you don’t go, it’ll just make you look guilty.”

“I don’t understand. What do they want to talk to me about?”

“Bartholomew went to the police. He said that his father didn’t die of natural causes. He wants an investigation opened.”

I huffed. “Yeah, he’s already made those claims.”

“But this time he actually went to the police.” He paused for a minute and then cleared his throat. “Lorelei, the trust won’t be handed over if there’s any doubt. Now, as it is, there’s nothing to actually prevent you from getting your money, but if you don’t go—“

“The police might open an investigation.”

“And that would definitely stop you from receiving any funds. At first, this was just a normal bump in the road, but this is turning into something much more dangerous. If they’re bringing you in for questioning, that means Bartholomew told the police something that leads them to believe you may actually be guilty. They just don’t have the proof. You need to go and you need to leave them with no doubt that you’re innocent.”

I sighed. That was going to be more difficult than he suggested. “Callum, I’ve already killed three people. How the hell am I supposed to walk in there and convince them I’m innocent?”

“You tell them that you loved your husband, that he was taken from you way too soon and you left because you couldn’t handle the pain of being in the same house that you shared with him.”

“And what about his kids? They hate me.”

“Not all of them. Oscar never hated you.”

“He wasn’t exactly on my side either,” I grumbled.

“So, meet with him. Give him something that his father owned, something you can say his father always wanted him to have. Make it convincing. You need him in your corner if you’re going to win against Bartholomew.”

“Yeah, and what about Elena? She hates me more than Bartholomew.”

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “She’s an evil bitch and she’s never liked anyone. I’m not sure how you convince her. Think of what it would be like to be in her shoes and try and bond with her.”

I started pacing up and down the hallway, trying to find some way to get out of this. “So, what you’re saying is I need to return to New York.”

“The sooner the better. Go back to the house and stay there for a few days. When you get there, contact the police and inform them that you heard they wanted to speak to you. Show them you have